Filipino fighter Lito Adiwang sees Jarred Brooks using his striking to separate himself from fellow grappling ace Reece McLaren in their scheduled showdown this week in Thailand.
'Thunder Kid' shared this in an interview with Sportskeeda MMA as he broke down the fiery matchup between the topnotch grapplers, which is part of ONE Fight Night 26: Lee vs. Rasulov on Dec. 6 in Bangkok's Lumpinee Stadium.
Adiwang said to see Brooks' cause through, he expects 'The Monkey God' to make use of his improved striking game to complement his grappling play and be more potent come fight night.
He said:
Trending
Get the latest updates on One Championship Rankings at Sportskeeda and more
"But I think Jarred will dive in. He will try to strike, but I think his main thing would be to take Reece down and submit him."
At ONE Fight Night 26, Jarred Brooks, the interim strawweight MMA world champion, is going up a division higher as he tries to make a push for the vacant ONE flyweight MMA world title.
For his part, McLaren is also gunning for a shot at the vacant world title by building on his split decision victory in his last match in May over Hu Yong of China.
ONE Fight Night 26 will be available live and for free in U.S. primetime to North American fans with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription.
Lito Adiwang was surprised Jarred Brooks made the move up to flyweight
Lito Adiwang said he found it surprising that Jarred Brooks decided to move up to flyweight in his upcoming fight despite some unfinished business with reigning strawweight MMA world champion Joshua Pacio.
He brought it up in the same interview with Sportskeeda MMA, saying that after claiming the interim strawweight belt, he was expecting the American champion to go after the unification fight first with.
Adiwang said:
"Yes, I was a bit surprised. But I'm just surprised about the timing of it all. Because that's what I would probably do as well after getting the belt. But he's only holding the interim belt and he decided to move up already. So that's what I was surprised by."
Jarred Brooks lost the ONE strawweight world title to Pacio after being disqualified for executing an illegal spike during their title rematch back in March in Qatar. He, however, bounced back in August to claim the interim belt with a submission win over Cuban Gustavo Balart.
ONE Championship held a showdown for the interim strawweight belt as Pacio is out indefinitely because of a knee injury.
Despite going up to flyweight, Brooks has made it clear that he wants a trilogy title fight with Pacio to settle things once and for all.
