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Former ONE strawweight MMA world champion Jarred Brooks proved that he's not only a champion in combat sports but also a champion in life, as he was more concerned about his rival Joshua Pacio's safety than losing his 26-pound golden belt to him after an accidental head spike during their championship rematch.
Brooks and Pacio fought for the second time in March 2024 at ONE 166: Qatar, but the former hit the latter with an unintentional foul that caused him an injury on his neck.
ONE Championship recently published this great show of sportsmanship on Instagram, and wrote the video's caption with:
"Heart of a champion ❤️ Can former divisional king Jarred Brooks claim the ONE Interim Strawweight MMA World Title against Gustavo Balart on August 2 at ONE Fight Night 24 on @primevideo? @the_monkeygod"
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As seen in the video, Brooks did not even protest his own defeat but was visibly upset with himself for committing the accidental spike. Also, he immediately checked on Pacio a day after the incident to make sure that he was okay and out of any serious danger.
'The Monkey God' even shared a meal with 'The Passion' and his team to talk about what happened and wished him a successful road to full recovery.
Jarred Brooks continues his road to redemption with ONE interim world title fight with Gustavo Balart
Aside from the neck injury, Pacio also suffered an ACL injury in April, which would require surgery. This means that the reigning strawweight MMA king will be out indefinitely from action.
With this development, the world's largest martial arts organization has decided to keep the division busy by booking Brooks in a ONE interim strawweight world title match against the number three-ranked contender Gustavo Balart on August 2 for the main event of ONE Fight Night 24, which goes down inside the legendary Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
This will be the 31-year-old American's road to redemption and his outright ticket to book a unification fight with the Filipino MMA star when he returns from the aforementioned injury.
ONE Fight Night 24 will air live and free to all Prime Video subscribers in North America on August 2 during U.S. prime time.
