“Climb and take those challenges” - Interim strawweight champ Jarred Brooks reveals main motivation to move up a weight class

Jarred Brooks is going to keep climbing towards the top, no matter how much success he achieves.

In August, 'The Monkey God' once again claimed 26 pounds of ONE Championship gold, submitting Gustavo Balart at ONE Fight Night 24 to become the interim ONE strawweight MMA world champion.

On Friday, December 6, Brooks will take a step towards champ-champ status when he moves up from strawweight to flyweight for a showdown with the division's fourth-ranked contender, Reece 'Lightning' McLaren at ONE Fight Night 26 on Prime Video.

With their highly anticipated showdown right around the corner, Brooks offered some insight into why he's' decided to move up and challenge himself in a new weight class.

"I just posted on my Instagram, life is like Everest, man, and you've gotta climb and climb and climb and take those challenges," Brooks told The MMA Superfan. "And that's what I want."

It will be Brooks' first time competing as a flyweight under the ONE Championship banner. Meanwhile, McLaren will be looking to land his 11th career win in ONE and re-establish himself as a potential contender for the vacant flyweight MMA crown.

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Jarred Brooks wants to stay active, no matter what division he needs to compete in

Already sitting as the interim ONE strawweight MMA world champion, many fight fans were confused as to why Jarred Brooks would choose to move up rather than wait for his inevitable unification clash with undisputed titleholder Joshua Pacio.

Adding to his previous comments, Brooks revealed that he simply wants to stay active inside the Circle, and if he can't get anyone to fight him at strawweight, he's happy to look elsewhere.

"Well, one, who else is in the division who wants to fight me at this point? And on short notice? I want to stay acclimated in that ring and fight every two to three months."

Brooks continued:

"So I'm super excited to show the world that I can go up a weight class, even though I am a small strawweight, right? I'm probably the smallest strawweight on the roster, weight-wise. I make weight super easy but watch me. You're going to see me, December 6, and I'm going to be bigger than you've ever seen. And I think that that's going to surprise Reece McLaren too."

Fans in the United States and Canada can watch ONE Fight Night 26 live on Amazon Prime Video on Friday, December 6 in U.S. primetime.