UNDISPUTED ONE Strawweight MMA World Champion Joshua Pacio continued to chase history after his trilogy-ending win over Jarred Brooks.
Performing in front of a raucous Pinoy crowd in Qatar, Pacio overcame Brooks’ early dominance and took a shocking second-round TKO win over the American. This happened in the main event of ONE 171: Qatar on Thursday, February 20, inside Lusail Sports Arena.
READ: Pacio unifies ONE World Title after stopping Brooks in trilogy
By winning his seventh World Title fight, Pacio leapt over dominant former ONE World Champions Angela Lee and Aung La N Sang for the greatest number of title wins.
In fact, his recent seventh victory put him in third place in ONE Championship’s MMA division when it comes to championship fights. Now-retired bantamweight king Bibiano Fernandes still holds the record with 11 World Title wins.
An eighth World Title win for Pacio would tie him with Adriano Moraes and Xiong Jing Nan as the second-most winning champ among MMA fighters.
Regian Eersel and Nong-O Hama are the only two fighters above him if the list were to include kickboxing and Muay Thai fights. “The Immortal,” after all, has nine World Championship wins, and the Thai legend has eight.
Pacio’s latest performance left him as the world’s best 125-pounder without a shadow of a doubt, and easily the greatest Filipino MMA fighter of all time.
“Joshua cemented his status as the number one strawweight in the world. There's no question about that. There's no question. That was an epic performance,” ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong said at the post-event press conference.
The rematch king
By beating Brooks convincingly this time, Pacio also kept his unbeaten record against fighters who’ve previously dealt him a loss.
Pacio is now 5-0 in rematches, as aside from Brooks he also got back against Japanese studs Yosuke Saruta and Yoshitaka Naito – two guys who beat him in their first matches.
The Filipino’s rivalry-sealing win over Brooks was also his second trilogy fight that he conquered.
What’s impressive with these numbers is that he’s finished four of those five victories, with his DQ win in the second Brooks fight the only match not ending by stoppage win for Pacio.
All in all, 17 of Pacio’s 23 wins have ended via KO, TKO, or submission, proving that he’s not just a winner but also a finisher.
The most impressive thing about this list? Pacio’s only 29 years old and still in peak form.
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