"A smart fighter" - Joshua Pacio singles out fight IQ as Jarred Brooks' most outstanding trait ahead of Qatar trilogy

Joshua Pacio knows that in order to defeat Jarred Brooks when they meet again for the third time, he will need to be incredibly sharp.

The two top strawweights have spent a long time training and gameplanning for one another following their two previous encounters.

Though their second fight ended in a shock outcome after Brooks was disqualified for accidentally spiking Pacio at ONE 166: Qatar earlier this year, their first contest was a totally different story.

In an extension of his winning streak since he arrived in the promotion, 'The Monkey God' was able to take the title away from the defending champion at ONE 164 in 2022.

After overcoming his lengthy hiatus due to injuries, Pacio is now focused on ending the trilogy once and for all by beating Brooks to unify the strawweight titles at ONE 171 on Feb. 20.

The ONE strawweight MMA world champion gave some props to the division's interim king during a recent interview with The MMA Superfan where he spoke about his best traits.

Joshua Pacio believes that what separates Brooks from the rest is his ability to read the fight and make adjustments in order to puzzle-solve in the moment:

"But there's one thing I want to say - Jarred Brooks is a smart fighter, and he can switch himself. He can think of ways to adjust on the fly. That's how fast he can think. He's a smart and strong fighter."

Watch the full interview below:

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Joshua Pacio will need to be one step ahead

In order to stop Jarred Brooks from making those mid-fight adjustments, Joshua Pacio will need to be one step ahead of the interim champion.

'The Passion' needs to keep his opponent guessing by mixing up his approach so that he cannot make those all-important reads.

Defending the throne at the Lusail Sports Arena won't be easy, but Pacio is fired up to prove that he's the best fighter in the strawweight MMA division.