“I’m going to take that head off” - Jarred Brooks plans to humble Gustavo Balart in interim world title showdown in Bangkok

A year may have passed, but Jarred Brooks clearly isn't a fan of Gustavo Balart's photo editing skills. Balart once posted an edited photo of his head superimposed on Brooks' body when the latter was still the ONE strawweight MMA world champion.

Brooks only saw Balart's post recently, and he called out the Cuban Olympic wrestler for the questionable upload from November 2023.

'The Monkey God' didn't seem to take much offense to Balart's post, but he did promise the Cuban grappling machine a world of hurt in their main event showdown at ONE Fight Night 24 for the ONE interim strawweight MMA world title.

Jarred Brooks wrote on Instagram:

"This guy literally had to put his face on my body to make him think he is a champion. August 2nd I'm going to take that head off and match my face with it again. #onefightnight24."

Brooks relinquished the ONE strawweight MMA world championship when he suffered a disqualification loss to bitter rival Joshua Pacio at ONE 166 in Qatar.

The American star inadvertently spiked Pacio's head on the canvas in the opening round of their world title matchup at Lusail Sports Arena this past March, and referee Herb Dean had to hand Brooks a disqualification loss, with the strap being awarded to Pacio.

Nevertheless, Brooks has the opportunity to go one step further in his quest to regain his throne when he faces Balart for the division's interim championship this Friday, U.S. primetime, at the historic Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok.

ONE Fight Night 24 is available live and free to all Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.

---

Jarred Brooks completely downplays Gustavo Balart ahead of ONE Fight Night 24

Jarred Brooks has always been a confident fighter, and is known to go to great lengths to downplay his opponents.

Such was the case heading into his interim world title matchup against Gustavo Balart this Friday.

In an interview with ONE Championship, Brooks said Balart will realize they were never at the same level at ONE Fight Night 24:

"So I think that it might be a little bit easier with Gustavo, but this is a feeling out process, bro. This isn't just a game play. Everybody goes out with a game plan and then they get hit in the face and something happens. I know in the back of my head that Gustavo is not a better fighter than me. Technically, even when he was younger, he wasn't there. He's never gonna be there."