Brooks went the distance with a gritty Hiroba Minowa, bloodying the Japanese fighter and battering him with elbows at the end of the opening round. Brooks couldn’t get the finish there, and wound up going the distance, not for lack of effort but more so thanks to Minowa’s toughness.

“Man, wow, he is— they should call him The Japanese Zombie, that kid is very hard to finish,” Brooks (18-2, 1NC) told Cageside Press following the bout, which took place at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. “And he’s super crafty on the ground, a lot more than to the outside eye. He was super crafty, and you have to worry about Hiroba no matter what. And he’s young too, I know he’s going to want to get that win back in the next few years. Yeah utmost respect to Hiroba Minowa, that kid is a gangster for sure.”

A former UFC flyweight who was a victim of the promotion downsizing (and nearly eliminating) the 125lb division a few years back, Brooks is currently on a roll. He’s now won four straight, and is undefeated in six: five wins, and a single bout ending in a no contest due to an accidental foul. “The Monkey God” has been especially fired up since arriving in ONE, where he’s once again on a big stage. Following the win over Minowa, he went into promo mode, and later told us that he’s loving the spotlight.

“Man, I absolutely love it. ONE Championship has treated me like nothing less than like family. They want to promote me, they want to put me in the spotlight. And that’s what I was born to do,” Brooks told us. “Ever since I was born, my dad always told me that I was going to be a superstar. It doesn’t matter if it was acting, if it was singing, rapping, anything like that, I’m willing to go and put my heart and soul out to the camera, and yeah, I’m going to fight for it too.”

With two wins in two outings, Brooks can now set his sights on strawweight champion Joshua Pacio. And while he’d like that fight to be soon, Brooks isn’t so sure that the champ would be willing.

“I think Joshua is deep down inside sh*tting himself. I don’t think he wants to fight me any time really soon,” Brooks opined. “I think he probably wants to fight me in like July or something like that. But he can take as much time as he wants to prepare,” continued Brooks, who added “I think I could beat Joshua Pacio up right now.”

Could Brooks make the turnaround for ONE X, the promotion’s 10th anniversary show expected to take place in March? “I am a company man. If Chatri [Sityodtong], if Rich [Franklin], if Matt [Hume], if all these guys want me to fight in March, I would be more than happy to,” Brooks replied on that front. “I’m looking to get a lot of cash and get some belts, so yeah, I want to spring myself into this promotion as much as possible.”

Watch the full Only the Brave post-fight press appearance from Jarred Brooks above.

The post Jarred Brooks Believes Champ Pacio Won’t Want to Fight Soon Following ONE: Only the Brave Showing appeared first on Cageside Press.

Among those, Zhang Lipeng stunned all those watching when he floored Ruslan Emilbek Uulu in well under a minute, an early 1-2 doing the damage. And earlier in the night, it was Japan’s Hiroyuki Tetsuka stopping Brazilian Edson Marques in the third.

Jarred Brooks, meanwhile, may have set himself up for a title shot by extending his win streak to four in a dominant decision against Hiroba Minowa. “The Monkey God” had Minowa down and bloodied, though the Japanese fighter proved too difficult to put away.

Atop the card, meanwhile, Sitthichai and Chingiz Allazov secured their spots in the featherweight kickboxing grand prix final.

Check below for a gallery of highlights and full results from ONE: Only the Brave.

ONE Championship: Only the Brave Results

Main Card

Sitthichai def. Davit Kira by unanimous decision – ONE featherweight kickboxing grand prix semifinal
Chingiz Allazov def. Smokin’ Jo Nattawut by TKO, Round 1, 1:55 – ONE featherweight kickboxing grand prix semifinal
Zhang Lipeng def. Ruslan Emilbek Uulu by knockout, Round 1, 0:32
Rade Opacic def. Francesko Xhaja by TKO, Round 2, 2:00 – kickboxing
Hiroyuki Tetsuka def. Edson Marques by knockout, Round 3, 1:05
Jarred Brooks def. Hiroba Minowa by unanimous decision

Lead Card

Ivan Kondratev def. Dovydas Rimkus by TKO, Round 3, 0:35 – ONE featherweight kickboxing grand prix alternate bout
Tatsumitsu Wada def. Wang Shou by unanimous decision
Purev Otgonjargal def. Micael de Jesus by unanimous decision

The post ONE Championship: Only the Brave Photo Highlights appeared first on Cageside Press.

The top two bouts were the tournament semifinals, with Sitthichai facing Davit Kira on one side of the bracket, while Smokin’ Jo Nattawut took on Chingiz Allazov in the other semifinal match-up. An alternate bout, featuring Ivan Kondratev verus Dovydas Rimkus, was set to unfold earlier in the evening.

On the MMA side of things, South Korea’s Kim Jae Woong faced off with China’s Tang Kai, while Jarred “The Monkey God” Brooks looked to make it two wins in ONE Championship, and four in a row overall, when he faced Hiroba Minowa of Japan.

Update: ONE officials have confirmed that Woong vs. Kai is off. “Kim Jae Woong had to withdraw from his fight against Tang Kai due to an undisclosed medical issue,” the promotion stated on social media early Friday. As a result, Hiroyuki Tetsuka vs. Edson Marques has been promoted to the main card.

