No active fighter, not even the current ONE strawweight world champion Jarred Brooks, can talk about the glory days of the legendary Japanese promotion Pride FC without feeling a pang of melancholy, and that includes Jarred Brooks.
The American superstar has competed exclusively inside the ring throughout his whole career, but for his upcoming bout in ONE Championship, he will be moving outside the cage and fighting between the ropes.
At ONE Fight Night 13, which will take place at the legendary Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok on August 4, primetime in the United States, Brooks will compete against Mikey Musumeci for the ONE flyweight submission grappling world title.
Even though Brooks is competing in a whole different sport, the opportunity to fight both inside and outside of such a revered arena has caused the reigning strawweight champion to reflect on his time while competing in Pride FC.
During an interview with the South China Morning Post, Brooks stated the following:
“But yeah, fighting in the ring would be amazing for me as well, especially under the old Pride rules; that’d be sick.”
During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Pride FC established itself as the premier mixed martial arts (MMA) promoter. Although the promotion is no longer running, its impact is still being felt to this day.
There is no doubt that Brooks, who was a fan of mixed martial arts (MMA) when he was a child and grew up in the 1990s, drew motivation from a number of the renowned fighters who competed in the organization, such as Kazushi Sakuraba, Fedor Emelianenko, and Mirko Cro Cop, to name just a few.
Brooks is an aggressive fighter who depends on his overwhelming wrestling to put unparalleled pressure on his opponents. Brooks has a reputation for being one of the best wrestlers in the world. “The Monkey God” has defeated a number of notable competitors, including Lito Adiwang, Hiroba Minowa, Bokang Masunyane, and most recently Joshua Pacio, en route to compiling a perfect record of 4-0 in the ONE Championship.
At ONE Championship 164, the bout between Brooks and Pacio demonstrated exactly how dangerous Brooks can be on the ground. The native of Michigan attacked the Filipino star with persistent grappling, which finally led to a win for the ONE strawweight world title by unanimous decision.
Brooks, on the other hand, will be entering Musumeci’s territory when they are in Bangkok. The current holder of the ONE flyweight submission grappling world championship is not only undefeated in ONE Championship but is also widely considered to be among the very greatest Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioners of his generation.
All Prime Video subscribers in North America get access to the live stream of ONE Fight Night 13 at no additional cost.
