Sherdog’s Top 10: Greatest Bellator MMA Fighters

10. Will Brooks

Brooks is a curious inclusion. Some respondents had him as high as fifth. Others, myself included, left him off entirely. This dichotomy is perfectly understandable given the nature of his career in Bellator. There are two ways to frame his career. One is positive, noting that he was a ridiculously athletic, high-level wrestler who developed good striking. Brooks had a tremendous 9-1 record in Bellator, including going 2-0 with a decisive knockout of Michael Chandler, one of the greatest champions in promotion history, whom we will see later in this list. That also included gaining revenge for his lone loss, two successful title defenses, and leaving Bellator for the UFC as its champion. The more negative framing would note that Brooks had porous striking defense and suffered from lapses in concentration. His one loss, a 43-second knockout by Saad Awad, is a very ugly one for an all-time great. In fact, I can't think of a worse loss in Bellator by anyone else on this list. Aside from the two Chandler fights, his opposition was fairly weak. His best after that was a decision win over Marcin Held and after that, decision triumphs over Dave Jansen and Alexander Sarnavskiy. Good opponents certainly, but not exactly world-class elite. Even the two triumphs against Chandler aren't so simple upon closer examination. Brooks won the first encounter via split decision, but virtually everyone aside from the cageside judges had it as either a Chandler win or a draw. The truth likely lies somewhere in the middle. Brooks was an all-time great in Bellator, but perhaps not to the degree he would appear at first glance. With that in mind, 10th place seems fair.

Continue Reading » Number 9