Former ONE strawweight MMA world champion and current top-ranked strawweight contender 'The Monkey God' Jarred Brooks of the United States says the key to beating upcoming opponent 'El Gladiador' Gustavo Balart is to control the distance in the ring.
Two wrestlers are set to go head-to-head in the ONE Championship ring, and Brooks believes it's all about keeping his opponent at bay, and executing his game plan.
Speaking to ONE Championship in a recent interview, Brooks says he has been working on distance management for some time now, and is excited to showcase his improvements in his upcoming matchup this weekend.
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'The Monkey God' said:
"I think that a ring is easier to stabilize your distance and knowing where your range and movement correlate with that. There's a lot of guys that are around my size that wrestle and they have that mentality of, like, I'm gonna come forward and try to rip your f****** head off. I've been working on that for the past two months."
Jarred Brooks added:
"I think that my distance, my range, and my movement are on point. I did the same thing to Pacio. I kept him on the outside and then when I wanted to come on the inside, I did and I took him down."
Jarred Brooks ready to capture gold against Gustavo Balart at ONE Fight Night 24 on Prime Video
Former strawweight MMA kingpin 'The Monkey God' Jarred Brooks is set to face no.3-ranked contender 'El Gladiador' Gustavo Balart of Cuba for the ONE interim strawweight MMA world title.
The two lock horns in the main event of ONE Fight Night 24: Brooks vs. Balart on Prime Video, which broadcasts live from the historic Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand on Friday, August 2.
Fans in the United States and Canada can catch all the action live and free with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription. Stay tuned to Sportskeeda MMA for all the updates coming from fight week.