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(Exclusive) Jarred Brooks Ready for Double-Champ Bid after ONE Fight Night 26

"The Monkey God" returns this Friday at ONE Fight Night 26.

Drew Beaupre

(ONE Championship)

Set to move up in weight for a matchup with Reece McLaren, ONE Championship Interim Strawweight
MMA Champion Jarred Brooks spoke with MMA KO’s Drew Beaupré ahead of this Friday’s ONE Fight Night 26 event.

Moving Up To ONE's Flyweight Division

Fresh off a submission-win over Gustavo Balart to win the ONE Championship interim strawweight MMA belt in August, Brooks wasn’t necessarily planning on testing himself in the flyweight division but is happy to finally settle a bit of bad blood he has with McLaren.

“It was a little bit unexpected for me too, I was wanting another interim title fight. But they put Reece McLaren on the table, and you know me and Reece, we’ve had our back and forths on Instagram and stuff like that. When I was wanting to fight Demetrious Johnson, he was saying I was pretty much not worthy, saying ‘Get in the back of the bus’. And he didn’t realize that I’m driving the bus, and I think that this is a good opportunity for me to gain some respect in the mixed martial arts community too. And to show the ONE Championship fans a blockbuster fight that they deserve.”

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ONE Championship’s flyweight MMA title is currently vacant after Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson announced his retirement at ONE 169, and Brooks doesn’t see any reason why he can’t pursue double-champ status – perhaps in a matchup with three-time flyweight titleholder Adriano Moraes.

“I think that I move up, I move down, I move all the way around...They’ve already put me in a jiu-jitsu matche against one of the best of all time, so it doesn’t really matter to me. I’m here to go out and put a show for the fans, and to show ONE Championship, to show Chatri [Sityodtong], to show all of the people in the whole world who I am and what I have done in my whole mixed martial arts career to get to this point. And me just going up to 135 is just showing – I mean, I’m a small strawweight too, I’m small at 125. But I’ve gotten bigger in just the past month, I’ve just been trying to load up on creatine, protein, just lifting every day just to try to get that weight up a little bit more...I think I’ve gonna surprise Reece McLaren December 6, [with] how big I actually got and the hard work that I’ve actually put in to get to here.”

“Of course [Moraes] wants another title shot, he’s had that for how many years before Demetrious came into the picture. I wanna stop his show coming in and trying to get back the belt, and if I’m a double champion then that just puts me in a very, very good position in ONE Championship and a very good position altogether in the mixed martial arts community. And I don’t think that I’ve had my fair share of people watching me, and seeing how my story is. And I think if people actually understood that and watched me, they’re like ‘Holy crap, yeah this guy is special. This guy does put on a show every time, inside and outside of the Octagon or ring.’”

Third Fight With Joshua Pacio

Even with a flyweight title run on his mind, “The Monkey God” knows he still has unfinished business at strawweight after losing his belt in a rematch with Joshua Pacio via illegal spike at ONE 166 back in March.

“I don’t wanna come across as somebody that’s overplaying my career or anything like that, but dude - I mean if you look at my career, I’ve really, truly haven’t lost. I’ve beat myself. I knocked myself out one time…That sucked, because you Google my name and that’s the first thing that pops up. It’s just like - I’m so much more than that. I’m so much more than me beating myself at the end of the day. And you’ve got [Deiveson] Figueiredo and you’ve got that Pacio fight. The Figueiredo fight [in the UFC], I felt like I beat him 30-27 across the board. While you have that Pacio fight, that was unfortunate. I apologized for everything that happened in that bout...I do feel like my losses have been just a little bit bittersweet, and I want to make up for those and show spectacular performances for my fans, for my family, at the end of the day."

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“That’s one of the reasons why I took this fight against Reece McLaren. I don’t wanna be waiting until Pacio’s okay to fight. I’m here to fight, every time I have fought in the past with injuries, I have fought in the past with bad, bad injuries. People don’t even understand the injuries that
they were, even in the UFC. But I’m here to fight. Somebody tells me “Hey Jarred, you’re gonna be fighting on this [date].' Doesn’t matter what the circumstances are, doesn’t matter what happens or what surgeries I’ve had, I’m gonna be fighting that night, and I’m gonna go out and win.”

