ONE Strawweight World Champion Joshua “The Passion” Pacio and Jarred “The Monkey God” Brooks will have to wait another day to settle their score as ONE Championship took their title clash out of One 158 scheduled June 3, 2022.
One Championship said “scheduling conflict” was the culprit why the match had to be to be re-scheduled to a later date.
Pacio was a concerned spectator of the battle between Bokang “Little Giant” Masunyane and Jarred “The Monkey God” Brooks at ONE 156 last month. After all, the winner would be the next challenger to his crown.
Brooks took care of business by submitting Bokang “Little Giant” Masunyane in the first round at ONE 156 last month to take the prize of becoming the next challenger to his crown.
That improved his record to 3-0 record in ONE.
Brooks first took out Pacio’s teammate, Lito “Thunder Kid” Adiwang, then rated number 5, then outlasted fourth-ranked Hiroba Minowa before the win against Masunyane, the then #1 contender.
After the trifecta of fights, “The Passion” admitted Brooks’ game doesn’t have many holes. Yet, despite Brooks’ invincibility, Pacio insisted he still has some tricks that the American hasn’t seen.
Brooks has accumulated an 19-2 win-loss record with 1 no-contest during his career. 2 of his wins came by knockouts while 8 of them by submissions.
Pacio is carrying an equally impressive 19-3 record into the fight. 16 of his wins were by early finishes, 7 by knockouts and 9 by submissions
The postponement left Jenelyn Olsim as the lone Filipino to see action during the event. She is scheduled to face Julie Mezabarba.
The Team Lakay atomweight had a promising start to her ONE Championship career going 2-0 in her first two fights in the main roster. She stopped Maira Mazar by guillotine choke submission before settling for a unanimous decision win over Bi Nguyen.
Her momentum, however, stopped when she faced Ritu Phogat on short notice.
Olsim was a late replacement to the ONE Atomweight World Grand Prix semifinals after Itsuki Hirata pulled out of the match due to medical concerns. Olsim hung on with Phogat before eventually bowing out.
Mezabarba, however, is one tough fighter. The Brazilian brawler has a 9-3 professional record and holds a win over former title contender Mei Yamaguchi in her ONE Championship debut.
The Tawanchai PK.Saenchai – Niclas Larsen bout in featherweight Muay Thai becomes now the new main event in place of Pacio vs Brooks.
By Armando M. Bolislis
