{"id":48846,"date":"2025-08-06T06:20:06","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T06:20:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/48846\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T06:20:06","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T06:20:06","slug":"joshua-pacio-celebrates-compatriots-milestone-shes-a-world-champion-now-a-female-world-champion-at-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/48846\/","title":{"rendered":"Joshua Pacio celebrates compatriot&#8217;s milestone: &#8220;She&#8217;s a World Champion now, a female World Champion at that&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Joshua \u201cThe Passion\u201d Pacio couldn\u2019t hide his pride watching <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjpenn.com\/mma-news\/denice-zamboanga\/denice-zamboanga-promises-fans-showdown-with-stamp-fairtex-will-be-worth-the-wait\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Denice Zamboanga<\/a> make history for the Philippines. The ONE Strawweight MMA World Champion witnessed his compatriot\u2019s journey through injuries and setbacks before she capturDenice Zamboangaed the nation\u2019s first female MMA World Title.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Joshua-Pacio-Jarred-Brooks-ONE-171-67-1.jpg\" class=\"nlz w-full h-auto wp-post-image\" alt=\"Joshua Pacio\" fetchpriority=\"high\"   data-eio=\"p\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Pacio challenges Yuya Wakamatsu for the ONE Flyweight MMA World Title at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onefc.com\/events\/one173\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ONE 173: Superbon vs. Noiri<\/a> on November 16 at Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan. The 29-year-old seeks two-division supremacy while Zamboanga makes her first atomweight title defense on the same card.<\/p>\n<p>Zamboanga\u2019s path to gold tested her resolve repeatedly. Unfortunate injuries derailed momentum while postponed title bouts forced extended waits for opportunities that seemed cursed. The 28-year-old endured circumstances beyond her control with remarkable patience.<\/p>\n<p>Her breakthrough finally arrived in January when she dominated Alyona Rassohyna to capture interim atomweight gold. Stamp Fairtex\u2019s subsequent title relinquishment elevated Zamboanga to undisputed status, cementing her place in Philippine MMA history.<\/p>\n<p>Pacio understood the significance immediately. Zamboanga\u2019s achievement broke down barriers in a male-dominated sport while inspiring future generations of Filipino female fighters to pursue their dreams.<\/p>\n<p>The Lions Nation MMA representative sees broader implications beyond individual accomplishment. Philippine MMA lacks female representation at elite levels, making Zamboanga\u2019s success particularly meaningful for the sport\u2019s growth.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was really happy when she got promoted to undisputed World Champion because it was a long time coming. God\u2019s timing is always perfect. She\u2019s a World Champion now, a female World Champion at that. Guys aren\u2019t the only ones capable of it, of course. Female Filipino fighters can also win gold in ONE Championship,\u201d Pacio said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHonestly, that\u2019s what we lack here in the Philippines. We don\u2019t have a lot of female fighters. So, I\u2019m really happy because there\u2019s now a female MMA World Champion in ONE Championship. It\u2019s a big motivation to other female athletes who are looking to capture a ONE World Title.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joshua \u201cThe Passion\u201d Pacio couldn\u2019t hide his pride watching Denice Zamboanga make history for the Philippines. The ONE&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48847,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,33502,638,33503,1865,82],"class_list":["post-48846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-fighting","tag-joshua-pacio","tag-mma","tag-one-173","tag-one-championship","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}