Will Brooks returned to his regular fighting style at UFC Fight Night 96, and it didn’t work out.
The former Bellator MMA lightweight champion was favored going into his co-main event clash with Alex Oliveira in Portland, Ore., on Saturday evening, but, unfortunately for him, the event ended up featuring many victorious underdogs.
It was a grinding fight throughout the entire duration, and it was very difficult to tell who got the better of the wrestling exchanges in the first two razor-thin rounds. Both Oliveira and Brooks landed several takedowns throughout the fight, with some fun reversals mixed in between.
Brooks apparently injured his rib in the first round, and that was clear in the latter half of the fight. “Ill” was visibly in agony the later the fight went on, but hung in there for quite awhile. However, the Brazilian proved to be too much late in the third round, scoring a TKO victory.
What was the highlight of the fight?
Oliveira didn’t walk out of the Octagon without causing a stir, however. He received lots of criticism for what was perhaps unsportsmanlike conduct after the fight, as well as missing weight on Friday. After the stoppage, the Brazilian taunted the hurt Brooks with a crotch chop motion and later claimed that he was offended by his opponent for talking badly about his mother earlier in the week. In a somewhat lackluster outing, the post-fight controversy was — yet again, as it seems like we’ve been seeing post-fight controversy every card for the past month — the co-main event’s highlight.
Where do these two go from here?
Oliveira picked up a big win on Saturday, but, considering his post-fight actions and failed weight cut, he probably won’t get a major step up in competition in his next fight. He stated afterwards that he’ll return to the welterweight division for fights outside of Brazil, while he’ll stick to 155 pounds for bouts that don’t include lots of travel. All of that said, I wouldn’t mind Oliveira fighing a top 15 fighter next (no matter the division), as Brooks was ranked No. 11 at lightweight ahead of the fight.
This was a big setback for Brooks, because he was the favorite, a very hyped fighter and the higher ranked fighter. But, at the end of the day, this is MMA we’re talking about, and anything can happen. Brooks hasn’t looked particularly great throughout his UFC career thus far, barely making it past Ross Pearson and falling to Oliveira. He’ll likely get a winnable rebound fight in his next outing, because I think the UFC knows that he can do big things in the promotion in the future.
Watch now, later, or never?
Oliveira vs. Brooks wasn’t a fantastic fight by any means, but you should still check it out because of “Cowboy’s” finish and the controversy at the end.