Jarred Brooks on Gustavo Balart: ‘We’re Putting This On for All The Short Kings’

Brooks headlines ONE Fight Night on Prime Video this Friday in a bout against Gustavo Balart

Jarred Brooks finds himself in unknown territory in ONE Championship: carrying a losing streak.

Brooks lost a year ago to Mikey Musumeci in a flyweight submission grappling world title bout, then dropped the MMA strawweight title in March by disqualification.

“It’s not about championships for me–I lost money because of that [DQ],” said Brooks, 31. “I took a step back because of that. Now I’m ready to take three steps forward.”

Taking place at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, ONE Fight Night 24 on Prime Video airs in primetime this Friday. It is headlined by the Brooks-Gustavo Balart bout–which has the vacant interim Strawweight MMA World Championship on the line.

Brooks dropped the undisputed title in March to Joshua Pacio. Only 56 seconds into the encounter, Brooks slammed Pacio head-first onto the canvas, resulting in the DQ.

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An ACL injury sidelined Pacio, opening up the pathway for an interim title. Balart, 37, is a former Olympic wrestler from Cuba. After losing his first three fights in ONE, he has won four.

“Gustavo Balart is a great opponent for me to show different skills,” said Brooks (20-3, 1 NC). “He’s nothing new to me. I understand him as a fighter. I’m not putting pressure on myself. This is a get-by fight. But I will never, ever look past Gustavo Balart. I see him as prey, but he’s still a predator in his own right.”

If he takes possession of the interim belt, Brooks will await Pacio’s return for a title unification bout. That would be their third fight–before the DQ finish in March, Brooks defeated Pacio by unanimous decision to win the strawweight title in December of 2022.

“I don’t know how many weight cuts his body can take,” said Brooks. “He’s 145 on a good day. I walk around at 126, and after practice, I’m at 124. I’m not depleting myself, and that’s why I’ll be in this game for a while.”

Jarred Brooks looks to re-enter the win column this Friday at ONE Fight Night / ONE Championship

Pacio is out for the foreseeable future, but Brooks intends to remain busy. At the top of his to-do list is making his ONE debut in America this November in Atlanta.

“After this fight, I would love to fight on the United States card in November,” said Brooks. “I want to show how important strawweights are to ONE Championship.”

Before looking forward, Brooks first needs to take care of his current opponent. Only 4’11”, Balart brings a unique skillset to the cage–but the 5’3” Brooks also brings a collegiate wrestling background and he excels in the top position.

“We’re putting this on for all the short kings,” said Brooks. “You’ll see martial arts in a lot of different aspects. It’s two torpedoes coming at each other making fireworks. We’re looking to take each other’s head off.”