“It’s just natural” - Joshua Pacio says he doesn’t mind Jarred Brooks going ballistic on the mic ahead of world title rematch

Multi-time ONE strawweight MMA world champion Joshua Pacio has never been one to shy away from the adversity he has faced in his career.

Alongside his landmark victories that shaped him into becoming one of the Philippines’ most popular MMA stars, ‘The Passion’ also suffered crushing defeats, with the most recent one seeing him drop his world championship to Jarred Brooks in 2022.

But instead of letting that define his character, Pacio bounced back with an impressive unanimous decision victory over Mansur Malachiev last October which allowed him to challenge Brooks in a ONE strawweight MMA world championship rematch.

With his second go-around with ‘The Monkey God’ set to take place at ONE 166 on March 1 inside the Lusail Sports Arena in Qatar, Pacio is quite familiar with how Brooks will want to get under his skin before the fight.

Speaking with Qatar-based Filipino radio station Qabayan Radio 94.3, the Lions Nation MMA star opened up on having to deal with his opponent’s trash talk:

“I’m used to the trash talk, to be honest. In our nature, as Filipinos, it’s just natural. So I’ll let him do his thing, and I’ll also just do my thing."

See the full interview below:

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Fan support split on Pacio vs. Brooks rematch

In the lead up to ONE 166, ONE Championship wanted to see whom the fans are backing the most and to no one’s surprise, fans are split down the middle when it comes to the big rematch.

The last time they fought, Brooks made sure Pacio’s striking was not going to be as big a factor as many would think by utilizing his wrestling pedigree to perfection and eventually rode that momentum to upending his reign atop the ONE strawweight MMA division.

ONE 166 is available live and free on Prime Video in the United States and Canada.