Newly crowned ONE
Championship strawweight (125-pound) king Joshua
Pacio has issued a statement following his Round 1
disqualification win over Jarred
Brooks at
ONE Championship 166, which took place at the Lusail Sports
Arena in Qatar on Friday.
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Brooks and Pacio met in a rematch on Friday after “The Monkey God”
took the strawweight title from Pacio via unanimous decision in
their first meeting in December 2022. However, the long-awaited
clash came to a screeching halt only 56 seconds in when Brooks
slammed Pacio on his head and proceeded to unload vicious
ground-and-pound shots on his foe until he was stopped by referee
Herb Dean.
While Brooks jumped up on the cage to celebrate a quick finish,
“The Monkey God” was swiftly notified that he’d been disqualified
due to the illegal nature of the slam. As per ONE’s global mixed
martial arts ruleset, no spikes or throws on the head, neck or
spine are allowed. As a result, Pacio is now the reigning
strawweight champion.
Brooks was quick to issue a statement following the disappointing
outing wishing his opponent a speedy recovery.
“[Joshua Pacio] wish nothing but the best for you brother,” he
wrote. I hope you’re okay. I am sorry for letting down my family
and the organization. I did not intentionally do anything. #andnew
congratulations.”
Pacio, who seemed to be severely hurt as a result of Brooks’
onslaught, has now issued a statement responding to the former
champion’s wishes while also addressing the anti-climactic nature
of their clash.
“Hi everyone, thank you all for the love. I praise and thank God
for His protection and guidance. He deserves all the praises and
adoration.
“This is a dangerous sport we play in! Anything happens inside the
circle. I and Jared work hard to put on a show to 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, how much time they put into. My brother … you don’t need to
be sorry because you didn’t do anything wrong, you didn’t let
anybody down remember that. You are a great champion, great person,
and a great father. Everyone of us has our own struggles and I
understand yours brother. Remember that Jesus is always there for
us and he loves us so much. I’m so happy to see and hug you a while
ago and have a little chat with you. Love you bro. I will recover
as soon as possible and we will run it back again.”
As mentioned in his social media post, Pacio aims to make a quick
recovery so the two can compete in a third meeting to settle the
score.