Jarred Brooks believes ring setting eliminates Gustavo Balart’s key strength: “He can’t try to hold me up against the cage”
Jarred Brooks believes fighting in a ring rather than a cage will eliminate Gustavo Balart's biggest weapon.
Emanating from the legendary Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, 'The Monkey God' will meet Balart in the ONE Fight Night 24 headliner for the interim ONE strawweight MMA world championship.
With their highly anticipated title tilt taking place in the Mecca of Muay Thai, the two strawweight warriors will fight in a ring rather than in the more traditional Circle. Speaking with the promotion, Brooks suggested that the ring setting would play in his favor as it takes away one of Balart's strongest attributes.
“You're gonna get everything in mixed martial arts in this spectrum, and I'm glad that it's in a ring, so he can't try to hold me up against the cage," Brooks said.
This will be Jarred Brooks' first time competing on martial arts' biggest global stage since suffering a devastating disqualification loss against Joshua Pacio at ONE 166 in March. After inadvertently spiking 'The Passion' on the top of his head, the bout was stopped and Brooks was stripped of the undisputed strawweight MMA title.
If he can bounce back and earn a big win over Gustavo Balart, he'll set the stage for a trilogy fight with Pacio who currently sits as the reigning strawweight king.
Jarred Brooks isn't overly concerned with Gustavo Balart's wrestling
Though Jarred Brooks believes he'll have a stylistic advantage in the ring, he still expects 'El Gladiador' to try and tucker him out with his wrestle-heavy approach.
“The only thing that will get me tired is maybe like a super heavy grappling exchange to where you almost catch me," Brooks added. "But I don't see Gustavo doing that.”
Balart goes into his first ONE world title opportunity sitting on a four-fight win streak, his most notable victory coming in January against fourth-ranked contender Hiroba Minowa at ONE 165 in Tokyo.
Will Balart extend his unbeaten streak to five and book himself a clash with Joshua Pacio, or will 'The Monkey God' take a step toward reestablishing himself as the strawweight division's top dog?
ONE Championship fans in the United States and Canada can watch ONE Fight Night 24 live and for free via Amazon Prime Video in U.S. primetime on Friday, August 2.