Joshua Pacio banking on hometown fans in title defense against Jarred Brooks

Reigning ONE strawweight world champion Joshua Pacio will be drawing inspiration from Filipino fight fans when he defends his title against former UFC fighter Jarred Brooks in the main event of ONE 164 on December 3 at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.

Pacio, 20-3 as a mixed martial arts fighter, is coming off a sensational technical knockout over Yosuke Saruta in September last year. He is especially excited about his upcoming bout because ONE 164 would be the promotion’s first event in the Philippines since January 2020.

“Finally after two years, ONE Championship is back here in the Philippines! I’m really excited because the last time I fought there was no audience and hopefully there will be one when we do the event here in the Philippines,” Pacio said.

“It motivates me even more because I’ll be defending my world title in front of my countrymen and I hope that I won’t be the only fighter from the gym to fight in this card. I wish that there’d be five or even six of us from Team Lakay so that it’ll be an awesome experience.”

The pair were supposed to fight in June but ONE Championship canceled the bout citing a scheduling conflict. One of the most anticipated matchups in Asian MMA, Pacio would mark a fourth successful defense of his gold-plated strap should he overcome Brooks in December. — LA, GMA News