Eustaquio defends ONE fly crown tonite vs Brazilian

MANILA, Philippines — Filipino flyweight champion Geje Eustaquio vows  to keep one of the four remaining titles by the Philippines in ONE Championship as he takes on Brazilian Adriano Moraes one final time tonight in ONE: Hero’s Ascent at the MOA Arena in Pasay City.

As strawweight Joshua Pacio  went down in defeat to Japan’s Yosuke Saruta in ONE Eternal Glory in Indonesia last week, Eustaquio is determined to successfully defend the crown he won via a split decision win over Moraes in ONE: Pinnacle of Power in Macau, China last year.

Pacio’s loss has left the Phl with only four titles after starting the year with five including those of Brandon Vera (heavyweight) Eduard Folayang (light) and Kevin Belingon (bantam).

“We worked hard to avoid what happened to my friend and teammate Joshua Pacio,” said Eustaquio, who owns an 11-6 (win-loss) record against Moraes’ 17-3 card.

“If I will get the chance to win via knockout or submission, I will go for it because we don’t want it to go the distance where anything can happen,” he added.

It marks the third time Eustaquio and Moraes will face each other, and this could be the last as the winner looks forward to a serious challenge posed by the recent arrival of former Ultimate Fighting Championship titlist Demetrious Johnson at ONE.

Moraes emerged victorious in their fight in ONE FC 20: Rise of Kingdon five years ago.

Interestingly, Johnson was joined by another ex-UFC champ Eddie Alvarez.

During his long UFC stint, Johnson had reigned as its flyweight king for six years and made 11 successful title defenses during that span before falling to Henry Cejudo in UFC 227 last year.

Eustaquio, however, is not a bit fazed.

“They say he (Johnson) is the best pound-for pound flyweight in mixed martial arts. But they’ve never been to Asia. This division belongs to Asians,” he said.

Other Filipinos seeing action tonight are Honorio Banario, who tackles comebacking Lowen Tynanes of the United States in their lightweight Grand Prix Quarterfinal showdown, and Danny Kingad, who clashes with Japan’s Tatsumitsu Wada in their flyweight bout.