Is Will Brooks the Best Lightweight Outside the UFC?
Is Will Brooks the Best Lightweight Outside the UFC?
Article by George Portoulas, Photos by William McKee
At just 28 years of old, Will “Ill Will” Brooks has a professional MMA record of 15-1, and is the current Bellator lightweight champion.
Brooks is currently on a six-fight win streak, with his last two victories coming over former lightweight champion Michael Chandler. Ill Will is confident that he could take on any lightweight in the world and defeat them. Brooks has fought eight time under the Bellator brand winning seven of those bouts. He would go on to later beat the man who handed him the taste of defeat.
“Deep down in my bones, I believe I can beat anybody in the lightweight division: Bellator, UFC or World Series of Fighting. Anybody. I can beat them”, Brooks says.
With credentials such as a current title holder and impressive win-loss ratio should Brooks be considered in the top 10, or even top five lightweights in MMA?
With Brooks’ only loss to Bellator competitor Saad Awad being avenged, Brooks still has a line of talented, hungry fighters in his division waiting at the chance to take his strap.
Marcin Held (20-3), Derek Anderson (11-1), and the seasoned Dave Jansen (20-2) are just a few in the deep and talented 155-pound division. Brooks could potentially string together a few more wins against such fighters, and accrue a 18-1 or 20-1 record before his contract expires and he chooses to test the waters in the UFC.
