“Everybody knows I’m the true champion” – Jarred Brooks ready for other contenders as Joshua Pacio recuperates from injury

Former ONE strawweight MMA world champion Jarred Brooks recently spoke about his disappointing loss to Joshua Pacio at ONE 166 in March. 'Monkey God' lost his world title in perhaps the worst way possible - disqualification.

An errant slam led to Jarred Brooks inadvertently spiking 'The Passion' on his head, immediately causing a stop to the fight. It's quite unfortunate as the ending happened before the match truly started - barely a minute into the first round.

Apart from the injuries he sustained in the accident, Pacio will reportedly be out indefinitely due to a torn ACL.

In the meantime, Jarred Brooks is ready to take on all comers while the world champion is healing, telling Sportskeeda MMA on YouTube:

“At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter who they put me up against. Everybody knows I’m the true champion.”

Brooks can claim that he never lost the belt legitimately as an accident caused him to lose the strap. Either way, he will have to run it back with his Filipino rival to settle the score finally.

Watch the full interview here:

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Possible match-ups for Jarred Brooks while Joshua Pacio recovers

At the moment, two fighters are showing good potential for a possible match-up for 'The Monkey God' while the world champion is on the sideline - and one of them he has already beaten in the past.

No.2-ranked Bokang Masunyane lost to Brooks back in 2022 but has since bounced back with back-to-back dominant wins over Hiroba Minowa and Keito Yamakita, respectively.

The most enticing match-up at the moment is No.3-ranked Gustavo Balart, who is on a four-fight winning streak at the moment. His aggressive style and uniquely stout physique will present interesting problems for Brooks to solve.

With the Pacio-Brooks III bout still up in the air, perhaps these two match-ups can keep 'The Monkey God' active and ready while Pacio takes time away.