ONE Championship: Jarred Brooks says he’ll beat Brandon Moreno, UFC ‘watered down’ flyweight division
- ONE’s strawweight champ thinks he would come out on top in cross-promotional fight with UFC flyweight king Moreno
- ‘The Monkey God’ takes a jab at former employers, suggesting they ‘watered down the whole division’ when they cut him and others in 2018
Jarred Brooks was watching on like many of us when Brandon Moreno settled his saga with Deiveson Figueiredo last weekend.
Mexico’s Moreno became the undisputed UFC flyweight champion with a TKO via doctor stoppage.
Brazil’s Figueiredo could no longer see out of his right eye following the third round of the UFC 283 co-main event, which was being held in his home country.
“Personally, I think I can beat Brandon Moreno,” Brooks wrote in a series of social media posts after the fight, which was the fourth between the two men in the span of just over two years.
“Wonder why there was four fights? Because they watered down a whole division,” the 29-year-old Brooks added.
ONE Championship’s new strawweight MMA champion Brooks used to call the UFC’s flyweight division his home, before he was cut in November 2018, with a 2-2 record in the promotion.
The 29-year-old American Brooks was among a humber of flyweights who lost their jobs when Demetrious Johnson left for ONE after losing his flyweight title to Henry Cejudo, amid reports the UFC wanted to scrap the whole division.
“The Monkey God” (20-2, 1 No Contest) never fought Moreno during his time in the UFC, but took a split decision loss to Figueiredo in a 2017 fight which many fans and media thought he won.
When told by one commenter on Twitter on Monday that “you can’t even beat Figgy [Figueiredo]”, he replied: “Watch the fight.”
After fighting in Japan’s Rizin FF promotion and the US-based Bellator MMA, Brooks eventually debuted in ONE in November 2021.
He quickly earned a strawweight title shot with three dominant wins, and dethroned long-time champ Joshua Pacio on the Filipino’s home turf in December at Mall of Asia Arena in Manila.
He could be set to return at the Singapore-based promotion’s on-ground US debut, ONE Fight Night 10 in Denver, Colorado on May 5 – but wants to see some of his possible contenders face off first to earn a title shot.
“I need to see [Hiroba] Minowa vs [Jerewmy] Miado and Bokang Masunyane vs Gustavo Balart,” he added.
“I fight everyone accordingly. Everyone is their own form of beast, but to take down a deadlier beast you have to get to know it. I know all of you up and comers.
“To the people I aspire to beat – when I know you, I can beat you. And I have every intention in doing so.”
