Stefer Rahardian confident Jarred Brooks will eventually reign as strawweight king 

Stefer Rahardian considers American strawweight star Jarred Brooks a future ONE strawweight world champion.

In an interview with ONE, the 35-year-old Indonesian martial artist shared why he believes the fighter known as ‘The Monkey God’ will eventually become the new division king.

Rahardian had this to say on his fellow strawweight competitor:

“I think he’s one of the more dangerous athletes in the division and [he] has the biggest chance to be the next world champion. He's a great grappler and, in my opinion, he's one of the best!”

Rahardian has a point when it comes to Jarred Brooks’ grappling prowess. The Mash Fight Team star has used his wrestling skills to power him to a perfect 2-0 stretch in the Singapore-based promotion.

In his first outing last year, Jarred Brooks extended his career wins to 17 with his ruthless abilities on the ground versus Lito Adiwang. At ONE: Only the Brave, which emanated from the Singapore Indoor Stadium last Friday, January 28, ‘The Monkey God’ maintained his winning run against Japanese rival Hiroba Minowa.

The win pushed him up to No. 2 in the strawweight rankings. A date against top-ranked Bokang Masunyane or division king Joshua Pacio now looks even more likely to happen before the end of the year.

Jarred Brooks’ wrestling aside, Rahardian also pointed out that his experience competing in other promotions will make him a far tougher challenger compared to the rest of the athletes sitting in the ranked spots.

“His skills and also experience in fighting for other world organizations make him a tremendous opponent to tackle. I think being accepted to ONE, he would be more appreciated and welcomed. I believed that he felt underappreciated in his former promotions and here in ONE, he’s become more of an asset.”

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Can anyone stop Jarred Brooks in ONE?

Jarred Brooks has enjoyed two commanding wins in the promotion so far. Based on the manner of those victories, it seems clear that an athlete is going to need a very special performance to hand the American wrestling expert his third career defeat.

He has not tasted defeat in almost four years. On paper, he should be the favorite to continue his winning ways against Filipino sensation Pacio and South African star Masunyane.

Fans will be keeping a close eye on who the organization pairs him up against next. Should he take out the two names mentioned above, a stint at flyweight should present him with tougher opponents.

Demetrious Johnson, Adriano Moraes, Kairat Akhmetov and Reece McLaren are a few grappling-based athletes who would be a good test for Jarred Brooks in the 61.2kg division.