This Friday, at ONE 166: Qatar, ONE strawweight MMA world champion Jarred Brooks will defend his throne for the first time.
Doing the dance with him will be Joshua Pacio, the man he took the belt from. The pair of strawweight MMA stars will clash once again at ONE 166: Qatar, ONE Championship's historic return to the Middle East.
After losing his belt to 'The Monkey God', Joshua Pacio bounced back by defeating Russian grappling specialist Mansur Malachiev in a closely contested bout at ONE Fight Night 15 late last year.
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Needless to say, Jarred Brooks had his eyes on the fight and closely scrutinized his rival's performance. In an interview with ONE Championship, the American MMA world champion said of the Pacio vs. Malachiev fight:
“Since I've gone against him, he did show that he does have a grappling ability. But me and Mansur are two different body types, so hopefully Josh will make those kinds of adjustments that he's talking about in our fight. Because if he's only making the adjustments in that Mansur fight, then I think it's going to be way worse for him.”
Malachiev and Brooks are indeed two vastly different fighters, despite wrestling as their fighting base. We are sure, however, that Pacio is aware of this and has devised a specific game plan to try to thwart Brooks' grappling barrage.
Despite close fight with Malachiev, Jarred Brooks still believes Joshua Pacio won at ONE Fight Night 15
Despite his criticism of Joshua Pacio's performance against Mansur Malachiev, Jarred Brooks still believes his rival rightfully walked away with the victory that night.
'The Monkey God' told ONE:
“I do think the matchup was great. I thought that it was a close fight. As far as judging goes, in the ONE judging scorecards, Joshua did win. Because he got that catch, because of those two guillotine [attempts]. But Mansur tripped over his own ankle. It wasn’t because of a leg kick.”
Watch Jarred Brooks clash with Joshua Pacio once again at ONE 166: Qatar, airing free of charge for existing Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.