Will Brooks was sublime as Bellator lightweight champion. After a controversial title win over Michael Chandler, one in which Brooks seemed to go through the process of convincing himself that he could win such a fight, "Ill" Will dominated Chandler in the rematch, knocking him senseless in the fourth round. Then he dominated Dave Jansen, then Marcin Held, taking wide decisions over both men.

Some might say that "dominate" is the wrong word. Brooks ended his last three fights under the Bellator banner looking very confident, and very much in control. And yet, in all four of his title fights, Brooks lost the first round. Whether fighting a champion like Chandler or a journeyman like Jansen, Will Brooks is a slow starter.

The reasons for this are many. Brooks has excellent stamina, and he often takes over when his opponent begins to gas. On the other hand, he has a risk-taking mean streak, and seems to enjoy beating his opponents in their areas of expertise. He has a patient, methodical approach to all aspects of the game, and builds on his successes round by round. The result is that, while Brooks accepts dicey exchanges and loses the early rounds, he tends to break his opponents mentally after that.

In this way, Brooks is perhaps the first example of a "slickster" in MMA. His methods fall in line with those of great American boxers like George Benton, Pernell Whitaker, and Floyd Mayweather.

Marcin Held has his favorite tactic turned around on him.

Rather than strategic, Brooks approaches fights from a tactical point of view. He does not seek to avoid his opponent's strengths and gameplan for a safe, relatively certain path to victory. Instead, he solves the specific problems presented by his opponent over the course of a fight. When Marcin Held nearly finished Brooks via kneebar in the first round, Brooks found a way to turn the exact same position against Held in the very next frame. Brooks lost a round to the aggressive striking of Dave Jansen. By the end of the frame, however, he was letting Jansen rush into the clinch, and by round two he was picking the challenger off on the way in, and effortlessly plugging away with knees and short punches on the inside. Likewise, Brooks followed up his close first fight with Chandler with an altogether dominant second fight, culminating in a finish.

Brooks starts slow, and he gets better and better with each subsequent exchange. As you might expect, this approach lends itself to championship fights and five-round main events. The same style sees boxers like Floyd Mayweather figuring things out early, only to embarrass their opponents from rounds six and seven onward.

So when Brooks made his UFC debut, he was faced with a challenge. For the first time in two years, he would only have 15 minutes in which to solve the unique puzzle of his opponent. At most, he could afford to give away 7 of those minutes, and without shocking power or a venomous submission game, the opportunity to save a close fight with a finish would be slight. Were he to give away the first round, the second two would have to be perfect to guarantee a win.

Brooks seemed to approach this challenge with a workaround in mind. He knew he could not afford to start slow. And if he was going to cement his presence in the memory of the UFC audience (and owners), then it would behoove him to have an exciting fight. So he fought against type. As usual, he accepted a fight in Pearson's area of expertise, but instead of remaining safe and allowing himself to judge the subtleties of the Englishman's game, he went toe-to-toe, and relied on his athleticism to carry him through. It was a very entertaining fight, but it also gave cause to fear for Brooks' future: for the first time in his entire career, Will Brooks lost a third round.

Will Brooks had a little trouble with Ross Pearson in the third round. Photo by Joshua Dahl, USA Today Sports.

There is no argument that Brooks won the fight on the strength of his first two rounds. All three judges granted him the decision, and 21 members of the MMA media agreed. By coming out hot and pressuring Pearson, Brooks managed to impose his will on the fight. When Pearson eventually got comfortable, however, and when he knew he needed a finish to win, he scored frequently. This time, the third round looked somewhat like Brooks' typical first rounds, except that, instead of patiently protecting himself while seeing what Pearson had to offer, Brooks found himself anxiously defending the attacks of an opponent. Pearson was frustrated, but not broken.

Perhaps the main difference was this: in the past, Brooks often seemed to allow himself to lose a round; this time around, he couldn't help it.

And that will be the central difficulty of Will Brooks' UFC run. The tactician who revealed a talent for five-round fights--and perhaps got used to fighting them--will now be forced to slog through a number of three-rounders on his way back to the title. He has the added misfortune of tackling this task in the UFC's deepest division.

Essentially, Brooks is a man who could lose to Ross Pearson, Evan Dunham, and Michael Chiesa, or beat Khabib Nurmagomedov, Rafael Dos Anjos, and Eddie Alvarez on any given night--all depending on whether or not he has five rounds in which to work.

On October 1st, Brooks will face a fighter very much in the former category, a fringe contender by the name of Alex Oliveira. As we have discovered, however, the format of the fight makes Oliveira a unique challenge. And unlike Ross Pearson, Oliveira is unlikely to be cowed by the physicality of Brooks. Oliveira is listed at only an inch taller than Brooks, but he will enjoy a six inch reach advantage. Oliveira is a lightweight, but he has not looked out of place in any of his four welterweight matchups, his broad, triangular build assuring him a notable physical edge over most opponents.

Brooks is arguably on par with Oliveira physically, but the size difference means that he will have a harder time impressing his superior skillset on Oliveira--and on the judges.

It will be worthwhile to keep an eye on the UFC career of Will Brooks, a fantastic fighter caught in the middle of the division. The championship fight is a hurdle which most fighters struggle to overcome, but for "Ill" Will, it is the climb through the ranks that may prove most difficult.