“I’m focused on what I have” – Ex-strawweight king Joshua Pacio puts past with Team Lakay in rear-view mirror

Current top-ranked strawweight MMA contender Joshua Pacio has moved on from his departure from Team Lakay and all the noise surrounding it as he shifts his focus on reclaiming his world title.

Pacio shared this during his most recent interview with ONE Championship ahead of his ONE strawweight world title rematch with Jarred Brooks on March 1 at ONE 166. The event is set for the Lusail Sports Arena in Qatar.

‘The Passion’ stated:

“Yes. I’ll just leave it at that. Right now, I’m focused on what I have at this very moment. That’s the past. God has been able to provide everything I need for this training camp.”

The former world champion officially parted ways with the famed team in March 2023 and said that he came up with the decision for the further development of his professional career.

Joshua Pacio has since joined former Team Lakay teammates and world champions, Eduard Folayang and Kevin Belingon, at Lions Nation MMA.

This move started a series of departures from the Baguio-based gym.

The 28-year-old is coming off a unanimous decision victory against Mansur Malachiev in October 2023 at ONE Fight Night 15 to redeem himself from that defeat by Brooks in December 2022.

His victory over the Russian athlete also booked him a second date with ‘The Monkey God.’

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Joshua Pacio claims that he is ready to take on Jarred Brooks wherever their fight goes

With the constant development and improvement of his MMA skills, Pacio is confident that he can take Brooks no matter where their fight goes, as he expects another wrestling-heavy approach from the defending world champion.

Pacio is not the only one confident about his chances for his crack at Brooks because his former teammate and Filipino MMA star, Lito Adiwang, is also looking forward to seeing him show up in this highly anticipated rematch.

ONE 166: Qatar is available live and for free to all Prime Video subscribers in North America on March 1.