TUF 12 Finale Main Card: Brookins Bounces Back, Defeats Johnson

After his three round unanimous decision win over Michael Johnson, Jonathan Brookins earned The Ultimate Fighter season 12 title, but what will be most remembered about Saturday’s bout at The Pearl at The Palms is Brookins’ ultimate comeback from a rocky first round to pull off the stirring victory over the next two frames.

Scores were 29-28 twice and 29-27 for Brookins, who, like Johnson, represented Georges St-Pierre’s Team GSP on the Spike TV reality series. See post-fight interview with Brookins

Trading strikes to open the bout, Johnson was the crisper puncher of the two lightweights, prompting Brookins to look for a takedown. Johnson’s defense was solid though, and he refused the trip to the canvas, opting instead to try to keep his luck going on the feet. With a little over three minutes left, a left to the head rocked Brookins and put him on the mat. Brookins weathered the storm, but after rising, Johnson delivered the hurt again with another left. With two minutes left, a right uppercut jarred the Floridian, but the game Brookins was able to hold on and clear his head. By this time though, Johnson was starting to impose his will on his opponent, not just turning away takedown attempts but pushing them off with ease, capping off a big first round.

“I was stunned,” said Brookins. “I said ‘Here comes Michael Johnson.’ He’s an incredible competitor.” See post-fight interview with Johnson

Looking to turn the tide, Brookins made an almost desperate takedown attempt early in round one, and while it wasn’t pretty, he got it, following up with a series of ground strikes as he battled his way back into the fight. Johnson unable to escape, was forced to take the punishment before eventually making it to his feet with less than two minutes left. Brookins wouldn’t let go of his foe’s leg though, and he used it for a throw to the mat with under a minute left, turning the tide in emphatic fashion.

With five minutes left, there would be no saving it for next time with these two 155-pounders, and after Johnson briefly rocked Brookins with a shot to the face, Brookins took Johnson back to the mat, where he had so much success in the previous round. After working to break Johnson’s defense, Brookins found himself in the mount position, but Johnson escaped, got back to his feet, and looked to fire off some fight-ending strikes. Brookins responded with another takedown and more ground strikes, and this late flurry of activity sealed the final round for the Orlando product.

With the win, Brookins improves to 13-3; Johnson falls to 9-5.

Bonnar vs. Pokrajac
Stephan Bonnar continued his 2010 resurgence, following up his July knockout of Krzysztof Soszynski with a clear cut three round unanimous decision win over Croatia’s Igor Pokrajac. See post-fight interview

Scores were 29-26 across the board.

Pokrajac met fire with fire as the bout opened, trading punches with Bonnar.  After a brief lock-up against the fence, Bonnar took the bout to the mat, but Pokrajac scrambled to his feet and the two broke. Again, the two light heavyweights traded punches, and as the bout hit the mat again, Bonnar looked in a choke. It appeared that Pokrajac was in trouble, but he escaped, only to catch more heat from Bonnar’s ground strikes. Now in side control, Bonnar fired off elbows to the ribs before finishing up the round with punches to the head from the back position.

There was more solid close quarters action in round two, with both fighters battling it out until Bonnar was able to throw Pokrajac to the canvas. Bonnar stayed busy with strikes while the two stood on the mat, and after standing, he kept the heat on with knees in the clinch. Pokrajac didn’t wilt under the pressure, as he delivered strikes of his own, and in the final minute he appeared to rock Bonnar briefly before the “American Psycho” got him against the fence and finished the round strong. To add insult to injury for Pokrajac, he was docked a point by referee Steve Mazzagatti for illegal knees to the head when the two were on the mat earlier in the round.

Bonnar came out fast for the final round, getting a quick takedown. Bonnar kept his hands busy, throwing whenever he had the opportunity. With a little over three minutes left, Bonnar got the mount position and began digging to the body. After a scramble, Pokrajac appeared to find daylight, but only for a moment, as Bonnar again took the dominant position and fired away. At the bell, another point was deducted, this time from Bonnar for punches to the back to the head, but it had no impact on the final verdict for the longtime light heavyweight standout, who improves to 16-7; Pokrajac falls to 22-8.

Maia vs. Grove
In middleweight action, Demian Maia drilled out a close, but unanimous three round decision win over Kendall Grove. See post-fight interview

Scores were 29-28 across the board for Maia, who improves to 14-2; Grove falls to 14-8 with 1 NC.

Grove used his reach advantage well in the first round, reddening Maia’s face with accurate strikes. In response, Maia took Grove down in the second minute, and even thought ‘Da Spyder’ was able to fight his way back up, Maia stayed locked on to him and eventually got the bout back to the mat. By the three minute mark, Maia got into the mount position and then took Grove’s back, but in a scramble, the Hawaiian was able to get out of immediate danger. And while Maia’s strikes loosened Grove’s defenses and scored points, he was not able to finish his foe.

