The Lakay MMA star will defend his strawweight title against Saruta when they complete their trilogy—each man holds a victory over the other—in the One Championship “Revolution” co-headliner on Friday at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore. Pacio has rattled off seven wins in eight appearances, including three in a row. He last competed at “Fire and Fury,” where he eked out a five-round split decision over Alex silva on Jan. 31, 2020. Saruta, meanwhile, steps into the cage on the heels of back-to-back victories. The Wajutsu Keishukai Hearts representative last fought on Sept. 10, 2020, when he took a three-round unanimous verdict from Yoshitaka Naito under the Shooto banner.
As Pacio and Saruta approach what figures to be their definitive battle, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to this point:
25: Years of age for Pacio, who was born on Jan. 10, 1996 in La Trinidad, Philippines.
9: Pacio wins by submission, accounting for 50% of his career total (18). He has executed four of them inside One Championship: two by rear-naked choke, one by hammerlock and one by arm-triangle choke. Pacio owns six other wins by knockout or technical knockout and three more by decision.
1,015: Days spent by Pacio as One Championship strawweight titleholder. He held the 125-pound championship from Sept. 22, 2018 to Jan. 19, 2019, then reclaimed it on April 12, 2019.
5: Countries in which Pacio has competed as a mixed martial artist. He has gone 15-0 in his native Philippines, 1-1 in China, 1-1 in Indonesia, 1-0 in Thailand and 0-1 in Myanmar.
.747: Cumulative winning percentage between the three men—Saruta, Naito and Hayato Suzuki—who have defeated Pacio. They sport a combined record of 56-14-5.
34: Years of age for Saruta, who was born in Kawaguchi, Japan, on July 8, 1987.
6: Saruta victories by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 29% of his career total. His list of victims: Daichi Kitakata, Itchaku Murata, Ryuto Sawada, Hiroshi Roppongi, Kentaro Watanabe and Takahiro Kohori.
776: Days spent by Saruta as Shooto flyweight champion. He held the Japanese promotion’s 114-pound title from Oct. 15, 2017 to Nov. 30, 2019.
60: Seconds needed for Saruta to submit Akinobu Watanabe with a rear-naked choke at Shooto Gig Tokyo 7 on Aug. 6, 2011. Having occurred more than a decade ago, it remains the fastest finish of his 33-fight career.
134: Combined wins between the nine men who have beaten Saruta: Pacio, Suzuki, Takumi Tamaru, Hiromasa Ougikubo, Mamoru Yamaguchi, Ryuichi Miki, Tatsuya Nakashima, Nozomi Otsuka and Kota Funaki. They boast a cumulative record of 134-45-17 (.684).