Joshua Pacio admits to getting frustrated in Jarred Brooks fight

Former ONE strawweight world champion Joshua Pacio of Baguio City’s Team Lakay admitted that he got too frustrated against Jarred Brooks to the point that he failed to execute his signature strikes when they met inside the cage last week.

Pacio, 20-4 as a professional mixed martial artist, yielded his gold-plated strap to Brooks by way of unanimous decision at the Mall of Asia Arena. According to the Filipino MMA star, his frustration started to get the better of him in the later rounds.

“I did well in rounds one to three. My takedown defense, props to my strength and conditioning, I was able to defend those takedowns,” Pacio said in an interview on Sparring Sessions.

“My frustrations came out in round 4 which was when I witnessed the IQ of Jarred Brooks. He has very good movement by circling right then to the left. He is speedy with his in and out, and jab straight cross.”

The newly-crowned ONE strawweight king Brooks, who has so far won all four of his fights under the ONE Championship banner, is notorious for his world class wrestling. According to Pacio, he got too fixated on defending from the takedowns.

“I looked out for his wrestling which caused me to lose my combinations. I thought he was going to strike in round 5 but he went for the takedown. I do not know what to throw anymore because of my frustration,” Pacio conceded.

“I did not expect his striking and movement. We focused too much on his takedowns.”

—JMB, GMA Integrated News