Joshua Pacio reclaims ONE strawweight MMA world title after Jarred Brooks gets disqualified for illegal slam

Photo Credit: ONE Championship
Photo Credit: ONE Championship

It was a shocking turn of events in the first of three massive ONE world title fights at ONE 166: Qatar as ONE strawweight MMA world champion Jarred Brooks returned to defend his world title against the man he took it from more than a year ago, Joshua Pacio.

Twenty seconds into the contest, Jarred Brooks put his wrestling skills on display, working Pacio up against the fence almost immediately. Near the one-minute mark of the opening round, ‘The Monkey God’ lifted Pacio off the ground and appeared to KO ‘The Passion’ via a violent slam on the mat. Referee Herb Dean quickly stepped in, appearing to signal the end of the contest.

However, an instant replay revealed that Brooks had spiked Pacio directly onto the top of his head, which is an illegal maneuver. As a result, Brooks was disqualified, and Joshua Pacio was declared the winner via DQ.

Official Result: Joshua Pacio defeated Jarred Brooks via DQ (spiking the head of his opponent during a takedown) at 0:56 of round one (ONE strawweight MMA world championship)

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It was an unfortunate turn of events for Brooks, who was making his first appearance since claiming the title against Pacio at ONE 164 in December 2022.

No post-fight interviews were conducted, but we can only assume that Joshua Pacio will be immediately dispatched to a local hospital.

With the victory, ‘The Passion’ becomes a six-time ONE strawweight MMA world champion and lived up to his reputation as the ‘Rematch King,’ though certainly not in the way that he had hoped. As for Jarred Brooks, ‘The Monkey God’ fell to 4-1 in mixed martial arts competition under the ONE banner and 20-3 overall.

It is the first disqualification of his career.

It will be curious to see if the promotion opts to book an immediate rematch between the two strawweight MMA superstars, but the most important thing is to ensure that Pacio does not sustain any serious or permanent damage following the scary scene at ONE 166 in Qatar.

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Edited by C. Naik
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