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‘The Monkey God’ Jarred Brooks believes he can muster a dominant victory over his next opponent, Lito ‘Thunder Kid’ Adiwang of the Philippines.
The two athletes throw down in the circle at ONE: NextGen III, a previously-recorded event from the Singapore Indoor Stadium that airs via tape delay on Friday, November 26.
Jarred Brooks and Lito Adiwang were initially scheduled to fight in early April. However, that bout was postponed when Adiwang contracted COVID-19. Since then, Jarred Brooks has been vocal about Adiwang, who is the No. 5-ranked fighter in the ONE strawweight division.
Heading into their matchup at ONE: NextGen III, Jarred Brooks won’t let up. In a recent interview with ONE Championship, Jarred Brooks had this to say about Adiwang:
“Whatever Lito brings towards me, I'm going to shuck it off like it's a street fight. If he's trying to bring his punches towards me, I'm going to treat him like knives. I'm going to be ducking and dodging and dip and diving and dodging just like dodgeball rules.”
However confident Jarred Brooks is, the American is fully aware of Adiwang’s legitimate threats. Adiwang is one of the most dangerous young fighters in ONE Championship, and features a thunderous striking repertoire.
Jarred Brooks, who holds a 16-2 (1 NC) professional record, warned his opponent that he had never faced anyone like him. ‘The Monkey God’ wants to put on a show and remind every athlete in ONE’s strawweight division about his arrival:
“I'm definitely ready to go out there and show the people and all of Asia that there is a new guy in town. I'm ready to beat Lito a little bit better than Hiroba Minowa or the other people that have beaten him. He's going to try to take my head off. This guy is a killer. Don't get me wrong. He's going against a very, very intelligent fighter and a very strong fighter. And if he thinks that I'm going to be like Hexigetu or even like Hiroba then he's definitely mistaken.”
Jarred Brooks has not fought since December 2019. Adiwang, on the other hand, has picked up three impressive wins during this timeframe.
A victory for Jarred Brooks could land him in top five
Despite his inactivity, Jarred Brooks feels a debut win against Adiwang can be the start of something special. With Adiwang ranked fifth in the division, Brooks could very easily leapfrog him in the rankings.
That would, in effect, bring Jarred Brooks closer to his ultimate goal of challenging reigning ONE strawweight world champion Joshua Pacio.
He will no doubt have to make his case inside the Circle. Jarred Brooks also knows that several athletes are keeping him from the top spot. Though he does not entirely agree on how the athletes are ranked, he promises to do everything he can to prove his doubters wrong:
“Yeah, he [Adiwang] is in the top five, and he seems like a gatekeeper in the division right now. I think that beating him would definitely put me in the top five. I’m excited to fight him, and I’m excited to show everybody that I can beat the king of the division. People like Bokang Masunyane, he beat Rene Catalan, and he beat him in a good fashion. Don't get me wrong, but I mean, he's next to get a title. That doesn't really make sense because he hasn't fought too many people at 115 that have been really good. Rene Catalan is good, but he's like 42 years old.”
