“It’s kind of hard not to be confident” - Why Jarred Brooks is not worried about Joshua Pacio’s striking

Heading into ONE 164 this December, No.1-ranked strawweight contender Jarred Brooks isn’t too worried about his upcoming opponent Joshua Pacio’s striking prowess.

‘The Monkey God’ said he’s ready to take the bull by the horns on Friday, December 3, when he will challenge defending world champion Joshua Pacio in his own backyard in Manila, Philippines.

Not only will Brooks contend for the world title, but he’s also got to contend against Pacio’s durability, speed, and high-level striking before he’s crowned king at ONE 164.

Brooks, however, assured his fans recently that he’s prepared to take on Pacio’s best weapons especially after having trained with some of the best strikers in the United States.

He told The MMA Superfan:

“I have some of the best workout partners in the world. Like I said, Justin Scoggins. When you have Justin Scoggins training with you every day, it’s kind of hard not to be confident going against a striker.”

Besides all his big talk, Jarred Brooks is indeed a very dangerous athlete. In prior interviews, Brooks said he’d been making progress on his boxing and footwork.

If you re-watch some of his most recent fights against Bokang Masunyane or Hiroba Minowa, he uses straight punches and feints very effectively, as a type of smokescreen to get the opposition to cover up before taking a takedown.

At the end of the day, Jarred Brooks might not even want to trade punches with Pacio. Perhaps it’s all a ruse to get inside Pacio’s head.

---

Joshua Pacio intends to be emotionless against Jarred Brooks’ growing antics ahead of ONE 164

Just as mischievous and cunning as 'The Monkey God,' Jarred Brooks flourishes on making his opponents angry and emotional before fight night.

Sadly for him, Joshua Pacio has turned a deaf ear to whatever trash-talk the American fighter has to say about him or his teammates at Team Lakay. It won’t be easy to get under his skin, as it’s not part of Pacio’s nature to respond to bullies using the same tactic.

‘The Passion’ told ONE Championship:

“I know what he’s doing is just part of his psywar. Mind games. But I respect him as an athlete. I know he respects me as an athlete too. I should be emotionless coming into this fight, because I know he wants me to be emotional. If I get too emotional, he might catch me with something.”

Pacio returns to the Circle for the first time this year following his third successful world title defense against Yosuke Saruta at ONE: Revolution. He effectively put an end to their trilogy with a huge TKO via punches in the first round to retain his throne.

However, the majority of 'The Passion’s rivals have been strikers, so it will be intriguing to see how well he responds to Brooks’ inside pressure at ONE 164.