Jarred Brooks Upends Joshua Pacio, Claims ONE Strawweight Championship

After an extremely heated faceoff between ONE Championship's top strawweights prior to fight night, the time for talking finally came to an end and Jarred Brooks fulfilled his destiny by dethroning longtime strawweight titleholder Joshua Pacio.

Much like their interactions in past months, both men wore their hearts on their sleeves as the distinction of being ONE Championship's strawweight king hung in the balance.

Pacio had not seen his name on the losing end since January 2019 against former rival Yosuke Saruta, and his loss to Brooks is certainly a shocker to most of his Filipino supporters, save for a few.

International Business Times sports editor and local combat sports analyst Nissi Icasiano noted ahead of the fight that this matchup was as even as it can get.

"I'm not exaggerating things. This is going to be the most intriguing fight... It's going to be a tactical, but explosive, fight. I expect a lot of momentum shifts from bell to bell if it goes the distance," he mentioned on a local podcast.

The fight was immediately on between the two rivals as soon as the opening bell rang, with "The Monkey God" immediately taking Pacio down to the mat.

However, "The Passion" threatened with a possible guillotine choke in return.

Pacio showed flashes of him being a danger to an overeager Brooks as he landed a massive upkick that appear to have stunned the challenger.

Brooks seemed to have taken a breather to start the second round after exerting so much effort in trying to negate the champion's advantage in the striking game.

With about 20 seconds left on the clock, Brooks shot for a takedown that Pacio was easily able to defend against which was the story for much of the second round.

The third round was witness to Pacio's investment in draining Brooks' stamina with frequent shots to the body, but the challenger was still able to land some credible hits on the champion with some blows to the face here and there.

Pacio continued to invest in bringing down Brooks' energy with a torrent of body shots–though brooks may have swung the momentum in his favor with a dangerously close rear-naked choke attempt.

As the Filipino crowd feared for Pacio's safety in the dying seconds, "The Passion" flexed his arms as if to signify that he was still growing strong and had more than enough to finish the fight.

In the final round, Pacio caught Brooks' flying knee attempt and threatened to finish the fight on the ground, but the challenger was more than ready for it.

With a minute remaining on the clock, Brooks appeared to have secured the title after taking Pacio off his feet once again.

ONE Championship announcer Dominic Lau took the center of the cage and read the judges' final decision: a unanimous decision in favor of Brooks.

On what's next for his career, "The Monkey God" made it clear that he wants one thing: Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson.

"You know whatever ONE Championship wants to give me, but I mean I would love to fight Demetrious Johnson. I have the utmost respect for you, but I would love to share the cage with you, win or lose," Brooks mentioned.

In the co-main event, Superlek Kiatmoo9 and Panpayak Jitmuangnon battled it out for the better part of three rounds as the former took home the victory via split decision.

The bout was originally scheduled to be for the ONE Flyweight Muay Thai Grand Prix Championship, but both men were deemed ineligible to claim the title after they failed their pre-fight tests.