Jarred Brooks believes that ONE champion Thanh Le could beat any UFC featherweight. Speaking in a recent interview with ‘The Fight Library’ Brooks said,
“Champs like Alexander Volkanovski, he can’t get beat. But I promise you, our 145lbs champion (Thanh) Le, that guy can definitely beat any 145lber in the UFC,” explained the 28-year-old.
Well qualified
Brooks beat Bokang Masunyane at ONE 156 last night to earn himself a strawweight title shot. He had a stint on the UFC roster and his only losses came via a split decision defeat to a Brazilian in Brazil and a bizarre incident where he knocked himself unconscious slamming an opponent into the canvass.
So Brooks knows all about what it takes to succeed in the UFC. It is a topic he is well qualified to discuss and the American believes Le would do very well against the promotion’s current crop of featherweights.
WHAT!? @shortytorres125 just earned one of the wildest KO finishes you'll ever see!#UFCUtica pic.twitter.com/qoBBnbI9f0
— UFC Canada (@UFC_CA) June 1, 2018
Hard evidence
He says you only need to look at what Le did to Garry Tonon at ONE: ‘Lights Out’ to understand how dangerous the featherweight champion is,
“You’ve got somebody like Garry Tonon. One of the best submission grapplers at 145lbs going against Thanh Le and Thanh did him dirty that’s for sure.”
Lights OUT! 💡@ThanhLeMMA 🇻🇳🇺🇸 uncorks a looping right hand on Garry Tonon to close the show and retain his ONE Featherweight World Title! #ONELightsOut pic.twitter.com/GAM5Mn1BlB
— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) March 11, 2022
Has to happen
Thanh Le certainly wouldn’t turn down the chance to fight the reining UFC featherweight champion. He discussed the topic with From the Stands MMA this week,
“I’ve been pushing for that since I got the belt. That has to happen in this sport. I don’t know if it’s gonna take a couple of years, or 20 but that has to happen in this sport. We have to be able to actually unify these belts and find out who the best featherweight, lightweight, or whatever, is in this world.”
Coming soon
Brooks has already fought for the UFC but has yet to win a ONE Championship title. While we have never seen Le inside the octagon he is the reigning ONE Championship featherweight champion and both men are coming off big wins.
Next up for Brooks will be a strawweight title shot against Joshua Pacio. There is less certainty surrounding Le’s next fight but Tang Kai looks to have done enough to earn himself a fight with the champion.
