Reigning ONE Strawweight MMA World Champion Jarred ‘The Monkey God’ Brooks will surely be paying close attention to ONE Fight Night 15: Le vs. Freymanov on Prime Video, set to go down this Friday at the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok.
That’s because the event will host a high-stakes matchup that could produce the next challenger to Brooks’ throne, as former divisional kingpin Joshua ‘The Passion’ Pacio clashes with undefeated Dagestani sensation Mansur Malachiev.
Jarred Brooks breaks down Joshua Pacio vs. Mansur Malachiev
The American titleholder recently dissected the bout. In one corner, he sees Malachiev – currently ranked #5 in the division after a spectacular promotional debut – as a powerful takedown artist who will want to press his grappling advantage as the fight moves into deep waters.
Drawing from the experience of his own, World Title-winning performance against Pacio, Brooks said: “Mansur, he does have a fast shot, and he’s long. So he probably has that tendon strength. If he does get Joshua down to the ground, which is pretty hard. But I mean, I did get Joshua down to the ground, and it’s a little bit easier going round by round, taking people down, like taking them down in the first and taking them down in the third, fourth. It gets a little bit easier at the end. So if it goes to the third round, I feel like Mansur could take him down and see where things go from there.”
But ‘The Monkey God’ certainly isn’t about to count out the former five-time ONE Strawweight MMA World Champion, who possesses some of the sport’s most dynamic and explosive striking: “What Josh has got to do in this fight, if he wants to beat him, is one, be confident in his skills and two, don’t worry too much about the shot. Throw your techniques. I feel like that’s how you beat somebody like Mansur Malachiev.”
Brooks thinks his former opponent’s skill set makes him a favorite going into the fight
According to Brooks, the #1-ranked Pacio is the more well-rounded fighter, and his time training at the famed Winklejohn academy in Albuquerque, New Mexico has only made him a more dangerous athlete. But ultimately, the strawweight king isn’t ready to confidently pick a winner on Friday night, whether it’s Malachiev implementing his punishing wrestling attack or Pacio utilizing his unique striking:
“You don’t see too many fighters like Pacio. He’s got sanda and wushu mixed together and now he’s working with the Winklejohn’s, and you know it’s all crazy in the mix. So he’s definitely a mixed martial artist, while Mansur is good at necessarily [just] one thing. I think that if it goes the distance, then Mansur could catch him. But you can never count Joshua Pacio out on a knockout.”
