“You are a great champion” - Joshua Pacio tells rival Jarred Brooks not to feel sorry after scary end to ONE 166 world title match

All's well that ends well between bitter rivals Jarred Brooks and Joshua Pacio.

Brooks was defending the ONE strawweight MMA world title in one of the three world championship bouts at ONE 166, but his defense against Pacio ended in a harrowing disaster.

Although he was going up for a routine takedown, Brooks inadvertently spiked Pacio’s head to the canvas in a move that is illegal under the Global Mixed Martial Arts Rule Set.

Pacio eventually won the match and the gold via disqualification, but he wasn’t able to celebrate the victory since he was quickly rushed to the hospital.

Although they shared loads of bad blood that stemmed from their first matchup in December 2022, Joshua Pacio and Brooks share great respect.

Brooks was visibly devastated by not just the result but also the way Pacio lost consciousness. Fortunately, the Filipino star assured ‘The Monkey God’ that there’s no need to worry.

In an Instagram post, Pacio revealed he and Brooks got to talk the incident over, and there’s no animosity between them following it:

“This is a dangerous sport we play in! Anything happens inside the circle. Jarred and I work hard to put on a show for everyone. But at the end of the day, only athletes understand what athletes feel because they know the journey, the sacrifices, the blood and the sweat, and how much time they put into it. My brother @the_monkeygod, you don’t need to be sorry because you didn’t do anything wrong, you didn’t let anybody down remember that.”

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Joshua Pacio promises to run it back with Jarred Brooks

The rivalry between Jarred Brooks and Joshua Pacio is far from its climax.

After Brooks claimed the ONE strawweight MMA world title at ONE 164, it was evident that he would defend it against Pacio in an expected rematch.

That rematch ultimately transpired in Qatar, but not in a way everyone expected it to end. Nevertheless, Pacio promised his old rival that they would run it back one more time once the dust had settled.

In the same Instagram post, Joshua Pacio wrote:

“You are a great Champion, a great Person, and a great Father. Every one of us has our own struggles, and I understand yours, brother, remember that Jesus is always there for us, and He loves us so much❤️ I'm so happy to see and hug you a while ago and have a little chat with you. Love you bro🤝 I will recover as soon as possible, and we will run it back again💪🏽.”

ONE 166 is available on free replay to all Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.