“Can’t wait to show him what we’re about” - Joshua Pacio excited to welcome Jarred Brooks to the Philippines

ONE strawweight king Joshua Pacio is excited to welcome Jarred Brooks to his home turf in Manila, Philippines on December 3.

The long-awaited world title bout is finally coming to fruition at ONE 164 after their first match was canceled last June due to “scheduling conflicts.”

Now that COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted in many parts of Southeast Asia, the promotion is making its way back to the Philippines to host another smashing headliner over two years after their last appearance on the island nation.

Speaking to ONE Championship, the Team Lakay representative shared how he was thrilled by the prospect of performing in his native homeland and defending his world title against Jarred Brooks:

“Man I’m so excited for this fight, it’s been a long time coming. At the same time, I’m super pumped for the Philippines to have ONE Championship events again. It’s going to be fun to defend this belt in front of the Filipino people. I’m looking forward to competing on this card, and I hope a lot of my other Team Lakay teammates are on the card too.”

He further added:

“And of course, I’m excited to welcome Jarred Brooks to the Philippines and can’t wait to show him what we’re about.”

Joshua Pacio is the Philippines' last remaining world champion this year, so there are a lot of expectations heading into his next world title defense. The 26-year-old phenom has had an amazing run of four straight wins, beating former world title holders such as Alex Silva and Yosuke ‘Tobizaru’ Saruta in order to achieve world championship status.

Regarded as one of the best strikers and wrestlers on the roster, the man who will be looking to defeat Pacio in front of his home crowd is the No. 1 contender, Jarred Brooks.

It’s no secret ‘The Monkey God’ is aiming to give Pacio the biggest beatdown in ONE’s history which should certainly make for an entertaining end-of-the-year showdown.

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Joshua Pacio reveals that the “enemy is not something to be taken lightly”

Joshua Pacio understands that the biggest threat he is facing right now is Indiana native Jarred Brooks. Brooks is not only an incessant trash-talker, he’s also got the skills to back it up.

Prior to the official announcement of their upcoming fight on Tuesday, Joshua Pacio had been anticipating a future showdown over the last few months. According to the Filipino star, he’s been taking this fight seriously. Speaking to Lockerroom MMA, 'The Passion' explained:

“More on drills, and honing techniques. And of course, still learning new things. We know that the enemy is not something to be taken lightly. So, more on, we are working on our wrestling… All our tools, all our weapons coming up to this fight.”