Maia’s first takedown attempt of the second round was turned away, and Grove’s striking continued to look sharp, but the next shot by Maia produced a takedown, and the Brazilian went back to work. With a minute left, Maia took Grove’s back in search of the choke, but again Grove was able to survive and make it out of the round.

After some tentative standup to open the final stanza, Maia started to get more confident in his punches as he tagged his opponent with quick counters. Grove didn’t start getting his own striking back in gear until under two minutes remained, and he needed something big to turn the fight around. Maia made sure that didn’t happen, as he pinned Grove against the fence and kept him there until the bell.

Hendricks vs. Story
Welterweight up and comer Rick Story made it five wins in a row, winning a hard-fought three round unanimous decision over previously unbeaten Johny Hendricks. See post-fight interview
“I knew it was gonna be a battle of wills, and it was close,” said Story, who earned the victory via scores of 29-28 across the board.

Showing off their chins after eating flush shots, Hendricks and Story knew immediately that they were going to be in for a rough night. Plan B turned into digging to the body for Story and kicking to the legs for Hendricks. And when they put everything together, it made for some high-level welterweight action. With 30 seconds left in the round, Hendricks scored the first takedown of the fight, but Story was able to make it back to his feet at the bell.

Hendricks (9-1) began the second with some quick counters, prompting a flurry of body shots from Story and a takedown. Story (12-3) almost caught Hendricks from the back, from the former National Champion wrestler got free and back to his feet. At close range, the two locked up, with Hendricks landing his own body shots as he looked for a takedown. With a little over two minutes left, the two broke loose, and after some spotty standup, Story scored a takedown. Hendricks stood, but remained locked up against the fence for much of the remainder of the round.

Opening the third round with a takedown, Hendricks appeared to have the upper hand, but Story turned things around with a guillotine choke attempt. As the two stood, Hendricks remained attached to Story’s leg, while the Washington native secured his foe’s arm. A stalemate ensued, with neither fighter able to pull loose until two minutes remained and the fighters got upright again. Hendricks wouldn’t release his foe, but he wasn’t able to mount any offense either, leaving the final round in a stalemate.

Phan vs. Garcia
The Ultimate Fighter season 12’s Nam Phan got a tough assignment in his UFC debut against Leonard Garcia, and it appeared to most observers that the Team Koscheck member had done enough to earn his first Octagon victory, but the judges didn’t agree, awarding an unpopular three round split decision to Garcia. See post-fight interview with Garcia

“I don’t know what they were looking at,” said a disbelieving Phan. “I thought I won all three rounds.” See post-fight interview with Phan

So did the fans that vehemently booed the 29-28, 29-28 and 27-30 verdict for Garcia, the former WEC featherweight standout who was making his first UFC start since 2007.

The pace was fast from the start, with both fighters taking their own unique ways to the same goal. For Garcia, it was his typical swing from the heels style, while the more patient Phan picked his shots. Regardless of the method, both were getting their shots in without even thinking of a takedown. And not surprisingly, as Phan began to land with more frequency in the final 90 seconds, Garcia would wing shots back even harder in order to get even, drawing frequent roars from the crowd.

Garcia came out aggressively for the second round, upping his work rate with his punches as well as his kicks. The “Bad Boy” even scored a brief takedown. But Phan stayed cool under pressure, and midway through the round he rocked Garcia with a series of pinpoint strikes and then got the bout to the mat. Phan quickly took Garcia’s back and tried to work for the rear naked choke. He didn’t get it, but he clearly locked up the second round.

Down, but not out, Garcia continued winging bombs at Phan, yet even the ones that landed were having little effect on Phan outside of a cut on his forehead. And when the Californian fired back, he was definitely landing the cleaner and more effective blows. In the final stages of the bout, Garcia was gassed, but still throwing, and Phan still looked fresh as he peppered his game foe with flush counters until the bell.

With the win, Garcia improves to 19-6-1; Phan falls to 16-9.

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Brookins A Talented Work in Progress

"I’m really excited to give the fans a real growing process. If they bear with me, I’ll give them a nice journey, and it definitely won’t peak out at the finale. It’s gonna be a nice ride and I hope that everybody can come along with me.” If not for the fickle hand of fate and the concrete hands and feet of Jose Aldo, things might have turned out a little bit differently for The Ultimate Fighter season 12 finalist Jonathan Brookins.

