“There’s no tune-up fight” - Joshua Pacio says it was imperative to unify world title against Jarred Brooks after his injury

Joshua Pacio isn't one to take a tune-up fight after a lengthy spell with injury and recovery.

The reigning ONE strawweight MMA world champion is jumping straight into the deep end when he faces off against his archrival Jarred Brooks in their unification match for the undisputed ONE strawweight MMA world championship in the main event of ONE 171: Qatar.

Pacio's trilogy fight against the ONE interim strawweight MMA world champion goes down on Thursday at Lusail Sports Arena.

In an interview with Nick Atkin for the Bangkok Post, Joshua Pacio said he doesn't want to slowly get into his rhythm after sitting out much of 2024 due to a knee injury.

"Nah. We’re here. I’m the number one. He’s number one. I’m the champion. He’s the champion. There’s no tune-up fight," he said.

Pacio and Brooks are embroiled in probably the fiercest rivalry in ONE Championship history.

While they remain friendly and cordial outside the cage, the two are absolute monsters inside of it.

The pair split their head-to-head meetings at 1-1, with Brooks taking the first win and Pacio tying the count in the second.

Brooks drew first blood when he dethroned Pacio for the ONE strawweight MMA world title in the main event of ONE 164 in December 2022 in Manila.

Pacio ultimately evened the score at ONE 166: Qatar in March 2024, but it wasn't a win that the Filipino superstar often talked about in previous interviews.

'The Passion' regained the ONE strawweight MMA world title via disqualification after Brooks inadvertently slammed his head to the canvas in their world title rematch.

ONE 171 will be streamed live at watch.onefc.com.

Watch Pacio's interview below:

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Joshua Pacio doubles down on his past world title win over Jarred Brooks

Just like any fighter, Joshua Pacio wants nothing more than to win via the best way possible.

His previous win over Jarred Brooks was far from the best in his book.

In an interview with ONE Championship, Pacio said reclaiming the ONE strawweight MMA world title via disqualification wasn't the way he wanted to return to the top of the division.

"Looking back at this year, all I can do is to thank God still. I know that he’s in control. Me winning that belt, I look at it as still God giving me what I wanted, but not how I wanted it."