1 week ago
5
MANILA, Philippines — History will be on the side of Mongolian mixed martial artist Enkh-Orgil Baatarkhuu as he faces Filipino contender Jeremy Pacatiw this weekend.
The two will face each other at ONE Fight Night 29: Rodrigues vs. McManamon on March 8 inside Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
Baatarkhuu has won five of his six fights inside the ONE FC ring, with four of those coming against Filipinos.
But now, Pacatiw is bent on ending the Filipino fighters’ losing streak against the 36-year-old.
In a statement, “The Juggernaut” said that there is a “certain pressure” on him to finally break the Philippines’ cold streak against the Mongolian.
“There’s a certain pressure on me. Of course I’m not gonna say that I’m not feeling it because, after all, I’ve seen him beat four Filipinos already. And I don’t want to be the fifth guy. That’s my mindset now,” Pacatiw said.
“But it’s more motivation for me than pressure in this fight.”
The 28-year-old Pacatiw is riding a two-match win streak in ONE. He won against Myanmar’s Tial Thang and China’s Wang Shuo, with both victories coming via submission.
But Baatarkhuu has also been on a two-match submission victory streak. Last year, he got the scalp of his fourth Filipino, Carlo Bumina-ang, and earlier this year, he submitted Ecuador’s Aaron Canarte.
Pacatiw was supposed to face Russia’s Ibragim Dauev, but the latter missed weight by a wide margin.
“Of course I thought hard about it. I didn’t instantly take [the match with Baatarkhuu] because there's less than a month in preparation, so I really had to make sure I’ll be ready for it,” he said.
“Once I thought about it, I decided to push for it. At least I’m still at my peak. I took the fight because this is such a big opportunity for me.”
