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| Joshua Pacio showed that he can beat Jarred Brooks without any controversial ending. ONE Championship (file photo) |
MANILA--There could be arguments about what transpired the last time Joshua Pacio and Jarred Brooks met.
However, on Friday (Philippine Time), Pacio made sure that he would win with his tremendous effort without any controversy.
Pacio remains the ONE strawweight champion after finishing Brooks in the rubber match of their heated trilogy in the headliner of ONE 171 at the Lusail Sports Arena in Qatar.
Pacio, who came back from a knee injury, turned things around in the second round as Brooks, known for his superb ground game, got a dose of his own medicine.
Looking to correct the errors that caused his disqualification loss in their last clash, Brooks quickly took Pacio down in Round 1 and was just moments away from getting a guillotine choke that could have ended the bout right there.
However, Pacio got out of the hold and even connected on some ground-and-pound strikes late in the opening round.
Early into Round 2, Pacio connected on a two-punch combo that knocked Brooks down.
With the game back on the ground, Pacio hit two straight elbow strikes that seemingly staggered Brooks, and eventually, the latter could not anymore handle the pain of the former's strikes.
Pacio eventually got the opening he needed for the match-ending ground-and-pound maneuver, and referee Muhammad Sulaiman had seen enough and gave Pacio the knockout win at the 4:22 mark of Round 2.
Pacio moved up to 23-4 with 18 stoppages, while Brooks dropped to 21-5.
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