Joshua Pacio unfazed by career-defining ONE bout with Jarred Brooks

Despite all that Joshua “The Passion” Pacio has accomplished in mixed martial arts, he’s not ready to talk about his legacy just yet.

The reigning ONE strawweight world champion, who defends his strap against dangerous Jarred “The Monkey God” Brooks in the main event of ONE 164 on Saturday, December 3, at the Mall of Asia Arena, knows that he’s in for a career-defining match but doesn’t want to think about the implications of a win.  

At 26, Pacio’s résumé precedes him.

He holds the record for most wins in ONE’s strawweight division (9), most ONE world title fights at strawweight (7), and the most number of ONE world title wins at strawweight (5), making him by far the most successful Filipino on ONE’s roster.  

But a talk with one of his seniors helped him put his career into perspective.  

“Of course this is a very big match, but one man told me, ‘Don’t buy into your legacy for now. You’re only 26 years old, you still have a lot of things to do.’ I believe him because our time here is short and I know that I have to keep on working to make the most out of my time,” Pacio said.  

“That’s why I don’t think about my legacy. My focus is on improving myself every time. Working hard – triple-time – and concentrating on myself and how I can reach my full potential and inspire the next generation. The guy who told me that was kuya Eduard Folayang.”

Against Brooks, Pacio knows he’s up for a tough task, especially with the high-level wrestling that the American brings to the table.  

The defending ONE world champ acknowledges that much. After all, there’s really nothing he can do to counter Brooks. What he can control, though, are the things that he’ll do to Brooks inside the circle.  

“Of course his wrestling will give me problems, but I’ve trained for it. We’re ready for it. But expect me to be a problem for him as well,” Pacio said.

“I have tools that I haven’t shown yet. I know this is going to be a tough fight, and I’ll be able to show the new things that I’ve learned through the years.” – Rappler.com