"No one's gonna back down" - Joshua Pacio guarantees 'explosive' world title unification war vs Jarred Brooks in Qatar
Reigning ONE strawweight MMA world champion Joshua Pacio is confident his trilogy with Jarred Brooks will be all gas and no brakes.
The Lions Nation MMA athlete locks horns with the Mash Fight Team standout in a world title unification contest that is set to headline ONE 171: Qatar, the promotion's hotly anticipated return to the Middle East this Thursday, Feb. 20.
Joshua Pacio claimed the 26 pounds of gold from 'The Monkey God' during the promotion's debut outing in Qatar last March. Brooks was handed a disqualification due to an unintentional spike early in their world title contest that saw the coveted gold change hands.
Talks of an immediate rematch and a rubber match, unfortunately, hit a standstill as Pacio's pre-fight injuries came knocking at his door again.
During his time away, the American fighter bagged the interim crown with a first-round submission of Cuban powerhouse Gustavo Balart.
With plenty of months to prepare and tension building up, both fighters have left no stone unturned to make sure they get their hand raised in this trilogy.
Joshua Pacio, however, refused to bite off more than he could chew in an interview with ONE Championship. Instead, the 29-year-old divisional king promised an all-out war between two of the finest strawweights on the planet today.
"I can't predict this fight. I don't like predicting. But this will be explosive, No one's gonna back down. I won't and I don't expect him to. And Jarred, I'm excited to see you again. Let's put on a great show for the fight fans," he shared.
Jarred Brooks admits he doesn't have nightmares about DQ loss to Joshua Pacio anymore
ONE interim strawweight MMA world champion Jarred Brooks is undoubtedly fired up to put memories of his disqualification loss to Joshua Pacio to bed.
That said, he told The MMA Superfan recently that the setback doesn't bother him as much as it did initially with his ultimate focus on acing his impending war.
He said:
"I don't think that I should be reflecting on past things, things that happened in the past. You have to think about living in the future and trying to be in the present at the same time. So the past is the past, man. I forget about wins. I forget about losses."
ONE 171: Qatar will be available to fight fans at watch.onefc.com this Thursday, Feb. 20.