“Just like kids watching 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin, I was watching Bas Rutten" - Jarred Brooks says his fighting family got him into MMA

Just like any impressionable kid, Jarred Brooks got into fighting after watching his dad do it. ONE Championship’s No.2 strawweight contender said his love of fighting began with his family.

'The Monkey God' witnessed his dad, uncle, and great uncle all become wrestling state champions in Indiana.

In an interview with The Fight Library, Brooks mentioned that he was an early fan of mixed martial arts and would often watch pioneers Bas Ruuten, Kevin Randleman, and Wanderlei Silva.

Jarred Brooks said:

“My dad he pretty much [introduced me to fighting] like all families. We’re a bunch of fighters. My dad, my uncle, my great uncle, were all state champs for Indiana wrestling and they just scrapped in the streets. They pretty much paved the way for me to go in and do what I do now.”

Despite the WWE’s Attitude Era running wild in the late 1990s, Brooks said he was watching the early MMA shows instead of 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin, 'The Rock', and 'The Undertaker':

“My dad has always been big into the UFC, the old Shooto fights, Pride, like that so I grew up watching it. Just like kids watching 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin, I was watching Bas Rutten, I was watching Kevin Randleman and all those guys.”

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Jarred Brooks believes he can beat any 125-pound fighter

Jarred Brooks is set to face Bokang Masunyane in a title eliminator at ONE 156: Eersel vs. Sadikovic this Friday at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. The winner is slated to take on ONE strawweight world champion Joshua Pacio in the near future.

Despite his all-important match against Masunyane, the No.2 contender, Brooks is looking ahead to bigger cross-promotional fights.

According to Brooks, his end goal after defeating Pacio is to unify the 125-pound titles of ONE Championship and the UFC:

“My future goal is to get to that point to where the UFC is at a standstill at the flyweight division, and the whole promotion too, and ONE Championship is growing so much to where we cross-promote. I fight Deiveson Figueiredo again, or the champion or whoever, Brandon Moreno, Askar Askarov, all those guys just let me at ‘em. I’ll show that I’m the best flyweight in the world.”