The guy Tomasello struggled with most...now with Pancrase and arguably the #1 strawweight in the world?

[maligned 529]

Do you guys remember Jarred Brooks from Indiana, who won the Super 32 and Dapper Dan and beat Tomasello a couple times at big events?

 

He ended up going to NAIA Indiana Tech so he could both wrestle and prep for an MMA career.  I'm not sure he ever wrestled a match, but he's been a beast in MMA.  At 12-0, he signed with legendary Japanese promotion Pancrase last year and is ranked by at least one reputable site (FightMatrix.com) as the top strawweight in the world.  

 

Dana White had said back in 2013 that strawweight would eventually come to the UFC as the brand looked to grow in the huge Japan and Thailand markets.  Not sure that's happening any time soon with only a couple Brazilians and Brooks the American as established western hemisphere strawweight commodities.

 

It would have been interesting to see the intense, aggressive Brooks go further on the mats as a 57kg or college 126 lifer--but maybe we'll see him as an MMA star instead.

Edited January 6, 2017 by maligned

[conyewest 57]

If he is fighting at 115 one would have to question his ability to win at 57KG. Though I guess he could have changed his workout plan to adjust. Regardless, his MMA resume is already impressive and he is only 23. Definitely will be keeping an eye on him.

[maligned 529]

If he is fighting at 115 one would have to question his ability to win at 57KG. Though I guess he could have changed his workout plan to adjust. Regardless, his MMA resume is already impressive and he is only 23. Definitely will be keeping an eye on him.

 

Yeah, there just aren't many strawweights around, so a couple of his better wins seem to have been at 125/6.  I believe he wrestled his senior year of high school at 119 and was recruited as a future 126 before going the small-school, close-to-home route to focus on MMA.  Not sure how big he naturally is, but it's true he looks like a small 126 when I've seen a couple clips.

Edited January 6, 2017 by maligned

[LemonPie 1,368]

Top strawweight in the world is probably worth 1K a fight I imagine. 

[maolsen 94]

Yeah, there just aren't many strawweights around, so a couple of his better wins seem to have been at 125/6. I believe he wrestled his senior year of high school at 119 and was recruited as a future 126 before going the small-school, close-to-home route to focus on MMA. Not sure how big he naturally is, but it's true he looks like a small 126 when I've seen a couple clips.

He wrestled 112 his senior year, with 119 having Mason Todd, who seemingly had his number thru school, but that could of been because Todd was massive for the weights, and Brooks never seemed to have a hard weight cut. I remember a lot of people wanted him to wrestle 119 because it was a much tougher weight and they wanted to see him go at it with Todd and a couple others. I was in the camp that thought Brooks would have been fine and won it at 119, because he jumped a crazy level, from the end of his junior year to his senior year. I wish he would have continued wrestling, in hopes that the college would have helped him bulk up, but he's doing fine anyway. He has fought professionally at 115, 125, 135, and I think one 135 lber might have missed weight as well. He likes big slams in the cage to showcase wrestling and show the exciting aspects of it for mma fans, from what I've heard. Edited January 6, 2017 by maolsen

[PSUMike 445]

Talent pool @ strawweight is comically shallow. I don't see a division in a major North American organization starting up any time soon. 

[maligned 529]

There's a UFC Fight Pass free weekend right now where you can access Pancrase and lots of other organizations' fights.  It only takes an email address to sign up. If you haven't seen Brooks fight, he's a lot of fun to watch. Here's his crushing Pancrase debut:

 

https://www.ufc.tv/video/jarred-brooks-vs-jun-nakamura-pancrase-281

[maligned 529]

Talent pool @ strawweight is comically shallow. I don't see a division in a major North American organization starting up any time soon. 

 

It would only be able to happen by a North American organization with significant cash, a desire to grown in Asia, and a willingness essentially to develop a division entirely out of North America while staging significant shows in Asia regularly. The UFC could certainly do it if they wanted. There's plenty of talent in Japan and Thailand already, a freestyle world wrestling power in Mongolia, and a Greco world power in South Korea. It's a question of whether they anticipate the type of needed investment and needed management would be worth it right now.

[maligned 529]

Brooks signs on to face Ian McCall as a late replacement for UFC 208 on February 11.

[brickhousey 120]

Brooks signs on to face Ian McCall as a late replacement for UFC 208 on February 11.

Wrestled with him growing up, wonder how his college career would've went. But that's awesome!

 

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk