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Mark it down, boys. Will Brooks is quite honestly a nightmare for the current LW division. His wrestling is the best in the division (more on that below), and he is by far the largest and strongest (ie. Poirier claims Brooks is stronger than Tibau, and is the strongest LW he's ever rolled with) LW on the roster. His striking is improving very quickly as well, as evidenced by his ability to strike evenly with Chandler in their rematch, and his ability to nullify everything Chandler could do using his reach and distance. As such, there's not much the top 10 can do to him:
(c) Rafael Dos Anjos: Gets outwrestled quite easily, and get neutralized on the feet by Brook's superior length / distance awareness
1) Khabib Nurmagomedov: Stuffs all of his takedowns similarly to Tibau, and outstrikes him comfortably. Can even take him down if he feels necessary (Tibau, Trujillo, and several Russian fighters have taken Khabib down with ease)
2) Eddie Alvarez: Gets beaten everywhere. His inability to check kicks is bad news for someone with Brook's kicking arsenal, and his short reach makes it difficult for him to even hit Brooks. Plus, Chandler absolutely fucking ragdolled Eddie in their fights, with Eddie getting stuffed on every single takedown attempt, and being slammed numerous times in the rematch. He was also held down for the entirety of RD4 in the rematch by Chandler, who in turn got absolutely pummeled in RD3 of the first Brooks fight from mount.
3) Tony Ferguson: Lost to Danny Castillo (no, throwing your legs up and not doing shit does not win you the fight.) Tony has been taken down by almost anyone who's attempted it, such as Thomson, Barboza, and Trujillo. Tony also goes for dumb leg locks often, which will give Brooks even a higher chance of victory.
4) Edson Barboza: Probably the toughest fight for Brooks due to Barboza's strong TDD, superior athleticism, and ability to strike going backwards. I could see Barboza winning the early rounds, but once Brooks gets on top of him, Barboza will wilt and be too preoccupied with never being on the ground again to open up with strikes.
5) Anthony Pettis: lol this guy got outwrestled by fucking Eddie Alvarez.
6) Michael Chiesa: Dangerous if he gets the back, but I see this being like the Masvidal fight in that Chiesa will eventually be put in a bad position and not be able to bounce back. Keep in mind that Chiesa got outgrappled by Masvidal handily, who while good is not on the level of Brooks (who easily outgrappled criminally underrated Marcin Held)
7) Dustin Poirier: Has a chance if he goes all-out, but I doubt even he would argue against Brooks being the rightful favorite. It's such a bad matchup for Poirier. Brooks is MUCH bigger, particularly in the legs, and can dictate the striking through distance and timing. Poirier also has nowehre near the ground game of Marcin Held, who got outgrappled and mounted numerous times by Brooks.
8) Beneil Dariush: Simply a case of being too small, too weak, and lacking the striking to make Brooks hesitant to stand. If it goes to the ground, Dariush has a better shot, but it'll ultimately be Brooks dominating from top position.
9) Michael Johnson: Getting outjabbed by Dariush does not bode well in a fight with a guy who can kick from halfway across the Octagon. Johnson's TDD is very good, but we haven't seen him face a grinder in quite a while. Chain wrestling will get him down, and his non-existant groundgame will spell his doom.
10) Al Iaquinta: How is this guy top 10? wtf
Overall, with the departure of Frankie Edgar, BJ Penn, Benson Henderson, Donald Cerrone, Gray Maynard, etc... the LW division is at an all-time low in terms of wrestlers / anti-wrestlers. Its telling when a guy such as Khabib, who has incredibly overrated wrestling, is being touted as some sort of next-level wrestler despite the fact that he effectively can only secure takedowns from the clinch and has no double leg to speak of.
