Brooks returns to strawweight against Wada

Jarred Brooks returns to strawweight against Tatsumitsu Wada on Wednesday, November 18, at ONE Samurai 5 in Tokyo.

Brooks and Wada meet at EBARA WAVE Arena Ota. Strawweight is 125 pounds (57 kg), and the bout is not for the title. Brooks is 33 and 21-6, with one no contest, and Wada is 37 and 7-7 in ONE.

Brooks has lost three in a row. Mansur Malachiev submitted Brooks with a north-south choke at 2:09 of the second round on October 3, 2025, and Brooks and Malachiev fought at flyweight. Joshua Pacio stopped Brooks by TKO at 4:22 of the second round at ONE 171 on February 20, 2025, and ended Brooks’s bid to reunify the title. Reece McLaren beat Brooks by split decision at 5:00 of the third round in December 2024, and Brooks and McLaren fought at flyweight.

Brooks submitted Gustavo Balart with a rear-naked choke at 4:39 of the first round in August 2024 and won the interim strawweight title, while Pacio was injured. Brooks lost the title to Pacio by disqualification for an illegal slam at 0:56 of the first round at ONE 166 on March 1, 2024, and Brooks beat Pacio by unanimous decision at 5:00 of the fifth round at ONE 164 on December 3, 2022, and won the belt.

Brooks joined ONE in 2021, and Brooks beat Lito Adiwang, Hiroba Minowa, and Bokang Masunyane on the way to that title.

Wada beat Seiichiro Ito by split decision at 5:00 of the third round at ONE Samurai 1 on April 29, 2026, and that win was Wada’s 27th. The bout is his second on a Samurai card, and Wada is dropping from flyweight. Wada is a former DEEP flyweight champion, and Wada has fought in ONE since 2018. Wada beat Gustavo Balart and reached the semifinals of the 2019 flyweight grand prix, and Wada went three rounds with Demetrious Johnson.

Wada told ONE that Brooks presses forward, initiates wrestling, and hunts chokes. The matchup suits Wada. Wada told ONE the fight will be hard. Wada expects the bout to show how to beat Brooks.

The card

Pacio defends the strawweight title against Keito Yamakita in the main event, which the title fight covers.

Ryugo Takeuchi meets Brandon Hashimoto at heavyweight. Takeuchi is 23. He stopped Kang Ji Won in 98 seconds in 2025, and that is his only ONE win. Takeuchi made his professional debut in 2024 and won four straight by TKO at DEEP in Osaka. He is 187 centimeters tall, and he is a second-degree judo black belt. Takeuchi told ONE the pair had been booked before either man joined ONE. Hashimoto is 28 and 8-2. Hashimoto makes his ONE debut, most of his wins are knockouts, he won the GRACHAN title, and he holds a Brazilian jiu-jitsu purple belt.

Reiji meets Rui Botelho at strawweight kickboxing. Reiji is 19 and has won two in a row since joining ONE. Reiji told ONE he wants a knockout to earn a main-roster contract, and Reiji told ONE he is the middle of the Takagi brothers. Rui Botelho has fought Superlek.

Gump meets Shuto Inui at bantamweight kickboxing. Gump has won two in a row at ONE Friday Fights, and Shuto Inui won a KROSS×OVER title.

U-NEXT streams the card in Japan.

Start time

Japan Standard Time is nine hours ahead of UTC, London is at UTC, Sydney is on daylight time, eleven hours ahead of UTC, and Eastern time is five hours behind UTC.

5:30 p.m. in Tokyo:

• Tokyo: 5:30 p.m.
• London: 8:30 a.m.
• Sydney: 7:30 p.m.

In New York that is 3:30 a.m. Eastern, and in Las Vegas it is 12:30 a.m. Pacific. That clock is the card, not the first bell of Brooks vs. Wada. Doors are listed for 4 p.m., and U-NEXT lists the Japanese stream from 4:30 p.m.