Jarred Brooks says Gustavo Balart was "born and bred to wrestle" like Cuban MMA icons Hector Lombard and Yoel Romero
Jarred Brooks faces an interesting challenge on his return to action at ONE Fight Night 24.
Though his skill set is always improving and evolving, there's no denying where the former strawweight MMA world champion is at his strongest.
His wrestling pedigree has become a defining factor of his run in ONE Championship where his pace and pressure have proven to be too much for every opponent.
There is, however, a competitor in the same weight class that also brings an extremely high level of wrestling to the table.
Gustavo Balart previously represented his home country of Cuba at the Olympics over a decade ago and he now uses this as the foundation for his MMA game.
Cuba has been a real force in the international wrestling scene for some time, partly because of the dedication that their athletes must go through.
In a recent interview with ONE Championship, Brooks compared his next opponent to some of the other Cuban wrestling stars that have made their way to MMA over the years. He said:
"He probably has been growing up in these Cuban Olympian camps like with Hector Lombard and Yoel Romero - all these guys that are born and bred to wrestle."
Jarred Brooks must show that he is the better fighter
Getting into an ego wrestling contest with Gustavo Balart is certainly not the best approach for Jarred Brooks at ONE Fight Night 24.
If he wants to leave Lumpinee Stadium with the interim strawweight MMA title, the former champion needs to show that he is better than his opponent overall.
Wrestling with Balart would be playing into his opponent's hands but Brooks has shown that he is always improving with each fight.
This will be crucial for him come fight night where he will likely need to rely on other attributes to come away with the win.
ONE Fight Night 24 will air live in US Primetime, free of charge for Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.