“Those guys didn’t get knocked out” - Jarred Brooks offers interesting double take on Joshua Pacio DQ last March

Former ONE strawweight MMA world champion Jarred Brooks lost his title by disqualification to Filipino rival Joshua Pacio after he got a red card for executing an illegal slam that saw his opponent hit the canvas head first. He, however, believes that it was not all him to blame for it as 'The Passion' also had something to do with it.

'The Monkey God' saw his title reign cut short after just one defense by Pacio back in March at ONE 166 in Qatar. He was DQ'd for the highly dangerous slam he did on his opponent in the opening round.

In an interview with the FightWave YouTube Channel, Jarred Brooks gave an interesting double take on what went down in his last fight, highlighting, with the benefit of hindsight, how Pacio could have forced him to such a situation to avoid compounding the ACL injury he already had.

The brazen American fighter said:

"I understood that the rules were the rules, but I picked the guy up and dropped him down just like what I do in practice. And those guys didn't get knocked out, they landed on their feet, which led me to believe that Joshua didn't wanna land on his feet because he had a torn ACL in that fight."

Watch the full interview below:

The Brooks-Pacio title fight was a rematch of their first encounter in December 2022, where the Indiana native seized the strawweight belt from the Filipino fighter by unanimous decision.

Pacio is currently out indefinitely for his ACL injury, moving ONE Championship to hold an interim championship match for the division.

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Jarred Brooks moving on from DQ loss to Joshua Pacio

Jarred Brooks felt bad for losing the ONE strawweight world title by disqualification to rival Joshua Pacio, but he said he is ready to move on from it, beginning with his push for the interim strawweight belt later this week.

The former divisional king will battle Cuban veteran Gustavo Balart for the interim title at ONE Fight Night 24 on Prime Video on Aug. 2 at the Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

ONE Championship is holding an interim title fight in the division as Pacio is out indefinitely for the ACL injury he sustained even before he took on Brooks in their title rematch in March.

Jarred Brooks is looking to notch a victory at ONE Fight Night 24 to put himself in a position for a unification match at some point against Pacio and return as the undisputed strawweight king.

Seeking to foil his bid is Balart, who is on a hot streak, winning his last four matches heading into the contest.

ONE Fight Night 24: Brooks vs Balart on Prime Video will be available live and for free on U.S. primetime to North American fans with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription.