Joshua Pacio eager to settle score with Jarred Brooks

Reigning ONE strawweight world champion Joshua Pacio is raring for a trilogy with his American rival Jarred Brooks.

Brooks defeated Pacio in 2022 and the Filipino wanted to avenge his defeat when they met inside the cage earlier this year in Qatar. The bout, however, ended via disqualification after the American slammed Pacio on his head barely a minute into the fight.

It was an anticlimactic ending and to make it worse, Pacio apparently suffered an ACL injury leading up to the fight that put him on the sideline. Though in recovery, the Filipino champion laments that he is looking forward to fighting Brooks again.

"The thing between me and him is an unfinished business. It needs to be settled, and I am determined to be the one to finish it," Pacio said.

With Pacio temporarily out of the picture, ONE Championship made a fight between Brooks and Gustavo Balart for the ONE interim strawweight title earlier this month where the former won via submission in round one.

To nobody's surprise, Brooks called out Pacio shortly after the fight, one that the latter heard loud and clear.

"I heard him loud and clear. I’m doing my best in my recovery. I’m just here, Jarred. Wait for me, I’m not going anywhere. A third fight against Brooks is exactly what I want," Pacio stressed.

—JKC, GMA Integrated News