Jarred Brooks down to meet "very beatable" Reece McLaren at flyweight: "We can get that popping"
Former ONE strawweight MMA world champion Jarred Brooks doesn't want to be be out of action for an extended period, since it was announced that current strawweight king Joshua Pacio will undergo lengthy surgery and recovery from his neck injury.
Brooks was closely watching the ONE Fight Night 22 card on May 3, which went down inside the legendary Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, as he looked for possible opponents during Pacio's hiatus.
Among the fights on the card, the one that caught his attention was the flyweight clash between ranked flyweight challengers Hu Yong and Reece McLaren.
That banger of a fight was discussed by 'The Monkey God' during his most recent interview with Sportskeeda MMA.
Jarred Brooks said:
"Yeah, instead of f***ing Hu Yong. I think that Hu is a beast, though. Hu is a G, bro. I f***ed with Hu. But, you know Reece McLaren, and I think that me and him would just [put on a show]. You know we have mutual respect, we both have families, you know, stuff like that."
Following the back-and-forth contest, which saw the Australian eke out a split decision victory, the 31-year-old liked his chance against him, as he continued:
"But you know, if you're going to put me in the 135 lb division, he's right there and I think that he's a very beatable fighter at 135 so whenever you guys want to mix that up, too, we can get that popping."
If that fight materializes, that would be Jarred Brooks' second bout in the 135-pound mark since he already moved up previously in August 2023 at ONE Fight Night 13, when he challenged Mikey Musumeci for the ONE flyweight submission grappling world title. However, he came up short and was submitted by 'Darth Rigatoni.'
North American viewers with an active Prime Video subscription can rewatch all the action from ONE Fight Night 22 via the free event replay.
Jarred Brooks glad that Joshua Pacio didn't suffer any major injuries at ONE 166: Qatar
Jarred Brooks is fresh off a disqualification loss from the ONE 166: Qatar card last March when he fought 'The Passion' for a world title rematch.
A misjudged and unintentional spike to Pacio's head was the cause of the decision.
Despite the loss, the Mash Fight Team representative was glad that the Lions Nation MMA representative didn't suffer any major injuries from that incident.