With ONE strawweight MMA world champion Joshua Pacio recovering from injury, an interim divisional king will be crowned at ONE Fight Night 24.
Former titleholder Jarred Brooks will lock horns with No. 3-ranked contender Gustavo Balart in the main event inside Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand on Saturday, August 3.
BREAKING 🚨 With Joshua Pacio out of action due to injury, former champ Jarred Brooks will face third-ranked Gustavo Balart in the main event of ONE Fight Night 24 on Prime Video for the ONE Interim Strawweight MMA World Title 👑 Who you got?#ONEFightNight24 | Fri Aug 2 at 8PM… pic.twitter.com/EFsKIbzflA
— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) June 19, 2024
Brooks’ reign as world champion came to an anticlimactic end at ONE 166: Qatar this past March when he was disqualified for spiking Pacio with a slam in the opening round of their rematch.
As a result of the illegal move, the Filipino superstar reclaimed the gold, and Brooks has been dying to get his hands on it again ever since.
“The Monkey God” dominated all opponents from his debut in 2021 up to when he won the world title from Pacio via unanimous decision in their first meeting at ONE 164 in December 2022, and he toppled some notable stars along the way.
Brooks submitted Lito Adiwang on his debut in November 2021, then had a huge year in 2022 as he outpointed Hiroba Minowa then, three months later, submitted Bokang Masunyane in the first round at ONE 156 to earn himself a shot at Pacio and the strawweight world title.
An injury forced Brooks to put those plans for six months as a summer meeting was pushed back to December, but when his title shot finally rolled around, Brooks took his chance as he claimed a unanimous decision to win the title at ONE 164. However, his disqualification in the rematch saw the title return to the Philippines with Pacio.
But an eagerly-anticipated trilogy meeting between the pair was shelved when Pacio underwent surgery for a torn ACL, leaving Brooks with a fresh challenge, and the carrot of an interim title while “The Passion” is out of action.
However, the Cuban Olympic wrestler will do everything in his power to stop that trilogy fight from happening, and the four-fight winning streak he’s currently riding says he has the skills to upset Brooks’ plans.
Balart has proven his worth as a viable threat in the strawweight MMA division. He is currently ranked third in the strawweight division and has wins over Yosuke Saruta, Alex Silva, and Minowa to his name.
Should he nullify the grappling attacks of former king Brooks, “El Gladiador” will book his shot at the ultimate prize whenever Pacio is ready to return to action.
