Joshua Pacio vs Jarred Brooks

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The three-time and current ONE Strawweight Champion Joshua Pacio of the Philippines was defending his title against the American Jarred Brooks in the headline fight of ONE 171 in Qatar.

This was the third fight between the pair, with Brooks winning the first via a unanimous decision and Pacio taking the second after an illegal slam by the American.

Brooks started the fight on the front foot, immediately trying to close the distance to Pacio and hunt him down with his jab. Straight from the off, Brooks was switching his stance, trying to read his opponent and find openings to land his jab.

Carrying on from his explosive start, Brooks caught Pacio’s leg after an attempted head kick and slammed him to the mat, securing the bout’s first takedown. Pacio was using hooks from his bottom position to try and push Brooks off him, but the American retained his position as he searched for a submission.

Pacio tried to assert a single leg on Brooks but was unable to, leading to Brooks attacking his neck and attempting a guillotine submission.

Although he had been controlled on the mat for over three minutes, Pacio took little damage, with Brooks prioritising submission attempts rather than any real offensive damage.

After the majority of the first round was spent on the ground, Pacio momentarily returned to his feet before Brooks expertly took him back down and tightened his guillotine choke. Pacio was able to use his arms to loosen the choke and took the full mount position on the mat.

The first round ended with the champion landing some ground and pound strikes on his opponent, who was backed against the cage.

Pacio started much faster in the second round and landed a teep kick to the head of his opponent almost immediately. Brooks tried to respond with a big head kick of his own but was caught and dropped to the floor by his opponent.

The champion tried to work from his top mount position on the mat, landing elbows that had the power taken off them by Brooks’ block. However, consistent shots to the body caused Brooks to lift his guard, leading to some brutal elbows hitting their target.

Pacio continued to target the body of the American, who was trying to prevent his opponent from posturing up rather than trying to return to his feet.

Brooks managed to trap one of Pacio’s arms using a butterfly hook, but it didn’t stop the champion from raining down even more body shots, which were beginning to take their toll.

With the body of Brooks being weakened, the champion began to smell blood and started to target the head of the challenger, who desperately tried to kick him off.

The pressure eventually told, though, as Pacio finished the fight with a flurry of huge strikes to his grounded opponent, retaining his title in the process.

A promising first-round performance from the challenger was quickly shut down by the dominant champion, with this fierce rivalry ending here.