Will Brooks almost fully recovered from rib injury, eyes January return

In the beginning of October, former Bellator MMA champion Will Brooks stepped into the Octagon for his second UFC appearance on the main card of ‘UFC Fight Night: Portland’.

Brooks was stepping into the Octagon against Alex ‘Cowboy’ Oliveira, who was supposed to be making his lightweight debut at the event. The day prior however, when the Portland Athletic Commission opened up the scales for early weigh-ins, Olivera was one of the first fighters on the scale, coming in 5.5 pounds over the lightweight non-title fight limit of 156 pounds.
While Brooks was given the option to decline the fight given that Oliveira came in quite a bit over the weight limit, he opted to fight ‘Cowboy’. Unfortunately, when the two stepped in the Octagon, an early knee from Oliveira injured one of Brooks’ ribs. As the fight progressed, the injury became more & more severe, with Oliveira ultimately securing the 3rd round TKO win.

After the fight, Olivera made several offensive gestures in Brooks’ direction, as the former Bellator champ was grimacing in pain on the canvas before being taken out on a stretcher.

Now, just under a month after the fight, Brooks has revealed that he’s already almost back to 100%, and is looking to return to the Octagon in early 2017.

He took to Twitter:

Ribs are feeling better, another week and I'll be back in the gym. Looking to compete in January.

— Will Brooks (@TRILLwillbrooks) October 21, 2016

This is quite the positive update from ‘Trill’ Will given that just one week after the fight he informed fans:

“Physically, I’ve been better. The rib is sore, I’m dealing with a little bit of discomfort. It’s an old injury, I’ve dealt with it before, I’ll figure out how to heal up this time, and heal up properly so I don’t have to deal with this in the future.”

With the lightweight division being an incredibly stacked one, when Brooks makes his highly anticipated return to the Octagon in early January, who would you like to see the former Bellator MMA champion square off against? Play matchmaker and give us your thoughts in the comments section below!