ONE Interim Strawweight MMA World Champion Jarred Brooks and ONE Strawweight MMA World Champion Joshua Pacio are forever linked together by their prior two meetings on the global stage.
Now, on Thursday, February 20, at ONE 171: Qatar, the third chapter of their incredible story will be written.
Returning to the scene where he lost his title by disqualification against Pacio in 2024, Brooks is ready to erase those bitter memories and unify the gold to ensure his spot in strawweight history.
“I think that this is a huge opportunity for me to bounce back and to show people I am a true champion and one of the best mixed martial artists in ONE Championship, if not any promotion in the world,” Brooks revealed to ONE in an interview.
“The Monkey God” understands that he and Pacio will always be mentioned alongside each other through their careers.
Much like other great MMA trilogies that are etched into the storybooks, Brooks believes the arc of this tale makes their upcoming meeting even more enticing to fans.
“People are excited to watch this trilogy bout and see who can bury the other person once and for all. I think that Joshua is an amazing person, an amazing mixed martial artist. He’s had his championship run,” the American said.
“But my wife and my family are way too important for me to not go out there and give it my all and be the best me that I can possibly be. I think that I am capable of doing that on February 20.”
The preparation has already been done, and while the 32-year-old enters in the best shape of his career to go five full rounds, “The Monkey God” wants to end the main event as quickly as he can.
“My goal is to get the finish very early. I don’t want to sit in there for too long. Everybody’s dangerous that I fight now, so I want to get him out of there quick and clean,” Brooks said.
“But if not, I do want to show my diversity in changing styles rapidly, and I think that I can do that at a good pace, as well, to where it can make somebody think. And it can make somebody not believe in themselves and their styles as much as they think they do.”
Since their meeting at ONE 166: Qatar, Pacio has been out of action nursing injuries while Brooks has been active in competition. Regardless, the Michigan resident is expecting nothing less than the best possible version of Pacio to show up in Qatar.
“I think that Joshua has been training hard coming off of an ACL surgery. He’s doing the things that he’s supposed to do as the champion that he is, and I’m doing the things that I’m supposed to do as the champion that I am. The trash talk, all of that, that’s all in the past. There’s no need for trash talk,” Brooks said.
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