The pair will unify the crown at ONE 171: Qatar on February 20, 2025, inside Lusail Sports Arena, just two months after Brooks suffered a loss at flyweight against McLaren.
Pacio was a keen observer in that fight, and he believes he’s got Brooks read – especially his tendencies.
“I also saw a lot of things from that fight that Jarred kept on going to, from our previous fight to his win against Balart up to this loss to McLaren. That’s one thing we’re looking at,” he said.
“That said, I’m not counting out to see new tricks from him. He’s quick to think on the fly, he adjusts really well within the fight.”
As for what exactly that is, Pacio would rather not reveal it.
“Of course there are some things we’ve seen in that fight against McLaren, but I’ll keep it a secret for now because that’s gonna be a big part of our game plan,” he said.
“While we’ll be using that fight in our blueprint, I have to say that I don’t have Reece McLaren’s reach or size to use against him, so it’s something we have to consider.”
That said, he expects that loss to fire up Brooks even more.
Not that the American wrestler needed any more motivation after losing via disqualification in their second bout. But his defeat to McLaren will certainly add more fuel, especially since it was his first official MMA loss on the ONE stage.
“I expect Jarred Brooks to really bounce back,” Pacio said.
“Even if we look at his loss against McLaren, I still look at him as a warrior because he was brave enough to move to another weight class. I think that fight also came on short notice for both of them, so he’s really a warrior.”
