Team Lakay silences doubters with perfect night in ONE: Masters of Fate

MANILA, Philippines — Famed Baguio stable Team Lakay has found its way back to the winning column in ONE: Masters of Fate.

Team Lakay eked out a perfect night on Friday to bounce back from a string of disappointing campaigns this 2019.

Former world champions Geje Eustaquio and Eduard Folayang both scored victories over Toni Tauru and Amarsanaa Tsogookhuu, respectively.

For his part, 23-year-old Joshua Pacio defended his strawweight belt against Rene Catalan to cap off a 3-0 result for the Baguio-based gym.

"Napakasaya kasi gaya ng sabi ko sa unang interview, you're not a world champion until you defend your belt," Pacio said.

Usually criticized for their ground game, Eustaquio saw Friday's victory a way of silencing doubters.

"They keep questioning our ground [game], they keep questioning our brand of jiu-jitsu but Toni, my opponent a while back, is a champion and he's a very good grappler... that proves that we're improving in ground," Eustaquio said during the post-fight conference.

Eustaquio landed a fierce spinnning back kick to Tauru's stomach to take the knockout victory in the third round against the Finland fighter.

Pacio, on the other hand, submitted Catalan with an arm triangle choke in the second round.

"We improve from time to time and you just saw that beautiful arm triangle [from Joshua] so what's up," Eustaquio added in jest.

For his part, Team Lakay mentor Mark Sangiao was nothing short of relieved to end his fighters' losing streak.

"'Di ko ma-explain, ginutom nga ako eh. After the fight, I'm hungry. I'm very happy. I cannot explain my feeling now," he said.

Team Lakay retains its sole ONE Championship belt for the rest of the year after holding four titles at the end of 2018.