Mark Sangiao hopes to avoid a potential clash between two of his prized wards as Team Lakay continues to hold a stranglehold on the ONE Championship strawweight division.
The prodigious Joshua “The Passion” Pacio continues to rule as the ONE Strawweight World Champion with two title defenses in his second reign as a titleholder.
But not that far behind is his teammate Lito “Thunder Kid” Adiwang, who sits at the fifth spot of the division following two impressive wins in the main roster after graduating Rich Franklin’s ONE Warrior Series.
A collision course could be unavoidable if Adiwang continues to dominate opponents and Pacio stays on his throne, which will make things really interesting in the long run.
“For now, we haven’t really talked about it. I haven’t talked to Lito since the lockdown started last “For me it really depends, but like what Honorio said, a brother is a brother. For now, I haven’t heard of them talking about it.”
The soft-spoken mentor admitted that he did not expect questions to be asked about a potential match-up this early, especially since Adiwang came on board only a few years ago.
But the rapid development of his two young stars made it happen, and Sangiao promises to be very careful about his decision-making process if that time comes.
“I have the final say in this,” Sangiao said. “When Lito came in, the idea never really crossed my mind because he was still in OWS. But people are always going to talk about it, even in Geje and Danny’s case because they’re in the same weight class.”
Still, he hopes to avoid that match-up altogether, but if his athletes insist, then there is really nothing he can do about it. “I am a firm believer that two heads are better than one, but if it comes to that, and it’s what they want, then I can’t do anything about it,” Sangiao said.