“Blessed to be a fighter” - Jarred Brooks recalls the difficult grind he went through before achieving MMA greatness
Jarred Brooks is undoubtedly enjoying the current landscape of mixed martial arts, but there was a brief moment early in his career when the sport was still trying to find its footing.
Before MMA became the mainstream sporting juggernaut it is today, the sport was considered a niche and sometimes vilified form of prizefighting.
Brooks, who's now 31 years old, recalled how different MMA was in the early 2000s compared to the lucrative business it is today.
Taking to Instagram, Jarred Brooks wrote:
"I'm a '90s baby, I got to see the start and rise of MMA. Really cool to be a part of it. I'm so old I was using smelling salts as an amateur in between rounds when I was 14. Love this game. Blessed to be a fighter, something 0.99999 of the population can do, let alone win a world championship."
The former ONE strawweight MMA world champion started his professional career in 2014 and quickly became one of the best fighters in the regional scene.
Brooks found himself in the UFC in 2017 and by 2021, signed with ONE Championship, where he began his quest of becoming the best 125-pound fighter on the planet.
'The Monkey God' went on an unstoppable four-fight winning streak that culminated at ONE 164 when he beat Joshua Pacio for the ONE strawweight MMA world title in Manila.
Brooks, however, relinquished the throne when he inadvertently spiked Pacio's head to the canvas and lost via disqualification at ONE 166: Qatar earlier this year.
Jarred Brooks takes a shot at interim gold against Gustavo Balart at ONE Fight Night 24
A few months after stepping away from the throne, Jarred Brooks has a chance at interim gold when he faces Gustavo Balart in his next match.
Brooks will face Balart for the ONE interim strawweight MMA world title at ONE Fight Night 24 on August 2 at the historic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium.
Joshua Pacio, who currently holds the ONE strawweight MMA world title, is out indefinitely after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament and ONE Championship deemed an interim world title fight was necessary between Brooks and Balart.
ONE Fight Night 24 is available live and free to all Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.