It is rare to see ONE strawweight MMA world champion Joshua Pacio outright frustrated at his opponent. One such instance occurred at ONE: Legends of The World in November 2017, where he faced fellow Filipino Roy Doliguez.
Pacio caught 'The Dominator' in a guillotine choke midway through the opening round, and Doliguez attempted to escape by any means possible. In the process, he poked 'The Passion' in the eye.
Entering the second round, an incensed Pacio exited his corner to engage Doliguez, and he made the Elorde MMA product pay with a superb spinning backfist knockout at the 38-second mark.
Check out Joshua Pacio's knockout win below, which ONE shared on Instagram:
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The only other time that Pacio fought with such anger was in defense of the 125-pound MMA crown against Jarred Brooks in December 2022. Banking on his usual antics, 'The Monkey God' fired volley upon volley of trash talk towards Pacio, leading to a heated staredown ahead of ONE 164.
Despite a hearty showing, the 29-year-old surrendered the gold to Brooks via unanimous decision.
Last March at ONE 166, Pacio reclaimed the throne after Brooks was disqualified for spiking the Filipino spitfire on his head during a takedown attempt — an illegal move in ONE's global ruleset.
Jarred Brooks eager to end Joshua Pacio rivalry on his terms
Recently crowned interim strawweight MMA king Jarred Brooks is prepared to give it his all in his upcoming trilogy fight with Joshua Pacio at ONE 171: Qatar on Thursday, Feb. 20. The Lusail Sports Arena in Lusail, Qatar, will host the event.
Taking to his Instagram account ahead of their ONE strawweight MMA world championship unification bout, Brooks wrote in the caption of the post:
"Coming for what is mine! I will dig and dig to get to the gold. Nothing stopping me but me."
Tickets for ONE 171 are available at Q-Tickets.