Filipino world champion Joshua Pacio finally gets a chance to prove who is the real champion as One Championship on Monday evening announced his return next year.
And it will be a familiar foe for Pacio, the reigning ONE Strawweight MMA World Champion will square off with interim king Jarred Brooks of the United States in a highly anticipated World Title unification bout.
“ONE 171: Qatar is already shaping up to be one of the biggest spectacles of the year. Jonathan Haggerty is a certified superstar, but he is set to face one of his toughest tests yet in Chinese icon Wei Rui. I also can’t wait to see the third fight between Joshua Pacio and Jarred Brooks to determine who will reign supreme as the undisputed ONE Strawweight MMA World Champion,” said ONE CEO and chairman Chatri Sityodtong.
Since Brooks joined the world’s largest martial arts organization in 2021, he has been calling out the Filipino kingpin.
After three dominant promotional victories, he finally faced Pacio and defeated him via unanimous decision to claim the ONE Strawweight MMA World Title in December 2022.
But when the two rematched at ONE 166: Qatar this past March, the American inadvertently slammed Pacio on his head, an illegal maneuver that led to a disqualification and saw the belt awarded back to the Filipino star.
A torn ACL sidelined Pacio for the rest of the year, but now that he’s healed up, he is ready to step back into the Circle.
Brooks has remained busy since that disqualification loss.
In August, he defeated Gustavo Balart to capture the ONE Interim Strawweight MMA World Championship. “The Monkey God” would also receive a BJJ black belt from his coaches following the victory.
Then just days ago, he moved up a weight class to begin his run at two-division gold. The American pushed #4-ranked flyweight MMA contender Reece McLaren to the limit at ONE Fight Night 26, but he walked away with a narrow split-decision loss.
In February, he returns to the strawweight division where he looks to unify the belts and settle his unfinished business with Pacio. NLMonitor
