“Jarred is better” - Keito Yamakita backs Jarred Brooks in trilogy vs. Joshua Pacio at ONE 171: Qatar

After landing a big win over Lito Adiwang at ONE Fight Night 28, fourth-ranked strawweight MMA contender Keito Yamakita will have his eyes on this month's massive ONE strawweight MMA world title unification battle between Jarred Brooks and Joshua Pacio.

On Thursday, Feb. 20, ONE Championship heads back to Lusail Sports Arena in Qatar for one of the most anticipated trilogy fights in promotional history as Brooks will look to unify his interim gold and reclaim the crown he surrendered around this same time last year due to a devastating disqualification loss.

Brooks handed back the strawweight gold to Pacio after an early takedown attempt saw him inadvertently spike Pacio onto the top of his head. As a result, Brooks was DQ'd a mere 56 seconds into the scrap.

Since then, Brooks has become the division's interim champion while Pacio continued to recover from injuries he sustained in their brief encounter at ONE 166.

Now, Pacio is back to 100 percent and plans on closing out his rivalry with 'The Monkey God' by picking up the biggest win of his career thus far.

However, Yamakita doesn't see things playing out that way.

Speaking with Nick Atkin of the Bangkok Post following his win over Adiwang in Bangkok, 'Pocket Monk' believes that Brooks is the better of the two fighters and sees 'The Monkey God' coming out on top at ONE 171 — assuming he doesn't get disqualified again:

"At the last one in Qatar, I was also fighting there. I saw Jarred fighting with Pacio and for me, I thought that Jarred lost becuase of an accident. If this time, there is no unexpected accident, Jarred is going to win. I think Jarred is better by a little bit."

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Keito Yamakita wants to compete at ONE 172 in Japan

With his win over Lito Adiwang, Keito Yamakita improved his overall record in mixed martial arts to 11-1 with four of those wins coming under the ONE Championship banner.

Those victories have been good enough to slide him into the fourth-ranked spot in the strawweight MMA division.

But even with his recent success, Yamakita knows that he still has a little more work to do before earning his first shot at 26 pounds of ONE gold.

If the opportunity presents itself, 'Pocket Monk' would love the opportunity to continue his run next month at ONE 172 when ONE Championship heads back to his home country. He added:

"Yes, of course. Last time, I lost to Bokang [Masunyane] in my home country, so it’s gonna make a good drama story, so let’s do it".

Do you want to see Yamakita make the quick turnaround to compete at ONE 172? And if so, who should be his opponent?

If you missed any of the action, ONE Championship fans in the United States and Canada can watch the ONE Fight Night 28 replay on demand via Amazon Prime Video.