At A Glance
- After a fairly quiet few weeks, ONE Strawweight MMA World Champion Jarred "The Monkey God" Brooks is finally sounding like himself again.
After a fairly quiet few weeks, ONE Strawweight MMA World Champion Jarred “The Monkey God” Brooks is finally sounding like himself again.
Ever the instigator, Brooks has fired the first shot at Joshua “The Passion” Pacio ahead of their rematch for the ONE Strawweight MMA World Title at ONE 166: Qatar on March 1 inside Lusail Sports Arena.
“The Monkey God” posted an image of himself on Instagram in his signature walk-out mask while wearing a Team Lakay shirt with the words “Team Lakay Redemption” on the graphic.
He then doubled down in the caption, stating how he’s going to beat Pacio for Team Lakay head coach Mark Sangiao – someone who saw eight of his prized fighters leave last year in a surprising exodus from the most powerful MMA team in the Philippines.
“They all left. Losing shows how much people want to win,” Brooks said. “This is for coach Mark.”
For Sangiao, he’s thankful for Brooks’ words of support, but he left it at that, insisting that he’s taking nothing personally.
“We are thankful to him since he does recognize the team and me,” Sangiao said.
“I think this is nothing political nor personal, he just expressed his opinion. If I can remember, he did mention that he will come here to the Philippines to train with Team Lakay.”
Coincidentally, the last time Pacio and Sangiao were together on one team was when “The Passion” lost his strap to Brooks at ONE 164 in the Philippines via unanimous decision.
Months later, Pacio joined Eduard Folayang to form Lions Nation MMA, bringing along former World Champions Kevin Belingon and Honorio Banario. Soon after, contenders such as Danny Kingad, Stephen Loman, and Jeremy Pacatiw joined the fray.
Will Pacio’s decision to leave Team Lakay work wonders for him in this rematch against Brooks? Or will Brooks ultimately prove that the team wasn’t the issue in their previous match?
Both questions will be answered when they square off in Qatar on 1 March.