Joshua Pacio knows that in order to be successful at ONE 166, he has to improve on his performance against Jarred Brooks based on experience from the first outing.
At ONE 164 in December 2022, the world champion’s reign came to an end when he failed to stop Brooks’ undefeated run in the main event inside the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines.
There were a lot of lessons to take from his display on that night that did not show what he was truly capable of. Pacio will look to correct those mistakes at the second time of asking and he has been putting in the work to make sure that he is as prepared as possible.
The former kingpin told The MMA Superfan that his tape study of Brooks has led to a much better understanding of his game:
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“I also reviewed Brooks’ tendencies from our first match and focused on the mistakes I made. I think I now understand how he executes his takedowns and I can now defend properly. It’s now a matter of creating the perfect game plan.”
Watch the full interview below:
Joshua Pacio has everything he needs to reclaim the strawweight throne
If there’s anyone in the world that you would bank on to come back better in the rematch, it’s Joshua Pacio.
The former strawweight champion has come up short in title fights on multiple occasions, only to come back and get the last laugh over his former foes.
Repeating this cycle against Brooks might be the toughest test of his career to date but they don’t call him ‘The Passion’ for nothing, and everything he has is going into this rematch.
Will Pacio reclaim the throne or will Brooks earn a second win over the man that has sat at the top of the division for such a long time?
ONE 166 will air live on March 1 for ONE Championship’s debut event in Qatar.