Jarred Brooks compares Pacio’s takedown defense to the legendary Jose Aldo

‘The Monkey God’ Jarred Brooks revealed that he was so impressed by Joshua Pacio’s takedown defense at ONE 164 that he even compared him to the legendary Jose Aldo.

The explosive event took place on December 3 in Pacio’s own backyard in the Philippines. Despite putting on a heroic performance in front of his countrymen, the Filipino stalwart ultimately came up short in retaining the world title.

At the post-event presser, Jarred Brooks said he knew Pacio was going to be tough but admitted to being caught off guard by Pacio’s strong and effective takedown defense.

Following up with ONE Championship on the subject, Brooks was asked if there was a moment in the fight when he felt it wasn’t going to go his way, to which he responded:

“In the second round, I did have a single leg and I was like, 'Oh sh*t. He's actually doing really good defense right now. It's like Jose Aldo's defense.' When I take people down, I take people down. And when I want to get a takedown, I get a takedown. And he did a really good job of nullifying my takedowns in the second and third.”

As many MMA fans would recall, Jose Aldo was the king of takedown defense. According to UFC Stats, Aldo has a takedown defense rate of 91%, a rate that is still unmatched in the MMA circuit today.

To compare Pacio’s defensive game to Aldo’s is, therefore, a humbling experience for someone whose bread and butter has always been wrestling.

---

Jarred Brooks wants Joshua Pacio rematch to be on US soil

Jarred Brooks will consider an immediate rematch against Joshua Pacio on the condition they fight at ONE on Prime Video 10 in the United States.

Brooks had mentioned before that it would be a dream come true to fight on his home turf. With ONE Championship recently announcing its first US event in Colorado in 2023, Brooks wants to be included on the main card.

Speaking to ONE about a potential rematch with Joshua Pacio in the new year, the American wrestler set the conditions for his rival with the following proposition:

“If they wanted to give Josh a rematch, that’s perfectly fine. So it’d be a good story. I went to the Philippines for him and his own country. He comes to the United States on May 5, and fights me in my home country. That’d be cool.”