At ONE 166, Jarred Brooks is out to make a statement by solidifying his reign at the top of the strawweight division.
‘The Monkey God’ is set to face the man that he beat for the title back at ONE 164, Joshua Pacio, in a rematch on ONE Championship’s debut card in Qatar on March 1.
His opponent has a history of turning the tables in rematches, but Brooks is confident that he has improved significantly in the time since his first contest with Pacio.
During a recent interview with FightWave, Jarred Brooks revealed that he had hoped to get the rematch done and dusted much earlier on.
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The additional time has allowed him to continue working on his craft which he will look to showcase by closing out this series with back-to-back wins over the former world champion. He said:
“I've wanted to fight Pacio, I knew it was going to be Pacio at the end of the day, but I wanted to fight him like way before that, not a year and almost a half later. But I've been patient, I've been mending all of my crafts and my skills and it's going to produce on March 1, I think that he's in for a rude awakening. I'm a 2.0 version of of myself right now.”
Watch the full interview below:
Jarred Brooks will have to be smart with his adjustments at ONE 166
Joshua Pacio’s track record for bouncing back and reclaiming the top spot is sure to give him a lot of confidence ahead of his rematch with Jarred Brooks.
This is certainly something that Brooks isn’t short on either as he expects to produce an even more dominant victory at the second time of asking.
Pacio was unable to establish a foothold in their first encounter, but he will have undoubtedly learned from that experience and drawn a lot of motivation from it.
Fans can expect to see new and improved versions of both men in this rematch but the major question hanging over them both is who has gotten better in the last year and a half?
ONE 166 will air live on March 1 via global pay-per-view. Check your local listings for more details.