“I learned to trust God more” – Joshua Pacio shares the biggest lesson he learned in 2023

The world of combat sports is nowhere near to being a constant stream of success, as an untimely injury or a sudden defeat could derail any sort of momentum that a fighter has built up for themselves.

Former ONE Championship strawweight MMA world champion Joshua Pacio knows the feeling all too well.

In December 2022, 'The Passion' took on the biggest challenge of his young career when he looked to defend his title and place atop the mountain against talented wrestler Jarred Brooks.

Although he put up a spirited effort and even survived a nasty rear-naked choke attempt from 'The Monkey God', it was simply not enough for the judges as they awarded Brooks with the unanimous decision victory.

Pacio later admitted that he holds no grudge over Brooks, but his warrior spirit pushed him to continue improving as shown in his win over Mansur Malachiev at ONE Fight Night 15.

In an interview with ONE Championship, the Filipino MMA star shared what his biggest learning over the past year was:

“My biggest lesson this year is learning to trust God more. No matter where the situation I end up in, if I feel lost and I feel like nothing’s happening, I learned to trust God more, trusting his plans for me and the next moves for me.”

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Pacio eyes redemption in rematch with Brooks

The La Trinidad, Benguet, star will not have to wait long to get his hands at Brooks again. They will clash inside the ONE circle once again at ONE 166 on March 1 in Qatar.

There is no doubt that either man would want a definitive finish in the rematch, and Pacio certainly would want to reunite for a third time with the ONE strawweight MMA world championship.