Joshua “The Passion” Pacio, 28, of La Trinidad, Benguet, Philippines is ONE Championship‘s mixed martial arts champion in the strawweight division again. Training out of Lions Nation MMA in La Trinidad, he dethroned Jarred “The Monkey God” Brooks, 30, of Detroit, Michigan, United States.
Pacio first won the ONE Strawweight World Championship belt on September 22, 2018. He lost it to Yosuke Saruta on January 19, 2019 but reclaimed it on April 12, 2019.
After successfully defending the title from Rene Catalan, Alex Silva and Saruta, Pacio was dethroned by Brooks on December 3, 2022. In 2023, the new champion went on hiatus.
For the first time, Brooks defended the title at “ONE 166“, the first ever ONE Championship event in Qatar. On the card were one boxing bout, one submission grappling contest, three Muay Thai matches and five mixed martial arts fights.
“ONE 166” was held at the Lusail Sports Arena in Lusail, Qatar on March 1, 2024. The eighth bout was the rematch between Pacio and Brooks.
After 56 seconds in the first round, referee Herb Dean stopped the fight. Brooks climbed the wall and celebrated while Pacio was still on the ground.
But the celebration of the fighter from Detroit was short-lived as he was asked to climb down. His ecstasy immediately turned into devastation as Dean explained to him his disqualification.
Shortly after, ring announcer Dom Lau declared Pacio as the new ONE Strawweight World Champion. Brooks was disqualified due to illegal spike after ONE Championship officials reviewed the video of the last seconds of the rematch.
The loss downgraded Brooks’ professional MMA record to 20 wins, 3 losses and 1 No Contest. Pacio now has 22 wins and 4 losses.
CONAN Daily 