“That’s all I’ve been working on” – Jarred Brooks reveals grappling has been main focus heading into Joshua Pacio rematch

After defeating Joshua Pacio in their first encounter, Jarred Brooks still came away from the fight with aspects that he needed to work on to improve as a fighter.

The reigning ONE strawweight MMA world champion has been doing exactly that ahead of their rematch where he intends to put on an even more decisive performance.

At ONE 166: Qatar on March 1, the two top fighters in the division will meet at the Lusail Sports Arena where both men are confident of getting their hand raised.

Brooks was able to use his grappling very effectively on his way up the strawweight rankings but despite this, he wasn’t able to have a lot of success with it against Pacio.

This is something that he’s been looking to correct in his training camp for ONE 166, as he revealed to The MMA Superfan:

“I know that my skills have gotten a lot better, you know, I didn't really take Joshua down on the fence last time and that's really all I've been working on this whole camp, the grappling and all that stuff.”

Watch the full interview below:

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Jarred Brooks is extremely confident in his ability

Though he would have been disappointed not to have grappling success against Joshua Pacio at ONE 164, it’s also a confidence booster for Jarred Brooks.

The challenger was able to secure the win and claim the title even without being able to consistently make use of his main skill set in the biggest fight of his career to date.

Brooks is still just as motivated to beat Pacio the second time as he was back in 2022 because he knows that he can perform much better than he did on that night.

It will be an uphill battle for Pacio, the top-ranked strawweight contender, to reclaim the throne against a champion that is still getting better and has already got the better of him once before.

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