The only impressive win on Khabib's streak is Rafael Dos Anjos back in 2014, where while RDA was very good, he was nowhere near the skill / conditioning he has today. Evidence of this can be seen comparing his fights with 2013 Cerrone (which was very, very competitive and would've likely went to Cerrone had it been a 5 rounder) and 2015 Cerrone (who was on the best winstreak of his career and had massively improved his TDD and even his striking). RDA is also notoriously prone to being outwrestled, as was the case with Jason High, Evan Dunham, Gleison Tibau, Clay Guida, Cerrone (RD3 of the first fight). While it's certainly an impressive win, it's far from certain that Khabib can replicate this performance.
tl;dr
- Brooks will be the LW champ (07/05/16); dependent upon when the UFC gives him his title shot
(c) Rafael Dos Anjos: Gets outwrestled quite easily, and get neutralized on the feet by Brook's superior length / distance awareness
1) Khabib Nurmagomedov: Stuffs all of his takedowns similarly to Tibau, and outstrikes him comfortably. Can even take him down if he feels necessary (Tibau, Trujillo, and several Russian fighters have taken Khabib down with ease)
2) Eddie Alvarez: Gets beaten everywhere. His inability to check kicks is bad news for someone with Brook's kicking arsenal, and his short reach makes it difficult for him to even hit Brooks. Plus, Chandler absolutely fucking ragdolled Eddie in their fights, with Eddie getting stuffed on every single takedown attempt, and being slammed numerous times in the rematch. He was also held down for the entirety of RD4 in the rematch by Chandler, who in turn got absolutely pummeled in RD3 of the first Brooks fight from mount.
3) Tony Ferguson: Lost to Danny Castillo (no, throwing your legs up and not doing shit does not win you the fight.) Tony has been taken down by almost anyone who's attempted it, such as Thomson, Barboza, and Trujillo. Tony also goes for dumb leg locks often, which will give Brooks even a higher chance of victory.
4) Edson Barboza: Probably the toughest fight for Brooks due to Barboza's strong TDD, superior athleticism, and ability to strike going backwards. I could see Barboza winning the early rounds, but once Brooks gets on top of him, Barboza will wilt and be too preoccupied with never being on the ground again to open up with strikes.
5) Anthony Pettis: lol this guy got outwrestled by fucking Eddie Alvarez.
6) Michael Chiesa: Dangerous if he gets the back, but I see this being like the Masvidal fight in that Chiesa will eventually be put in a bad position and not be able to bounce back. Keep in mind that Chiesa got outgrappled by Masvidal handily, who while good is not on the level of Brooks (who easily outgrappled criminally underrated Marcin Held)
7) Dustin Poirier: Has a chance if he goes all-out, but I doubt even he would argue against Brooks being the rightful favorite. It's such a bad matchup for Poirier. Brooks is MUCH bigger, particularly in the legs, and can dictate the striking through distance and timing. Poirier also has nowehre near the ground game of Marcin Held, who got outgrappled and mounted numerous times by Brooks.
8) Beneil Dariush: Simply a case of being too small, too weak, and lacking the striking to make Brooks hesitant to stand. If it goes to the ground, Dariush has a better shot, but it'll ultimately be Brooks dominating from top position.
9) Michael Johnson: Getting outjabbed by Dariush does not bode well in a fight with a guy who can kick from halfway across the Octagon. Johnson's TDD is very good, but we haven't seen him face a grinder in quite a while. Chain wrestling will get him down, and his non-existant groundgame will spell his doom.
10) Al Iaquinta: How is this guy top 10? wtf
Overall, with the departure of Frankie Edgar, BJ Penn, Benson Henderson, Donald Cerrone, Gray Maynard, etc... the LW division is at an all-time low in terms of wrestlers / anti-wrestlers. Its telling when a guy such as Khabib, who has incredibly overrated wrestling, is being touted as some sort of next-level wrestler despite the fact that he effectively can only secure takedowns from the clinch and has no double leg to speak of.
The only impressive win on Khabib's streak is Rafael Dos Anjos back in 2014, where while RDA was very good, he was nowhere near the skill / conditioning he has today. Evidence of this can be seen comparing his fights with 2013 Cerrone (which was very, very competitive and would've likely went to Cerrone had it been a 5 rounder) and 2015 Cerrone (who was on the best winstreak of his career and had massively improved his TDD and even his striking). RDA is also notoriously prone to being outwrestled, as was the case with Jason High, Evan Dunham, Gleison Tibau, Clay Guida, Cerrone (RD3 of the first fight). While it's certainly an impressive win, it's far from certain that Khabib can replicate this performance.
tl;dr
- Brooks will be the LW champ (07/05/16); dependent upon when the UFC gives him his title shot