Full results from ONE: Only the Brave can be found below. A live stream of the action, where available, can be viewed above. The event gets underway on Friday, January 28, 2022 live from Singapore.

ONE Championship: Only the Brave Results

Main Card

Sitthichai def. Davit Kira by unanimous decision – ONE featherweight kickboxing grand prix semifinal
Chingiz Allazov def. Smokin’ Jo Nattawut by TKO, Round 1, 1:55 – ONE featherweight kickboxing grand prix semifinal
Zhang Lipeng def. Ruslan Emilbek Uulu by knockout, Round 1, 0:32
Rade Opacic def. Francesko Xhaja by TKO, Round 2, 2:00 – kickboxing
Hiroyuki Tetsuka def. Edson Marques by knockout, Round 3, 1:05
Jarred Brooks def. Hiroba Minowa by unanimous decision

Lead Card

Paul Elliott vs. Anderson Silva
Ivan Kondratev def. Dovydas Rimkus by TKO, Round 3, 0:35 – ONE featherweight kickboxing grand prix alternate bout
Tatsumitsu Wada def. Wang Shou by unanimous decision
Purev Otgonjargal def. Micael de Jesus by unanimous decision

The post ONE Championship: Only the Brave Live Stream and Results appeared first on Cageside Press.

ONE officials revealed the full line-up via press release on Friday — with the semifinal round of the promotion’s featherweight kickboxing grand prix being featured prominently.

In the co-main event, meanwhile, will be a featherweight mixed martial arts contest. That will see #1 ranked Kim Jae Woong (12-4) of South Korea taking on China’s #4 ranked Tang Kai (13-2).

Tang Kai will enter the bout having won all five of his appearances under the ONE Championship banner. Overall, he sits on an eight-fight winning streak. Kim has won two straight, most recently stopping former double-champ Martin Nguyen via TKO within a round.

The full ONE: Only the Brave card, which is expected to take place live in Singapore on January 28, can be found below.

ONE: ONLY THE BRAVE

Friday, 28 January 2022

Main Card

ONE Interim Heavyweight World Championship
Anatoly Malykhin vs. Kirill Grishenko
Heavyweight: 102.2 KG – 120.2 KG

Mixed Martial Arts
(1) Kim Jae Woong vs. (4) Tang Kai
Featherweight: 65.9 KG – 70.3 KG

ONE Featherweight Kickboxing World Grand Prix – Semifinal
(1) Marat Grigorian vs. (4) Chingiz Allazov
Featherweight: 65.9 KG – 70.3 KG

ONE Featherweight Kickboxing World Grand Prix – Semifinal
(3) Sitthichai vs. Davit Kiria
Featherweight: 65.9 KG – 70.3 KG

Mixed Martial Arts
Ruslan Emilbek Uulu vs. Zhang Lipeng
Lightweight: 70.4 KG – 77.1 KG

Kickboxing
Rade Opacic vs. Francesko Xhaja
Heavyweight: 102.2 KG – 120.2 KG

Lead Card

Mixed Martial Arts
(4) Hiroba Minowa vs. (3) Jarred Brooks
Strawweight: 52.3 KG – 56.7 KG

ONE Featherweight Kickboxing World Grand Prix – Alternate
Smokin’ Jo Nattawut vs. Dovydas Rimkus
Featherweight: 65.9 KG – 70.3 KG

Mixed Martial Arts
Tatsumitsu Wada vs. Wang Shuo
Flyweight: 56.8 KG – 61.2 KG

Mixed Martial Arts
Hiroyuki Tetsuka vs. Zebaztian Kadestam
Welterweight: 77.2 KG – 83.9 KG

Mixed Martial Arts
Anderson ‘Braddock’ Silva vs. Paul Elliott
Light Heavyweight: 93.1 KG – 102.1 KG

Muay Thai
Diandra Martin vs. Smilla Sundell
Catchweight: 58.0 KG

The post Full Card for ONE Championship’s Only the Brave Announced appeared first on Cageside Press.

Only the Brave, which takes place on January 28, 2022, will see heavyweight contenders Anatoly Malykhin (10-0) and Kirill Grishenko (5-0) face off with the interim belt on the line. The fight, which will headline the card, was announced by promotion officials on Monday.

ONE’s undisputed heavyweight title is currently held by Canada’s Arjan Singh Bhullar. Although Canada is currently experiencing skyrocketing cases of the omicron variant of the coronavirus, ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong hinted at other issues creating the need for an interim title.

Malykhin has won both his fights under the ONE Championship banner thus far, and has remained perfect through his 10-fight professional career. Most recently, he defeated Iranian wrestling champion and RIZIN veteran Amir Aliakbari via knockout.

Grishenko, also undefeated, has two wins under inside the ONE circle as well. The Belarusian fighter shocked MMA fans when he defeated the massive Ourmar Kane in April of this year. After that successful promotional debut, Grishenko defeated Dustin Joynson via a unanimous decision in October.

No other fights have been announced for ONE Championship: Only the Brave thus far.

The post ONE Championship’s Only the Brave on Jan. 28 Topped by Interim Heavyweight Title Fight appeared first on Cageside Press.