The much-awaited strawweight title bout between reigning champion Joshua Pacio and Jarred Brooks is set to highlight the return of ONE Championship in Manila.
ONE Championship recently announced the headliner for ONE 164 slated Dec. 3, making it the first event of the Singapore-based promotion here in the country since January 2020.
International Business Times was first to report the development on Friday, Aug. 26.
The bout was initially scheduled in June but was postponed due to several conflicts.
Both Pacio and Brooks have been trading jabs online and Dec. 3 finally marks the day where the two strawweight stars clash in front of the Filipino crowd.
Interestingly, the 26-year-old Pacio, who remained the lone Filipino champion in ONE, defended his stawweight title against Alex Silva in ONE: Fire & Fury last January 2020.
The Team Lakay stalwart, since recapturing the belt last April 2019 against Yosuke Saruta, had three successful title defenses against the likes of Rene Catalan, Silva, and Saruta anew -- which marks the end of the fabled rivalry in the trilogy's conclusion.
Pacio improved to 19 wins and three losses.
Brooks, 29, for his part, also had 19 wins with two losses.
He had three straight victories since his ONE debut and taken down the likes of Lito Adiwang, Pacio's teammate, Hiroba Minowa, and Bokang Masunyane to become the top-ranked fighter in the strawweight division.