“I knew at the time that it was me or him,” said Brookins of his November 2008 bout with the current UFC featherweight champion. “I really felt like that night the planets aligned, and with Mike Brown fighting Urijah Faber and Leonard Garcia fighting Jens Pulver that night, and also me and Aldo, I felt a sense of a six man tournament. I thought that the WEC brought in six of the better 145-pounders around, and that between me and Aldo, we had a great chance of running up that ladder.”

Brazil’s Aldo was entering his second fight in the WEC’s featherweight division, and Brookins, 8-2 at the time, was making his debut in the organization. 45 seconds into the third round, Brookins had pushed the future champion, but he didn’t beat him. Aldo went on to earn a place on the pound-for-pound list; Brookins went back to the drawing board, but there is no bitterness when it comes to the result of the fight that night in Florida.

“I felt that if I beat Aldo that night, I would have run up that ladder,” said the Oregon native. “But he was the better man and once I watched what he did after he beat me, I realized that he was more deserving of that win that night and of continuing on the path that he did. And it worked out exactly the way that it was supposed to. I felt like I was very capable of winning the fight that night, but I’d rather enjoy the way it worked out because I’m very proud of the way Aldo has handled himself in the ensuing fights.”

In a nutshell, that’s the Jonathan Brookins that viewers around the world got to know over the last 12 weeks. Humble, classy, and marching to the beat of his own drummer. There is no chest beating, no outrageous antics, no need to fit in as the “typical” pro athlete. It’s refreshing, and it comes from a desire on his part to continue his evolution – not necessarily as a fighter, but as a human being.

“A lot of it comes from the mistakes that I’ve made,” he said. “I’ve made plenty and I’m not very proud of them, and I kinda strive to cut down on those. I think when you lose track of the things that you can fix, you kinda lose track of yourself and you boast and brag, rather than really tell yourself, ‘wow, there’s a lot I can work on.’ Each day there’s something you can work on to better the next day. A lot of times, people are like ‘Jonathan, you’re self-loathing,’ and it’s not that; I just like to be a little bit better, and it’s my attitude toward things. I’m a young man really trying to grow up and it’s just the state of mind that I’m in.”

Following the Aldo fight, Brookins put together three wins without a loss, two of those victories coming by way of submission, and when the list of competitors for the 12th season of TUF was released, many instantly put him at the top of the favorites list based on his skill set and that his only loss in his previous five bouts came to Aldo. But once the fighters got to the competition, Brookins didn’t feel that he had a target on his back.

“I never really felt like the favorite, and I knew what the other guys were capable of, but I also knew what I was capable of and I just tried to keep that in mind,” he said. “And the way the world turned, it ended up in my favor and I was really thankful for that.”

Again, he’s being modest, because his four fight run to the finals was one of the most impressive stints in recent TUF history, as he defeated Ran Weathers, Sevak Magakian, Sako Chivitchian, and Kyle Watson in emphatic fashion. Now he takes on Team GSP squadmate Michael Johnson, and not surprisingly, the two developed a friendship over their six weeks in the TUF house.

“Michael’s a great opponent, a great athlete, and I really got along great with him in the house,” said Brookins. “I’m excited that I’m fighting such a great competitor.”

Stylistically, it’s an intriguing showdown, one of those where the slightest edge can become an enormous one come fight night. And one apparent advantage for Brookins is that he already knows what it’s like to be under the bright lights in a big show, something Johnson can’t claim. Brookins isn’t so sure though.

“I don’t know if there are enough times walking under the bright lights to really prepare you for that,” he said. “Each time it’s gonna be surreal, it’s gonna be exciting, and we’re both gonna be inside the same cage. So it’s gonna be a pretty level playing field.”

If Brookins sounds like an old soul, he is. He’s not giving his opponents any motivating fuel, not building himself up at the expense of others, and he’s just focusing on the task at hand. That’s rare stuff from a 25-year old, and perhaps even rarer is a look at the heroes section on his UFC bio, which lists boxing greats Jack Johnson, Joe Louis, and Sugar Ray Robinson.

“I’m really partial to those guys, their stories, and what they fought for,” said Brookins. “I just think that they had some of the most beautiful accomplishments that I’ve ever seen. Jack Johnson didn’t really handle himself as well as I would have liked to see, but given where life was at the time, he really did break so many barriers and I’m proud of him for that. Joe Louis was kind of the antithesis of Jack Johnson and he moved it forward, and he was just a beautiful champion. And things didn’t really end up well for him, but then you move on to Sugar Ray and nobody mastered the sport like him and I haven’t really seen a fighter like him since. If there’s ever a fighter that I would aspire to master the craft like he did, it would be Sugar Ray. I’d be honored if I could ever master a craft as well as he displayed it at the height of his career.”

That’s good stuff from a rising star in the fight game, and though he plans on putting together a winning performance on Saturday, Brookins wants to make it clear that he’s still a work in progress.

