Fresh off a pulsating victory over Danial “Mini T” Williams at ONE Fight Night 19: Haggerty vs. Lobo, Lito “Thunder Kid” Adiwang is already looking forward to seeing his good friend return to his throne.
Adiwang’s former teammate and training partner Joshua “The Passion” Pacio is already deep in preparation as he takes on ONE Strawweight MMA World Champion Jarred “The Monkey God” Brooks at ONE 166: Qatar set in Lusail Sports Arena this March 1.
Pacio dropped the belt to Brooks back in ONE 164 in December 2022, in a time when both of them were still working together in Team Lakay.
And he feels like for as long as Pacio can change on a few things from that fight, he’ll be good to go in this massive rematch against Brooks.
“In the first fight, I think we focused too much on Jarred’s strengths and we forgot Joshua’s strengths,” he said.
“We were so focused on Jarred’s wrestling that we forgot to attack him and utilize our strength,” he added. “I feel like Joshua lacked a bit of push in his attacks in that fight. If we add that up, I believe he’ll take the win.”
Though they’ve gone separate ways, with Pacio now representing Lions Nation MMA and Adiwang repping Soma Fight Club in Bali, Indonesia – “Thunder Kid” remains a believer of Pacio’s ability to bounce back after a loss.
“The Passion” is currently 3-0 in rematches, having scored massive comeback wins each time a lost a World Title fight, from Yoshitaka Naito to Yosuke Saruta.
Adiwang doesn’t expect things to change this time.
“The strength and advantage of Joshua is how he improves in every rematch. He really studies his opponent’s moves with intent, and that will be the key in this rematch,” he shared.
“For sure, he knows how strong Jarred is now, he knows the precarious positions he has to avoid, and I expect his game to show up this time.”
That said, he expects the 28-year-old to come out stronger in this match, finish Brooks and win the ONE Strawweight MMA World Title for the third time in his young career.
“I’ve been training with Joshua and I fought Jarred, and all I can say is that if Joshua got the proper training and adjustments for this fight, Joshua’s taking that belt home. I see him knocking out Jarred Brooks.”