"Clearly the better fighter" - Jarred Brooks' stunning world title win over Joshua Pacio in Manila has fans proclaiming his dominance
Jarred Brooks's crowning glory as the ONE strawweight MMA world champion came in December 2022 at ONE 164, when he defeated Joshua Pacio in front of the latter's home crowd at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines.
Brooks executed his fight plan perfectly and swayed the judges into giving him the unanimous decision nod. The full fight replay of this intense first meeting between the two MMA stars was reposted by ONE Championship on YouTube recently. The caption read:
"Before former undisputed divisional king Jarred Brooks faces #3-ranked contender Gustavo Balart for the ONE Interim Strawweight MMA World Title at ONE Fight Night 24 on Prime Video on August 2, relive his heated first World Title encounter with current titleholder Joshua Pacio at ONE 164 in 2022!"
'The Monkey God' outstruck and outwrestled 'The Passion' throughout the 25-minute showdown, and fans took to the comments section to praise Brooks for his dominance. Users @napoleonbonaparte4410, @Vitalich70, @edmundpeternavarro1627 and @shaolin224 peppered him with positive messages through their comments:
"On their feet and on the ground, Brooks is clearly the better fighter of the two. "
"Brooks completely outplayed Pacio. Pacio couldn't do anything against Brooks - he was stomping around, throwing rare punches, but was always late."
"Brooks is a better fighter than Pacio. I was so frustrated with Pacio. He is not the same Pacio I have watched, poor performance."
"Brooks definitely wanted it more. I think Pacio felt the power and speed of Brooks in the first round and mentally, Pacio was intimidated the rest of the match"
Jarred Brooks' revenge tour starts at ONE Fight Night 24 against Gustavo Balart
Unfortunately, Brooks yielded the 26-pound golden belt to Pacio in their world title rematch at ONE 166: Qatar, losing by disqualification due to the unintentional head spike he committed in the opening round.
His road to redemption begins on August 2 at ONE Fight Night 24, when he faces the number three-ranked divisional contender Gustavo Balart for the ONE interim strawweight MMA world title in front of the Lumpinee Stadium crowd in Bangkok.
ONE Fight Night 24 will air live and free to all Prime Video subscribers in North America on August 2 during U.S. primetime.