Jarred Brooks Announces His Arrival With Domination Of Lito Adiwang
Jarred “The Monkey God” Brooks wanted to prove he could do more than just talk against Lito “Thunder Kid” Adiwang at ONE: NEXTGEN III – and he certainly walked the walk in the night’s main event.
The debuting American superstar dominated the #5-ranked strawweight contender to earn an impressive second-round submission victory in their mixed martial arts battle at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Friday, 26 November.
Brooks’ game plan was clear from the opening bell. Out in the open, the former wrestling star stayed on his toes to avoid being a static target for the hard-hitting Filipino. And before long, he took advantage of Adiwang’s explosive bursts by dipping underneath his punches for a double-leg takedown.
Once they were on the ground, “The Monkey God” smothered his rival and dropped short elbows to accrue damage on his opponent. The American then slammed Adiwang from inside the guard and continued to chip away with short-range shots to maintain control for much of the round.
“Thunder Kid” finally found a way to his feet late in the frame – much to his delight – and scored with a thudding right uppercut. But Brooks wanted none of the stand-up exchanges and skirted around the Circle until the end of the round.
After being dominated for most of the opening stanza, Adiwang launched in and attacked with a hard right kick at the start of the second. However, Brooks landed a right hand in reply and then quickly dove for the legs to complete another takedown.
“Thunder Kid” tried to create space to get out from underneath the Indiana native’s ground-and-pound, and he eventually regained his feet. However, he was immediately captured in a tight guillotine choke. Adiwang fended off the attack, so Brooks moved to a front headlock against the Circle Wall.
Following a brief pause for an errant low blow from the Filipino, they restarted in the same position – but things quickly went south for Adiwang. “The Monkey God” dropped straight for his opponent’s legs and then passed into mount off the takedown.
Adiwang hung on with his left arm around Brooks’ neck, but this allowed the Mash Fight Team representative to isolate the limb and step off to the side for an arm-triangle choke. He cinched it up and put on a tight squeeze until the Team Lakay man was forced to submit at 3:07 of the second round.
The elated American screamed, “Who’s the boss now?” as he celebrated his first ONE Championship victory, which pushed his overall record to 17-2 and sent out a ferocious message to the strawweight division’s top contenders.
Read more: ONE: NEXTGEN III – Live Results And Highlights For Every Fight
