ONE strawweight champion Joshua Pacio defends his belt against No. 1 contender Jarred Brooks in ONE: Pacio vs. Brooks on June 3, 2022 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore.
Pacio, 26, is riding a four-fight winning streak since losing his belt to Yosuke Saruta in a rematch in 2019. He beat Saruta twice, former champion Alex Silva and fellow Pinoy Rene Catalan.
Pacio hasn’t stepped foot inside the cage for eight months since knocking out Saruta in the third round of their second rematch.
Brooks, 29, came into the ONE Championship by storm after a one-fight stint at Bellator. He immediately made his presence felt in the strawweight division after submitting one of the fastest rising prospects, Lito Adiwang, with an arm triangle choke in the second round in 2021. Adiwang is Pacio’s teammate at Team Lakay.
Brooks followed up his impressive win with a convincing unanimous decision over another contender in Hiroba Minowa last Jan. 8. He finally earned the No. 1 spot after a first round rear-naked choke of No. 1 rated strawweight Bokang Masunyane last April 22.
Pacio, the last remaining Filipino champion in the ONE Championship, is 20-3 with nine wins by submission and seven wins by knockout.
Brooks, a former UFC fighter is 19-2 with eight wins by submission and two wins by knockout.
On the other hand, Pacio’s teammate, Jenelyn Olsim is also seeing action on the same card. Olsim faces Brazilian Julie Mezabarba.
Olsim lost her last fight against Indian star Ritu Phogat via unanimous decision in the ONE Atomweight Grand Prix semifinals last year.
Mezabarba’s last fight was also in the semifinals of the Gran Prix, wherein she lost to eventual Grand Prix winner Stamp Fairtex by unanimous decision.