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ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong is pumped to showcase Joshua Pacio and Jarred Brooks’ intense rivalry with the rest of the world.
On December 3, two of the best 125-pound fighters on the planet will vie for the ONE strawweight world title in the main event of ONE 164. ‘The Passion’ will be defending his gold strap in front of a raucous Filipino crowd at the Mall of Asia Arena. The event will mark the promotion’s return to Pacio's home country after over two years.
In a recent guest appearance at CNN Sports Desk to promote the event, Sityodtong stressed that there is more at stake in this bout aside from the right to be called king of the strawweights.
The ONE executive said:
“So the Philippines card we're going to have, literally it's the Philippines versus the world. We're going to have obviously Joshua Pacio versus Jarred Brooks. A lot of bad blood there. It's going to be a super exciting world title fight, beamed around the world, in 134 countries.”
Catch the full interview below:
To be fair, the brewing bad blood appears to be one-sided, as Brooks has continued to throw verbal assaults directed at Pacio’s way every single chance he gets.
The unassuming Filipino warrior, for his part, has simply taken those criticisms in stride and laughed off his challenger's never-ending trash talk. As far as Pacio is concerned, his fists will do the talking once the circle door closes between them come fight night.
The 26-year-old is looking to complete his fourth straight world title defense, having turning back Rene Catalan, Alex Silva, and Yosuke Saruta in his last three bouts.
Joshua Pacio convincingly ended his rivalry with Saruta by taking him out in the first round in his last appearance inside the circle.
Relive this amazing TKO win by Joshua Pacio at ONE: Revolution last year:
Brooks, on the other hand, has racked up three straight impressive victories to earn a shot at the Filipino superstar.
Jarred Brooks says he and Joshua Pacio will try to “kill each other”
After toning down his verbal tirade recently, Jarred Brooks is back to throwing shade at Joshua Pacio as their fight looms.
'The Monkey God' recently appeared in an interview with MMA Sucka and discussed in graphic detail how he’ll decimate the reigning strawweight world champion come December 3.
The American said he’s expecting the proud Filipino striker to go for broke in their bout. Brooks, after all, will be doing the same. He shared:
"I’m super excited for this bout and it’s years in the making so it’s gonna be definitely not a doozy. We’re gonna be going out and trying to kill each other, I wanna get this done in the first two rounds and see where it goes from there. I’m looking forward for it man, there’s nothing that’s gonna be stopping me on this fight."
Catch the interview below:
