Jarred Brooks has spent months trash talking Joshua Pacio in the buildup to ONE on Prime Video 5. Now that he is actually in Manila the American is definitely not dialing down the rhetoric.

At a lively press conference yesterday Brooks relished in the role of villain. He baited the Filipino media and told them that,

“I’m going to chop off the head of this Filipino and I’m going to take it back to the United States. Ya’ll laughing now, I promise you won’t be laughing after the fight.”

Mercilessly booed 

So the prospect of being mercilessly booed by 20,000 Filipino fans on Saturday morning clearly hasn’t intimidated the UFC veteran. But he does admit it has been a difficult training camp,

“It’s been really, really tough. It’s been a really rough experience in this training camp. I’m going to show it all against your boy this Saturday.”

Brooks did seek to pacify the crowd at the press conference which was supposed to consist entirely of media but still sounded noisy,

“I love all of you Filipino people. I have nothing against any Filipino. I have nothing against any Asian-American. All my beef comes with that man and I’m getting the belt. I promise you that.”

Only champion

Brooks hasn’t lost since knocking himself unconscious with a botched slam in the final fight of his UFC career. His three wins for ONE Championship include a second round submission victory over Pacio’s teammate and training partner Lito Adiwang.

Pacio is a quiet type of champion who doesn’t typically have much to say for himself. But he has been forced to respond to Brook’s persistent taunting and it is clear that this will be a grudge match.

ONE Championship will be returning to Manila for the first time since 2019 and the Filipino fans in attendance would love nothing more than for their hometown hero to silence the cocky American. Brooks knows just how badly everyone in Manila wants him to lose but is determined to disappoint them by dethroning ONE Championship’s only title holder from the Philippines,

“You all can keep hating, it doesn’t matter. I’m getting the belt at the end of the day. You all know that. I’m getting it.”