“I’m embarking on a change process that is proving to take longer than I anticipated, so I think the best of me is still yet to come,” he said. “I still think I’ll display a wonderful amount come the finale, but I’m really excited to give the fans a real growing process. If they bear with me, I’ll give them a nice journey, and it definitely won’t peak out at the finale. It’s gonna be a nice ride and I hope that everybody can come along with me.”

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‘TUF 12’ Teammates Brookins, Johnson Expecting Unexpected

They trained together for six weeks as part of Georges St. Pierre’s team on “The Ultimate Fighter 12,” but both Jonathan Brookins and Michael Johnson expect to see different versions of one another when they face off for the six-figure UFC contract which goes to the winner of Saturday’s “The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale.”

“It definitely doesn’t hurt, the fact that [I] know him that well,” Brookins said during a conference call Thursday. “But I can’t say that it helps. It might have helped a little bit more if we were fighting the week after the semi-final fights, but since you had so much time since we left the house, you’re not really fighting that same guy that you knew. But that’s just how time goes -- you change. You’re not going in there blind. Not completely.”

Johnson said he benefited from his time spent with Brookins on the show, but is aware of the potential changes that his opponent has likely made.

“He was one of my main training partners on the team. I loved working with Jonathan. We competed a lot in the training room. He made me a better fighter during the course of the season,” Johnson said.

“It helps because I do know some of his strengths. I know to watch out for certain things. Also, it might hurt, because he’s not gonna be that same fighter come Saturday night, and neither am I. It’s going to be exciting to see what new things we’re going to bring to the table.”

Brookins defeated Ran Weathers, Sevak Magakian, Sako Chivitchyan and Kyle Watson to earn his spot in the final bout, while Johnson was victorious over Pablo Garza, Aaron Wilkinson, Alex Caceres and Nam Phan.

After taping for the show wrapped, Brookins returned to training at the Gracie Barra Orlando gym. Johnson, however, spent some time working out at his home in Springfield, Mo., before heading to Albuquerque, N.M., to get some instruction from Greg Jackson’s and Mike Winkeljohn’s Jackson’s Mixed Martial Arts. There, Johnson sparred with UFC fighters such as Diego Sanchez, Carlos Condit, Clay Guida and Donald Cerrone.

“I think it’s helped me out as a fighter and gotten me well prepared,” Johnson said.

Brookins has the advantage when it comes to fighting big-time opponents, having lost to Jose Aldo by third-round technical knockout at WEC 36 in 2008. Brookins, who has also competed in Bellator, took the loss as a learning experience.

“I felt really prepared. I felt like it was a great fight for me. I felt like I had a great chance, and I was really excited about it,” he recalled.

“There were just certain things going on in the fight that I wasn’t prepared for. Ultimately, it taught me some incredible lessons in the sport. Immediately after the loss, it didn’t take me long to come to the conclusion that I was thankful for the things that [Aldo] introduced me to.”

Brookins was released by the WEC after that bout. Having previous fights as a featherweight gives the Florida-based more options now that the UFC and WEC have merged. Brookins said that his decision to compete at either 145 or 155 pounds could be made on a fight-by-fight basis.

“I’m just gonna go by the fights where they need me. If there’s a good fight at ‘45 and they call me up...I’m gonna be there. If there’s a fight at ‘55...I’ll be there. It’s nice to be able to go to both weight classes,” he said.

Johnson, who has won four of his last five fights, said it was his most recent loss -- a submission defeat to Bellator veteran Eric Marriott in May 2009 -- that gave him the motivation to reach his current level of success.

“I made a lot more sacrifices. I started taking my training a lot more serious and actually focusing on my goal at hand. [I stopped] letting in the things that stopped me from doing what I had to do or any distractions,” he said.

Johnson utilized a similar determination when trying out for “The Ultimate Fighter.” After being passed over for the eighth and ninth seasons, the Springfield Fight Club product persevered and finally made the cut for the show’s most recent installment.

“I think it was almost like a blessing in disguise that I didn’t make Season 8 and Season 9. Season 12, I’m in the finale against a great fighter...I had the best coach, one of the best fighters in the world -- Georges St. Pierre -- so the timing couldn’t be any more perfect.”

Reflecting on their time spent filming the show, both fighters were grateful to be part of St. Pierre's diverse team. By the end of the season, many of the members of Josh Koschek's squad were complaining about the lack of quality coaching.

“You almost didn’t want to brag to the other team, but you almost had something to brag about,” Brookins said. “You could tell kind of quick that we were getting a better coaching staff than the other team.”

Added Johnson, “I think the main thing that separated our coaching staff from their coaching staff was Georges actually trained with us every day. I got a feeling that Koscheck didn’t do that.”

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