“I’m still the challenger” - Champ Joshua Pacio shares mindset ahead of pivotal world title unification with rival Jarred Brooks

Despite being the ONE strawweight MMA world champion, Joshua Pacio still sees himself as a challenger.

In March, Pacio reclaimed the strawweight strap in his ONE 166 rematch against Jarred Brooks. However, Pacio's victory didn't come the way he'd hoped it would. Less than 60 seconds into the bout, Brooks shot in for a takedown and lifted Pacio off the ground before sending him crashing back to the canvas head-first.

As a result, Brooks was immediately disqualified and Pacio was once again crowned the undisputed strawweight king.

Now, the two will meet once again on Thursday, February 20 when ONE Championship heads back to Qatar for ONE 171 inside the Lusail Sports Arena.

Brooks goes into the bout as the interim strawweight MMA world titleholder — an honor he won in August while Pacio was still recovering from an ACL surgery. Still, Pacio can't help, but see himself as more the challenger than the champion.

"I was declared the champion, now I’m the champ," Pacio told The MMA Superfan. "It’s God’s favor, now here we are again, fighting for the belt. I say fighting for the belt because it’s a unification, so that’s what I’m thinking. I’m still the challenger."

Here's the full interview:

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Jarred Brooks looks to trade in interim title for undisputed gold against Joshua Pacio

ONE 171 will be Joshua Pacio's first time competing since his DQ victory over 'The Monkey God' in Lusail, Qatar. Before that, he suffered a decisive unanimous decision loss against Jarred Brooks at ONE 164 in the Philippines.

Meanwhile, Brooks notched another big win over the summer, submitting Cuban sensation Gustavo Balart at ONE Fight Night 24 to win the interim strawweight title.

Overall, Brooks is 21-4 in his mixed martial arts career with five of his victories coming under the ONE Championship banner. Thus far, he has not lost a single fight in the strawweight division, aside from the 56-second disqualification against Pacio.

As for 'The Passion,' he carries a similar record to Brooks, boasting 22 wins and four losses with 13 Ws inside the Circle.

ONE 171 will emanate from the Lusail Sports Arena in Qatar on Thursday, February 20. Early bird tickets are now available via ONE Championship’s official website.