TUF Contestants, Where Are They Now? | Johnathan Brookins

The Ultimate Fighter is a reality television series produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) which debuted on January 17 2005 and has been running ever since. A huge moment for the company was when the first seasons finale featuring Forrest Griffin versus Stephen Bonnar aired on Spike TV drew millions of eyes to the UFC and the sport itself.

This was just one amazing moment on the television show, the show has had 29 seasons and counting, the show introduced many champions such as TJ Dillashaw, Kamaru Usman, Julianna Pena, Carla Esparza, Michael Bisping, Rashad Evans, Robert Whittaker, and Rose Namajunas to name a few. It also introduced us to a wide variety of colourful characters that made us laugh, cry, and appreciate who these fighters are a human beings. We will be chatting with some and catching up with what they do now and in this article well be looking at Johnathan Brookins.

In which season of TUF did Johnathan Brookins compete?

Brookins competed on the twelfth season of TUF (The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck) but he was not a stranger to competition up until that point. He was introduced to MMA by Charles “Krazy Horse” Bennett as the state wrestling champ looked into the sport, competed on Bellator’s first ever card, and fought a young beast in the of WEC Jose Aldo. He would be picked by coach GSP and head all the way to the finals, defeat now UFC legend Michael Johnson, and become The Ultimate Fighter. Brookins would go on to face future champions and stars like Charles Oliveira and Dustin Poirier and finished up his UFC run with a 2-3 record. He would fight on at other organizations like BAMMA, Legacy, and Pancrase before calling it a career.

What does Johnathan Brookins do now?

He retired for a time back in 2012 and went to live in India to dedicate himself to the art of Yoga, VICE Sports FIGHTLAND did a mini documentary on Brookins that you can watch here. He returned from India with a fresh perspective on who he was as a person and began training at one of the best gyms on the planet at the time Tristar which is also the home of his TUF coach, Georges “Rush” St. Pierre. He is still involved in Yoga and movement in culture, the quest to understand himself continues to this day. He hosted his own podcast for brief stint called “The Work with Johnathan Brookins”