KEY POINTS

  • ONE strawweight king Joshua Pacio is not amused with Jarred Brooks' antics
  • Brooks called out Pacio after defeating his teammate Lito Adiwang in October 2021
  • Hiroba Minowa is Brooks' next opponent in a potential title eliminator

Reigning ONE strawweight champion Joshua Pacio believes that Jarred Brooks is nothing to worry about when it comes to the title picture.

Pacio revealed as such in an exclusive conversation with the International Business Times.

“I really don’t care what [Jarred] Brooks says. He can talk all he wants. He says that I’m feeling the pressure, but for me, what’s happening in the strawweight division right now excites me. It really pushes me to become a better me the last time I entered the Circle. The next time I enter the Circle is going to be a more complete me,” Pacio disclosed.

Brooks had a successful debut with the Singapore-based promotion in late October after forcing Pacio’s teammate Lito Adiwang to tap to an arm-triangle choke in the middle of the second round.

Even before he had his first fight under ONE Championship, the 28-year-old UFC and Bellator veteran was already ruffling some feathers with his callouts, to which Pacio is no stranger to.

“The Monkey God” made it clear in the post-fight interview at ONE: NextGen III that he has his eyes on the last Team Lakay member to have gold around his waist and that the rest of the division should be aware of his coming.

The No. 4-ranked strawweight Hiroba Minowa is up next on Brooks’ hit list as they face each other on the lead card of ONE: Only The Brave on January 28.

Pacio agrees that the Brooks-Minowa fight must happen since the two ranked fighters are smack dab in the middle of the title picture.

But the 25-year-old Team Lakay member is not a fan of Brooks’ pre-fight antics, stating that trash talking is just one of the No. 3-ranked strawweight’s strategies of climbing the division’s rankings quicker, to which Pacio adamantly responds that he will not take part in.

Being the competitor that he is, Pacio wished both men luck in their upcoming fight as either of them could be his next challenger for the belt that he has held since April 2019.

“God bless to both of you and may the best man win,” Pacio said.

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