MMA News: Lito Adiwang, Jarred Brooks Set To Headline ONE: NextGen III After Delays

Lito Adiwang and Jarred Brooks will finally face each other in the main event of ONE: NextGen III on November 26.

The two were originally scheduled to meet in April at ONE on TNT 2, but the Team Lakay representative tested positive for COVID-19 and the bout was pulled from the card.

Brooks and Adiwang have been trading veiled jabs at each other, even involving ONE strawweight champion Joshua Pacio.

“I think he’s a well-rounded fighter. He has a lot of capabilities, and he’s shown that he can grow,” Brooks said of the champion Pacio according to Tiebreaker Times.

“But yeah, I’m there to rip him apart and show everybody around the world that I’m the best in the world. I love you, Josh, but I got to come in there and make my dues.

However, Pacio responded to Brooks’ claims and told him to face Adiwang first.

“Let’s make that match [against Lito Adiwang] happen first and let’s see if Jarred [Brooks] is really ready to rip me apart.”

“Jarred [Brooks], I am sending more love to you, but if in the future you get to face me, I'm telling you now, I'm not giving you a nice walk in the park,” warned Pacio in July as quoted by ABS-CBN.

Meanwhile, Adiwang stressed that the fight delay gave him more time to prepare for the grapple-heavy fighter.

“Last time I had a short preparation for him, so we just focused on his strengths and weaknesses and I looked at the things where I can dominate him,” Adiwang mentioned via ABS-CBN.

“I think his game plan was to take me down and try to control me on the ground and get that submission, so the plan was to try and surprise him with a submission of my own on the ground.”

A gifted striker in his own right, Adiwang is coming off an explosive three-round affair with China’s Hexigetu, taking home the unanimous decision victory at ONE: Revolution last September 24.

Brooks has traveled around the world, racking up wins in major promotions like the UFC, Bellator and Pancrase before deciding to join the Singapore-based promotion.

The American grappler complimented everyone in the promotion but considers himself one of the best strawweights in the world.

He will have a chance to establish himself as a potential contender for Pacio’s title down the road if he can first get past Team Lakay’s Adiwang in November.