ONE Strawweight MMA World Champion Jarred “The Monkey God” Brooks often directs fiery and provocative statements at his rivals but, in this case, he’s giving Lito “Thunder Kid” Adiwang his flowers. 

This comes ahead of Adiwang’s long-awaited strawweight MMA rematch with Jeremy “The Jaguar” Miado at ONE Fight Night 16: Haggerty vs. Andrade this Saturday, Nov. 4, inside Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. 

Brooks was excited for Adiwang and Miado’s first scrap last year, so imagine his disappointment when the fight ended prematurely after Adiwang blew out his ACL, which resulted in the Filipino dropping to the canvas to console his knee mid-fight. 

He’s just happy to see Adiwang back on the grind. 

“It sucked for the way that it ended because they were both trading leg kicks pretty good. And I think that Miado has longer legs, so it definitely probably messed up [Lito’s] knee pretty good. But Lito looked good that last fight,” he said. 

For Adiwang to overcome that injury and come back more than a year later, looking better than ever, that deserved all the applause according to Brooks. 

It wasn’t an easy transition for the Filipino either, as while he was recovering he also had to move abroad following his former Team Lakay’s exodus. 

Should Adiwang rack up a few more wins, he’s someone who Brooks certainly wants to see next. 

“He had excuses last time. But bro, for the way that he handles his trials and tribulations and life — I look up to him,” he said. 

“I love Lito Adiwang. Hopefully, I get to see you next year, bro. You're a big pull and to beat you again would even make me bigger. ”

Should that fight happen, Adiwang shouldn’t expect Brooks to be this friendly. 

“Like I said in my first fight, I'm always a fan of Lito. I will always post Lito when he's not fighting me,” he said. 

“But when he's fighting me, he's another face. Like, I don't give a