Jonathan Brookins’ career did not follow the same path as many of his contemporary TUF champions. The TUF 12 winner didn’t wind up with a title shot as the winners of TUF 13, 14 and 17 all did – Tony Ferguson, John Dodson, and Kelvin Gastelum respectively. He didn’t wind up in main events and didn’t really get the time to put together a big win streak. Instead, Brookins ran into a difficult list of fighters straight out of the gate. 

I look at the other guys, the guys I was on the show with, who they first got fed when they got off of the show, Brookins recollected. My only pick was Jeremy Stephens or Erik Koch, and Erik Koch was on a tear. So I had to fight him first and then I had to fight Charles Oliveira, and then I had to fight Dustin Poirier.

After that tough run, Brookins left to find his inner-fighter while studying yoga in India – a choice he made due to admittedly not really having the right mindset when in the UFC. 

When I was in the UFC and I said ‘maybe I’ll go to India and find some stuff there,’ I thought that maybe I had to become more centered, and then maybe I would become a better fighter, he said. You know why I did all that stuff? It’s because I was just scared, and I didn’t really believe that I was a fighter. If I believed that I was, I wouldn’t have had to have gone searching for all of that stuff – I would have just known it.

Some of this was due to the bouts themselves, but a lot of this had to do with what was going on in Brookins’ life. 

I had a sister that passed away and that’s what got me into fighting. Then when I was on the Ultimate Fighter I had a little brother that was struggling. I was just trying to take care of him and some other people, he shared. That’s something that Dana White and really nobody ever knew about me.

Since leaving the UFC to find himself, Brookins has had a journey that includes fighting on three continents – with few or no cornermen, being deported from Canada, sleeping on gym mats in NYC, and the loss of another sibling (the full story can be heard in the interview below). While all of those things were hard for Brookins, they led him to having a stronger, healthier mindset about the fight game and life. And this has him in a place where he feels like he can get back into fighting as an even better fighter than he ever was. 

I definitely feel like I’m getting healthier in my mindset – it’s as strong as it’s ever been. I’m definitely on the hunt right now to see if there are any organizations that would have me this year, he shared. Now it’s kind of funny that I do know. I do know that I’m a fighter, but I had to go through all that stuff.

(2:00 mark) 

Author Daniel Vreeland is a co-founder of the Top Turtle Podcast, a regular contributor to the UG Feed, and a brown belt in Jiu-Jitsu at New England Submission Fighting in Amherst, Massachusetts.