ONE strawweight MMA world champion Jarred Brooks sounded a warning to former divisional king Joshua Pacio for their scheduled title rematch later this year at ONE Championship’s first-ever live on-ground event in Qatar.

‘The Monkey God’ will defend his world title for the first time against ‘The Passion’ at ONE 166: Qatar on March 1. It will be a repeat of their first encounter in December 2022 in Manila, where the American fighter took the strawweight gold from Pacio by unanimous decision.

In a recent interview on FightWave, the 30-year-old champion shared that he sees him retaining the title in the rematch but with a more potent finish than the decision outcome last time around.

Jarred Brooks said:

“I’m not really worried about what he has in his game plan. I know that he has a new nutritionist and stuff like that but like bro, nothing’s going to change and I think the outcome is going to be worse for him.”

Watch the interview below:

Apart from retaining the ONE strawweight MMA world title, at ONE 166: Qatar Jarred Brooks is also looking to bounce back after failing in his attempt to snatch the ONE flyweight submission grappling world title from Mikey Musumeci in an all-champion clash in August.

Joshua Pacio, meanwhile, has since rebounded from the loss to Brooks, defeating Russian wrestler Mansur Malachiev in October by unanimous decision.

ONE 166 will take place at the Lusail Sports Arena in Qatar. It will air live on March 1 via global pay-per-view on watch.onefc.com.

Jarred Brooks pumped up for return at ONE 166 in Qatar

Jarred Brooks cannot wait for the day he defends the ONE strawweight MMA world title and said he is ready to mix it up come fight night.

The American champion, who is fighting out of Mash Fight Team, will try to retain his championship belt in a rematch with Filipino fighter Joshua Pacio at ONE 166 in Qatar on March 1.

He is eying another victory over ‘The Passion’, who he dethroned by unanimous decision in their first title encounter in December 2022 in Manila.

In a recent Instagram post, ‘The Monkey God’ expressed his excitement over his scheduled return to action in ONE Championship’s debut event in Qatar.

His post was captioned with:

“Less than two months out cannot wait to claim again what I work very hard for ! My consistency and mental aptitude and fans and supporters is why I am where I am .LETS DO THIS AGAIN LEAVE A COMMENT IF YOUR TEAm Monkeygod”

Brooks has been on an impressive run in ONE since making his promotional debut in November 2021. However, he is coming off his first defeat when he vied for the flyweight submission grappling world title in August but lost to reigning king Mikey Musumeci in their all-champion clash.