"Demetrious Is The Best Of All Time"

Brooks admits that seeing Johnson retire at ONE 166 was a bittersweet moment, but the 31-year-old also took some time to praise “Mighty Mouse” for helping to popularize smaller weight classes during one of the most decorated careers in MMA history.

“Demetrious, he was somebody that I looked up to when I was just getting out of high school. I was watching him in WEC, and you know I’ve seen a lot of potential of what I could be through Demetrious Johnson. So watching him retire was very bittersweet, because I did want that fight at the end of the day, it’s kind of like a check mark on my bucket list, in my life. And even though God doesn’t give you what you want, he always will repay you somehow if you work for it. So, I think that Demetrious is the best of all time, you can’t deny that, the guy has literally beat everybody spectacularly in every way...I don’t think Demetrious had anything else to prove in the game. And he wants to venture and make money in different ways, and I think that’s how God wants you to do things. Things become a little bit too easy and a little bit too in the moment, then you gotta switch it up. And I feel like that’s what he’s doing, he’s making himself a little bit more uncomfortable and that’s how you grow.”

"Ideal Plan" Heading Into 2025

ONE Fight Night 26 will close out ONE Championship’s calendar for 2024, and provided he gets the job done against McLaren then 2025 could be a huge year for “The Monkey God” as he pursues two undisputed titles and maybe even a fight on home soil.

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“My ideal plan is to go against Pacio in maybe February or March, [I] would love to redo that in Qatar, because all them Sheikhs, they’re cool. I love hanging out with them, and they enjoyed the experience. They enjoyed the ‘Monkey God’ experience, and that’s what I want fans to have, is to
enjoy that...I do want that belt back from Pacio, I think that would be great. And then, I win that strawweight title, I go up to flyweight and win that title. And I think that that’s what makes sense to me right now is going against Pacio first, and then maybe going against Adriano Moraes. If they wanted to pop somebody else in there, it really doesn’t matter. But that’s ideal for me, but at the end of the day I think that I’m gonna have a lot more opportunities than a lot of these fighters that are just b****ing on the shelves. You guys are just trying to bring yourselves down. If you don’t bring ONE Championship up, you’re gonna go down...I’m super, super happy that I’m still with ONE Championship, and all of these haters that are going against us – I mean, you just see in the next two years man, of what ONE Championship is really digging and what they’re actually doing.”

(Exclusive)
Brooks after winning the interim strawweight MMA title at ONE Fight Night 24. / (ONE Championship)

“The ruleset is already good in Detroit for ONE Championship, so if they ever get Detroit poppin’, I promise I will make all of Michiana, I will make all of the Midwest come and watch the ‘Monkey God’ show.”

"The Best Flyweights In The World"

Even with a third Pacio fight and vacant flyweight title bout on his mind, Brooks is focused on McLaren and expects that the pair will steal the spotlight on the same weekend that Kai Asakura challenges Alexandre Pantoja for the UFC flyweight belt at UFC 310.

(Exclusive)
"The Monkey God" walking out at ONE 166. / (ONE Championship)

“I think this fight is super important to lighter weights in ONE Championship. And Reece McClaren, he hasn’t had his fair go at a title shot...So this is a very pivotal fight for ONE Championship’s smaller weight class. I advise you guys to watch and see how this goes, because this is what the future of the flyweight and strawweight division brings. And I think that me going against Adriano Moraes when I beat Reece McLaren is going to be huge. Because we have a lot of dust that hasn’t been settled in the past from American Top Team, to two or three years ago when Demetrious first signed to the organization. But Reece McLaren is a helluva of a fighter, I think he is slept on majorly…It’s gonna be one of the best smaller-weight class fights that you’ve watched in the past year. Screw Alexandre Pantoja and Kai Asakura, this is the real – this is the best flyweights in the world.”

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Brooks vs. McLaren will feature as part of a stacked year-ending ONE Fight Night 26 card that will take place at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand on December 6, and in the night’s main event Christian Lee will return after more than two years away to defend his lightweight belt against the undefeated Alibeg Rasulov.

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Drew Beaupre
DREW BEAUPRE

Drew is an MMA writer that regularly watches regional events in addition to major promotions such as the UFC, PFL, Bellator, and ONE Championship. He joined MMA Knockout when it was founded in 2023.

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