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Former strawweight MMA king Joshua Pacio promises to return better than ever when he steps inside the Circle for ONE 166: Qatar at the start of next month.
‘The Passion’ has his back against the wall in this contest against Jarred Brooks for the strawweight crown, which will be one of three world title rematches inside the Lusail Sports Arena on March 1.
Ahead of this fight, the divisional king has stuck to what he does best, throwing one attack after another to the Lions Nation MMA representative.
Joshua Pacio hasn’t taken anything to heart, though. He doesn’t want to fall victim to ‘The Monkey God’s’ typical mind games and take his focus off what unfolds on the global stage.
Speaking to ONE Championship, the 28-year-old said:
"I know he has a surprise for me, but I also have a surprise for him. Right now, we’re doing our best to prepare for and anticipate all possible scenarios."
Joshua Pacio wants to ‘fight with no hesitation’ in Brooks redo
After studying his fight against Brooks at ONE 164 in December 2022, the top-ranked strawweight MMA contender believes he has taken down all the necessary notes to even his rivalry with ‘The Monkey God’ to one apiece.
Apart from failing to implement his usual aggressive style against the Mash Fight Team star in the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines, ‘The Passion’ senses that he lacked the firepower when it mattered most, something he aims to rectify next week.
In the aforementioned interview, Joshua Pacio added:
"Yes! That’s the goal of this training camp — to fight with no hesitation. In this rematch, I must fight the way I really fight."
Apart from Pacio and Brooks’ world title rematch, Thanh Le and Tang Kai unify the featherweight MMA gold in the co-main event.
Meanwhile, Anatoly Malykhin hopes to become MMA’s first three-division world champion when he contests for Reinier de Ridder’s middleweight strap in the main event.
ONE 166: Qatar will be available to North American fans with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription on March 1.
