Jarred Brooks reiterated his plans to showcase a new version of himself when he returns to action next month.
Earlier this year, Brooks' fighting career was turned upside down when he unintentionally spiked Joshua Pacio on his head at ONE 166: Qatar. 'The Monkey God' was disqualified for the illegal maneuver, leading to him being dethroned from his ONE strawweight MMA world title and Pacio becoming the new king.
On August 2, the American superstar looks to bounce back against Gustavo Balart at ONE Fight Night 24.
There are added stakes for the grappling-heavy matchup, as an interim ONE strawweight MMA world champion will be crowned due to Pacio suffering a torn ACL while training, which postpones his return until further notice.
During an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda MMA, Brooks had this to say about his plans to showcase an improved version of himself at ONE Fight Night 24:
"This is my chance to right my mistakes from the past fight. I've said this in a couple of interviews and yeah, this is gonna be a new Monkey God. Everything much better and so on. So yeah, the evolution is gonna be there for sure."
ONE Fight Night 24 goes down inside the legendary Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
The August 2 event headlined by Jarred Brooks vs Gustavo Balart can be seen live and for free by North American and Canadian viewers with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription.
Watch the fight-ending sequence of Brooks vs Pacio 2 below:
Jarred Brooks looks to secure inevitable trilogy bout against Joshua Pacio
Gustavo Balart is riding a four-fight winning streak, including a split decision win against No.4-ranked Hiroba Minowa last time out. Therefore, Jarred Brooks won't be overlooking his upcoming challenge at ONE Fight Night 24.
That said, Brooks and Joshua Pacio know they have a score to settle. In December 2022, 'The Monkey God' dethroned Pacio of his ONE strawweight MMA world title. As previously mentioned, 'The Passion' later regained the throne due to the disqualification at ONE 166: Qatar.
Whether it's early 2025 or later, Brooks and Pacio must fight for a third time in a must-see rubber match. Firstly, the American superstar is focused on taking out Balart to add more ONE gold to his collection.