Joshua Pacio (left) loses ONE strawwweight crown to Jarred Brooks. –ONE CHAMPIONSHIP
MANILA, Philippines—Jarred Brooks stayed true to his word and took down Joshua Pacio to claim the strawweight world title on Saturday at ONE 164 at Mall of Asia Arena.
Fighting with calculated aggression, Brooks executed the perfect game plan en route to a unanimous decision win.
“Utmost respect to Joshua Pacio,” said Brooks, who was very vocal about knocking out Pacio in leading up to their showdown.
“I know I have choice words… I love the Filipino people. I really wanna show my heart. I’ve been the heel a lot my last fights and I’m a good person.”
Jarred Brooks takes the back! 🤼♂️ @The_monkeygod#ONE164
🇺🇸🇨🇦🇹🇭🇬🇧🇸🇦🇧🇷 Live on ONE YouTube
🌍 Live on https://t.co/eBUfsODAFL pic.twitter.com/Lb9jhWHjhx— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) December 3, 2022
With Pacio’s loss, the Philippines and Team Lakay are left without a world champion.
Pacio reclaimed the strawweight strap in April 2019 and successfully defended it thrice before Brooks knocked him off his perch.
It was a mixed bag for the Philippines in ONE Championship’s return to the country with a handful of fighters coming out victorious on home soil.
In this morning’s ONE Fight Night 5 also at MOA Arena, Denice Zamboanga and Jackie Buntan hurdled their foes but Team Lakay stalwart Eduard Folayang suffered a second-round stoppage at the hands of Brazil’s Edson Marques.
Former world champion Geje Eustaquio also got his bid to get into title contention derailed with a first-round knockout by China’s Hu Yong at ONE 164 while long-time mixed martial arts heavyweight Brandon Vera called it a career after losing to Amir Aliakbar by technical knockout.
But Team Lakay found a silver lining in Jhanlo Sangiao, son of coach Mark Sangiao, who scored a dominant victory over fellow Filipino Anacleto.
Drex Zamboanga, Denice’s older brother, and Jeremy Pacatiw also led the Filipino winners.