ONE Championship: Brooks and Pacio rematch set for ONE 166 event in Qatar, Aliakbari misses out on title shot
- Strawweight title fight between Jarred Brooks and Joshua Pacio one of three bouts announced for March event in Middle East
- Amir Aliakbari will take on former heavyweight champion Arjan Bhullar, with Osamah Almarwai and Cleber Sousa clashing at flyweight
The long awaited rematch between Jarred Brooks and Joshua Pacio has been booked for ONE 166, with the strawweight title fight one of three announced on Monday for next year’s event in Qatar.
Expected to take place on March 1 at Lusail Arena, the fight is one of five where a belt will be on the line, although it is the only one to be confirmed.
Brooks (20-2-0-1) has not fought in MMA at all this year, while his Filipino opponent (21-4) will try to regain the title he lost to the American at ONE 164 last year.
And Pacio, who is looking to win the strawweight belt for the third time, is coming off an impressive win over Mansur Malachiev, which cemented his status as the top contender.
In another fight, Amir Aliakbari (13-3) had been hoping to get a heavyweight title shot at ONE 166, instead the Iranian will take on former heavyweight champion Arjan Bhullar (11-2).
Bhullar’s last win came in 2021, and he was involved in a prolonged contractual dispute and didn’t compete at all in ONE Championship last year.
At ONE Friday Fights 22 he returned to the ring to face interim heavyweight champion Anatoly Malykhin in a unification bout. Bhullar was stopped in the third round by the undefeated Russian and will be looking to bounce back with a win in the Middle East.
While Bhullar has not won for more than two years Aliakbari’s recent form has been impressive. He is on a three fight winning streak with all of those victories coming inside the first two rounds.
The other fight on the card will be contested under submission grappling rules. Osamah Almarwai faces Cleber Sousa in a flyweight fight with the latter sure to get good support from the Qatar crowd.
Almarwai hails from Yemen and is coming off a submission loss at the hands of American Mikey Musumeci at ONE Fight Night 10 in May. Sousa is also coming off a defeat to the American although he did manage to go the distance.
