Joshua Pacio not in a hurry for Jarred Brooks rematch but willing to take it if offered

Joshua Pacio is in no rush to try and regain his ONE strawweight world title, but if the opportunity is offered, he has no intentions of turning it down.

‘The Passion’ came up short in his ONE 164 title defense against ‘The Monkey God’ Jarred Brooks, losing the bout and the title via unanimous decision in front of his hometown crowd at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila. Speaking with ONE Championship, Pacio said he’s not asking for an immediate rematch, but if the chance presents itself, he will absolutely take it:

“I trained almost every day to improve. I’ll take this loss as a big lesson. I’m confident that I’ll come back stronger after this. I’m not in a hurry to regain my crown but if they offer me the rematch, I’ll definitely going to take it 100%. But if not, I’ll just continue to level up my game.”

Newly crowned strawweight champion Jarred Brooks revealed in his ONE 164 post-fight press conference appearance that his rivalry with Joshua Pacio is far from over.

In fact, ‘The Monkey God’ is willing to run it back with ‘The Passion’ when ONE Championship makes its long-awaited debut in the United States on May 5:

"This isn’t the end with Joshua Pacio. We were just talking about it too. So, I would love to give him another chance in Denver in the United States. He can come to my home turf and we can see where it goes from there."

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Jarred Brooks forced to use his striking against Joshua Pacio at ONE 164

Stepping into the circle for the ONE 164 main event, Jarred Brooks’ clear path to victory was his wrestling. Many expected ‘The Monkey God’ to drag Pacio to the mat and grind out a world title victory. Instead, Brooks was forced to get it done on the feet thanks to Pacio’s impressive takedown defense:

“I solidified my takedowns, like I said with the spinning back kicks and stuff like that. I would take advantage of that. But he was super strong. He did a very good job to alleviate anything I was trying to take him down with. He made me use my hands.”

Brooks also gave credit to his coaching staff who helped him evolve his striking skills ahead of the world title fight with Joshua Pacio:

"Shoutout to coach Glove at Glove University. Shoutout to my coach James Lee, he’s been working with my hands for a while. And shoutout to Justin Scoggins as well for helping me with my movement and my striking."