Joshua Pacio vows to showcase heavy improvements after loss to Jarred Brooks

At ONE 164, Joshua Pacio was unable to defend his strawweight world championship for the fourth consecutive time. Pacio lost a unanimous decision to Jarred Brooks in front of his home fans in Manila and now needs to rebuild.

After their fight turned into a heated grudge match due to the build-up, December 3 became a highly anticipated day with a world championship match-up that got a lot of attention.

In the fight, Pacio was unable to showcase the skills that had led him to becoming the world champion in the first place. The Team Lakay fighter became known for his explosive striking, but his opponent was able to nullify that threat for the majority of the contest.

In an interview with ONE Championship, Pacio spoke about his plans for 2023:

“I’m always ready to fight. I want to stay active and compete as much as I can this 2023. I will come back stronger no matter what. I guarantee that you will be seeing a different Joshua Pacio in my next outing and will do my best to put that belt again around my waist.”

Pacio hasn’t been the most active fighter on the roster since the COVID-19 pandemic. Fighting just once per year over the last three years, ‘The Passion’ will look to reassert himself in the strawweight division in the coming 12 months.

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Jarred Brooks talks about Joshua Pacio’s takedown defense

Jarred Brooks was successful in his world title fight against Joshua Pacio. Brooks beat the long-reigning champion via a unanimous decision to capture the strawweight world championship at ONE 164.

After the main event in Manila, Brooks was left impressed by Pacio’s skills. ‘The Monkey God’ has been able to use his wrestling background to dominate all of his opponents inside the circle, but he had issues getting the then-defending champion to the floor.

In the ONE 164 post-event press conference, Jarred Brooks said:

"[Joshua Pacio] was tripping. He tripped in the first round, so that wasn’t even necessarily a takedown. If you train with anybody I train with, I take them down. And that’s in the United States. So kudos to Joshua Pacio for having amazing takedown defense. That’s like Jose Aldo-level takedown defense."

Comparing Pacio to the former WEC and UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo is very high praise. Over his 14-year-long career, the Brazilian great had a takedown defense average of 91%.