“Let's run it back in Manila” - Jarred Brooks eyes return to the Philippines for Joshua Pacio trilogy match
Newly crowned ONE interim strawweight MMA world champion 'The Monkey God' Jarred Brooks of the United States has secured a highly anticipated third bout with reigning divisional king 'The Passion' Joshua Pacio.
Brooks took care of business against Cuba's 'El Gladiador' Gustavo Balart at ONE Fight Night 24 on Prime Video last week, capturing the interim strawweight MMA throne with a first-round rear-naked choke victory.
He's expected to run it back with Pacio for a third time, although the Filipino is currently recovering from an ACL injury and is out indefinitely.
Speaking to the media at the official ONE Fight Night 24: Brooks vs. Balart on Prime Video post-fight press conference, Brooks said he wants to face Pacio as soon as possible and even offered to do it on the Filipino's home turf.
'The Monkey God' said:
"Joshua Pacio, if he's still on the back end, and he ends up getting better, and his knee feels better, and his neck feels better then let's run it back in Manila. We can run it back in the United States. November 8th, maybe somebody will back out. Maybe something big will happen there."
Jarred Brooks drops two names in the hat if Joshua Pacio won't be ready soon
In the likely case that Joshua Pacio isn't ready to unify the strawweight belt this year, Jarred Brooks has a few options. And he's listed them down below.
He told ONE:
"So I show people that I'm willing to take all and I'm not worried about anybody else in the division. So if they want to give me Keito Yamakita for another interim belt, or if they want to give me Sanzhar [Zakirov]. With Sanzhar, he's only really had one fight outside of the top 10. So I think Yamakita would be a good fight for me. But Sanzhar, hey, I'm not worried about you either. You can beat all these guys that are just coming up, but when you hit that top five, we'll see just how good you are."
ONE Fight Night 24: Brooks vs. Balart took place live from the historic Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, on Saturday, August 3rd. Fans in the United States and Canada can catch all the action via replay on-demand on Amazon Prime Video.