“His takedown defense was kind of like Jose Aldo” – Jarred Brooks sees similarity between Joshua Pacio and retired MMA legend

Though he may have got his hand raised the first time around, Jarred Brooks has still gone back to the drawing board ahead of his rematch with Joshua Pacio.

The two top strawweights are set to meet once again at ONE 166 on March 1 at the Lusail Sports Arena in Qatar.

In their first encounter back in 2022 at ONE 164, Brooks got his hand raised but throughout the fight, he struggled to implement his grappling game.

The takedown defense of the defending champion kept him in the fight but it wasn’t enough to secure the victory.

This was a crucial lesson for Jarred Brooks, who gave Pacio his credit during a recent interview with the South China Morning Post, where he compared ‘The Passion’ to an all-time great champion that was notoriously hard to get down:

“His takedown defense was kind of like Jose Aldo. I mean it was really really good. He was planting his feet really really well, to where I couldn't lift his leg. But I've made some really really good adjustments and I think it's gonna show on March 1.”

Watch the full interview below:

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Jarred Brooks hasn’t lost his edge coming into ONE 166

Improving upon his performance the first time around against Joshua Pacio is motivating Jarred Brooks to continue pushing himself to new places.

The ONE strawweight MMA world champion isn’t resting on his laurels or coming into this one overconfident because of what happened in their first fight.

‘The Monkey God’ believes that he hasn’t lost any of his hunger after making it to the top of the division and he’s excited to show that in Qatar.

The adjustments he has made with his grappling will be a crucial aspect of the fight at the second time of asking.

ONE 166: Qatar will air live and free via Prime Video for North American viewers with an active subscription on March 1.