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ONE Championship strawweight MMA standout and ex-Team Lakay member 'Thunder Kid' Lito Adiwang of the Philippines shared his initial reaction to Jarred Brooks' head spike disqualification loss to Joshua Pacio back in March.
Brooks threw Pacio on his head in their ONE strawweight MMA world title rematch at ONE 166: Qatar earlier this year, where he surrendered the gold after the bout was unceremoniously called to a halt.
Adiwang, who is former teammates with Pacio, says he had prayed for his friend's safety as soon as he saw what happened.
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'Thunder Kid' told Sportskeeda MMA in an exclusive interview:
"When I watched that fight, I felt that being a champion was the least important thing at the time. I really felt bad for Joshua. I hoped and prayed that it wasn’t bad. Everything he has worked for in his entire fighting career will go to waste if he was injured badly there."
Throws on the head, neck, or spine are illegal in ONE Championship, and results in an automatic disqualification.
Brooks would eventually return to action months later, defeating Gustavo Balart to win the ONE interim strawweight MMA belt. Meanwhile, Pacio is still out due to an ACL injury he suffered in the year as well.
Lito Adiwang keeps it real in Jarred Brooks vs Joshua Pacio rivalry: "Wrestling and submission skills of Jarred are sharper"
'Thunder Kid' Lito Adiwang isn't going to sugarcoat things for his former Team Lakay stablemate 'The Passion' Joshua Pacio. The Filipino believes rival Jarred Brooks' wrestling is a class above the reigning champion's.
Adiwang told Sportskeeda MMA:
"In my honest opinion, after having fought Brooks and having trained with Joshua, both are at the championship level, but the wrestling and submission skills of Jarred are sharper than Joshua’s. That’s what I see."
Needless to say, fans are excited to see an inevitable unification bout between Pacio and Brooks in the near future.
