"The GOAT of the GOATs" - Jarred Brooks pays tribute to newly retired MMA icon Demetrious Johnson

During his time in ONE Championship, Jarred Brooks has pushed to secure one specific fight for very personal reasons.

Conquering the strawweight MMA division was always his primary goal upon his arrival in the promotion back in 2021. Having won the title only to lose it again, the current interim champion is still working his way toward achieving total domination of this weight class.

After he became champion for the first time at ONE 164, Brooks started calling for a matchup that he said was his dream fight. Just one weight class above him sat flyweight MMA world champion and martial arts legend, Demetrious Johnson.

Unfortunately for Brooks, he never did get his wish after Johnson announced his retirement at ONE 168 in Denver. 'Mighty Mouse' was a big inspiration to 'The Monkey God', so competing against him was only ever because he respects him so much.

In an interview with BODYSLAM .NET, Brooks gave his reaction to Johnson calling time on his career:

"Demetrious Johnson is one of the reasons why I wanted to do this in the first place. And I thank him for that. And I definitely put him upon the GOAT of the GOATs."

Watch the full interview below:

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Jarred Brooks has new goals to pursue now

With the dream fight against Demetrious Johnson no longer being an option, Jarred Brooks can turn his attention to other bucket list accomplishments.

His main focus is on unifying the strawweight belts once his former foe Joshua Pacio is back healthy and ready to compete once again.

Making the jump up to flyweight is still something that could be on the horizon for Brooks, especially if he is able to keep winning at strawweight.

Just because 'Mighty Mouse' is no longer there, doesn't mean that he can't try to become a two-weight world champion if everything falls into place for him.

The replay of ONE 168: Denver is available on demand for Prime Video subscribers in North America.