All's well that ends well: Joshua Pacio a-ok, aiming for trilogy with Jarred Brooks
At A Glance
- Fans of now-ONE Strawweight MMA World Champion Joshua "The Passion" Pacio can rest easy after the Filipino dynamo avoided severe injury in his World Title clash against former king Jarred "The Monkey God" Brooks at ONE 166: Qatar this past Friday, March 1.
Fans of now-ONE Strawweight MMA World Champion Joshua “The Passion” Pacio can rest easy after the Filipino dynamo avoided severe injury in his World Title clash against former king Jarred “The Monkey God” Brooks at ONE 166: Qatar this past Friday, March 1.

Things didn’t go exactly as planned for the two men. Though Pacio walked away with the World Title on his shoulders, he did so by way of a Brooks disqualification.
Just 56 seconds into the bout, Brooks picked Pacio up and inadvertently slammed him on his head, causing the DQ finish.
Upon seeing the slam on replay, Brooks was highly apologetic and promised that he had no ill intentions toward his rival.
In fact, the American was delighted to hear that Pacio was cleared of any major injuries, and he even had breakfast with the Filipino and his team the next day.
“My brother, I am so happy to see you and give you a big hug!! Glad to see you’re happy and healthy,” Brooks said on Instagram.
Though he felt he escaped severe consequences from the slam, Pacio accepts that these are the risks that athletes take each time they compete.
“This is a dangerous sport we play in! Anything [can] happen inside the Circle,” Pacio said.
“Jared and I worked hard to put on a show for everyone. But at the end of the day only athletes understand what athletes feel because they know the journey, the sacrifices, the blood and the sweat, and how much time we put into it.”
He also cleared Brooks of any wrongdoing, saying that the American doesn’t have to be sorry for the accident.
“My brother [Jarred], you don’t need to be sorry because you didn’t do anything wrong. You didn’t let anybody down, remember that,” he said.
“You are a great champion, great person, and a great father.”
When “The Passion” recovers, he promises to give Brooks his rematch.
“I will recover as soon as possible,” Pacio said. “And we will run it back again.”