Hayato Suzuki is out of next month’s ONE: ‘Eternal Glory’ in Jakarta. The Japanese challenger is reportedly injured but the promotion has wasted no time in replacing him with compatriot Yosuke Saruta, who will now face strawweight champion Joshua Pacio in the main event.
Saruta (18-8-3) made his promotional debut earlier this month at ONE: ‘Destiny of Champions’ and scored a hard fought decision win over former champion Alex Silva. He has been rewarded with an instant title shot after Suzuki’s surprise withdrawal.
The 31 year old has won eight of his last ten fights and Saruta’s sole loss during this period came in a bout where he suffered an eye injury. Coincidentally he has already faced Suzuki once, suffering a decision defeat at the hands of the man originally slated to face Pacio on January 19th.
Pacio (16-2) is one of four Team Lakay fighters to currently hold ONE Championship titles. He won the belt in September, scoring a unanimous decision win over two time champion Yoshitaka Naito in Jakarta.
As previously announced ONE: ‘Eternal Glory’ will be headlined by a strawweight title rematch between champion Joshua Pacio and challenger Hayato Suzuki. The event will also feature the likes of Christian Lee, Kotetsu Boku, Masakazu Imanari and Koji Ando.
There are now 14 fights on the card at ONE: ‘Eternal Glory’ which is the first of 24 events on the ONE Championship schedule for 2019.
ONE: ‘Eternal Glory’, Jakarta, January 19th
Joshua Pacio (c) vs. Yosuke Saruta (for ONE Strawweight Title)
Priscilla Hertati Lumban Gaol vs. Puja Tomar (Atomweight)
Stefer Rahardian vs. Robin Catalan (Strawweight)
Edward Kelly vs. Christian Lee (Featherweight)
Sunoto vs. Xie Jun Peng (Bantamweight)
Anthony Engelen vs. Thai Rithy (Featherweight)
Muay Thai: Joseph Lasiri vs. Jonathan Haggerty (Flyweight)
Yohan Mulia Legowo vs. AJ Lias Mansor (Featherweight)
Kickboxing: Florent Kaouachi vs. Steve McKinnon (Middleweight)
Ahmad Qais Jasoor vs. Masakazu Imanari (Featherweight)
Kharun Atlangeriev vs. Koji Ando (Lightweight)
Kotetsu Boku vs. Bruno Pucci (Featherweight)
Riski Umar vs. Aziz Calim (Strawweight)
Oscar Yaqut vs. Andreas Satyawan (Featherweight)
