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The life of a fighter is tough, and often, the toughest decisions are the ones you have to make before stepping in the cage.
For Joshua Pacio, that moment came right before his rematch with Jarred Brooks at ONE 166. A pre-fight MRI revealed a tear in his knee. He had to make the decision - fight and risk worsening the injury, or withdraw and wait until the next opportunity?
In an exclusive interview with ONE Championship, the reigning ONE strawweight MMA world champion says he doesn't regret choosing to fight:
"There really are no regrets that I continued to fight. We wanted to continue to fight. We went to get it checked immediately through MRI, it showed a tear, but since it's fresh, we can't really determine the full extent of it. But I was walking comfortably, I was moving so I thought maybe this isn't a full tear."
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No one could have predicted how the fight would end: abruptly, with a disqualification victory in favor of Pacio. An illegal slam from Brooks took him out of the running, putting Pacio back at the top of the division - although not in the way he wanted.
"I really missed out" - Strawweight MMA champ Joshua Pacio regrets the time he lost due to injuries heading into ONE 171
With Joashua Pacio winning through disqualification, the Filipino fighter's ONE 166 victory was bittersweet. He had the belt, but the fight didn't go the way he wanted. He was also forced to sit in the sidelines for a year as he rehabilitated his busted knee, putting all his 2024 plans to a grinding halt.
Pacio said:
"You know when I started the year, I envisioned it to be an active year both in ONE and outside of it. Beat Brooks, defend my title, join jiu-jitsu competitions in both gi and no-gi. That's what I truly wanted. I wanted to improve my jiu-jitsu but I can't seem to do it. There are a lot of things I really missed out on because of the injury."
Now that his knee is back in top condition, Pacio can start to make up for lost time - starting with his upcoming title defense against Jarred Brooks at ONE 171: Qatar.
Catch the action live at watch.onefc.com.
