"I earned the belt through hard work" - Joshua Pacio's message to doubters who downplay his victory over Jarred Brooks

Newly crowned ONE strawweight MMA world champion and ex-Team Lakay member 'The Passion' Joshua Pacio of the Philippines is in a tough predicament.

On the one hand, he just reclaimed his golden belt in the most undesirable way possible - via disqualification. This has led many to opine that he doesn't deserve the belt at all.

On the other hand, Pacio put in months, if not years of hard work just to get to that point of challenging for the throne again. It's not his fault he was unceremoniously slammed on his head from an illegal spike by American rival 'The Monkey God' Jarred Brooks.

Pacio faced Brooks at ONE 166: Qatar a few weeks ago and was knocked unconscious by 'The Monkey God' in the opening moments of the first round, when he was suplexed onto his head.

Slams on the head, neck or spine are prohibited under ONE Championship's global martial arts rule set.

Speaking to Rappler in a recent interview, Pacio said he may not have gotten the belt in the way he wanted, but that he deserves it nonetheless.

'The Passion' said:

"As a mixed martial artist, I didn't like the way I won. But I know that I earned the belt through hard work, not just by myself, but with my team and the people who sacrificed their time to train me."

Pacio is now back in his native Baguio City, recovering from minor injuries and says he should be good to go soon. Fans expect a trilogy.

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Joshua Pacio on unfortunate end to Jarred Brooks rematch: "We all didn't want what happened"

According to Joshua Pacio, no one had expected the outcome of his rematch with Jarred Brooks to end in a disqualification.

The 28 year old superstar told The MMA Superfan in a recent interview:

"My training was pure quality, my training camp was pure quality. My nutrition was pure quality, everything was. We all didn't want what happened. Of course, I was just so upset with what happened."

See the full interview below: