After a series of heartbreaking struggles, Team Lakay is finally back in winning form after three decisive victories at ONE: Masters of Fate at the Mall of Asia Arena, last Friday.
Reigning ONE Strawweight Champion, Joshua Pacio, former ONE Lightweight champion, Eduard Folayang, and former ONE Flyweight champion, Geje Eustaquio made quick work of their opponents as Team Lakay is back in winning form once again.
In the main event, Pacio beat challenger Rene Catalan in the second round via arm triangle choke submission.
With 3:46 minutes remaining in the second round, Catalan made a costly mistake by attempting a take down that sent both fighters on the ground. This gave an advantage to Pacio as he demonstrated superior ground skills by staying on top of the challenger.
Three minutes left in the second, Pacio slowly moved his way to an arm triangle choke, and after 30 seconds of squeezing, Catalan tapped Pacio's back signalling submission.
Eustaquio praised Pacio's improved ground skills and sent a message to the critics questioning Team Lakay's ground skills.
"They keep questioning our ground. That proves that we're improving our ground." Eustaquio said.
In other fights, Folayang won his duel with Amarsanaa Tsogookhuu via a second-round technical decision. He dominated the first round after a series of kicks that breached the Mongolian's defenses.
The fight, however, came to an abrupt halt after both fighters had an accidental head clash that gave Folayang a six-inch-long wound in the face.
Meanwhile, Eustaquio settled a three-year-old rivalry after knocking out the Finland-native Toni Tauru via spinning back kick. It was their second match since 2016 with the first Tauru winning via rear-naked choke.
Team Lakay's coach expressed gratitude toward their bashers because it was them that inspired his team to improve.
"Thank you to our bashers because they are one of our motivators. We saw what happened, we're improving," Team Lakay Coach, Mark Sangiao said.
