Jonathan Brookins’ TUF 12 Blog: Episode Three

TUF 12 contestant Jonathan Brookins checks in with his latest blog entry

by Jonathan Brookins

Hey everybody. Thanks for coming to check out my little bit of extra action that might have been left out of last night’s episode.

It picked up right after Bruce Leeroy and Jeff Lentz‘s fight, and man, was that a hilarious night.

They really condensed the situation of Bruce taunting Jeff into a couple seconds, when in reality it took a couple of hours. Bruce followed Jeff around the house in his yellow suit and just rubbed salt all over Jeff’s wounds from the fight. How ever little the damage to Jeff inside of the octagon might have been, it really seemed like Bruce was determined to make sure the damage outside was worse. But Jeff was an excellent sport about everything — I was really surprised he didn’t snap. You know how short a New Jersey fuse can be, right?

It was actually that day that I gained a ton of respect for Jeff. His composure was very cool. In Bruce’s defense, I know he was not trying to be malicious in any way. I know he was just having a good time.

It was funny, though, because Bruce was like a lyrical king. Any song you want to hear, he could literally take a request and kick out the full song – lyrics and all. Mike Johnson was kind of the same way with movies and comedy.

Jeff Lentz: you’re the man, homeboy. Props on keeping your cool.

Mike knew exactly who he wanted to fight. He was very confident and he had the support of our team. He knew he wanted English because he figured his wrestling wouldn’t be as good as everybody else in the house. But Aaron’s wrestling skill would end up becoming a surprise to us all.

While Mike was getting ready for that fight, GSP brought in Gia Sissaouri. Phil Nurse was there for a bit but had just headed out for a quick couple weeks. So in the meantime we were going to be working with all sorts of guest coaches, and Gia was the first.

I had heard John and George talk up a big game about this Gia guy, but when I saw him walk through the door I wondered how they could fit all those larger then life stories into such a small man. Well, I soon learned how and why. That guy was PHENOMENAL! When I say Gia was a wrestler like I’ve never wrestled before, I truly mean it.

The footage they showed of him wrestling with us did that guy no type of justice. Those were the least of the scrambles we were in with that guy. He was a 5-foot wrecking machine, and it was unreal. When he got under you or locked up with you, it was a wrap — you were getting taken down. That was actually one of my favorite training sessions that day. I am a wrestler at heart, so it was a privilege and an honor to learn from Gia Sissaouri.

(For all you wrestling buffs out there, here is a clip Gia in the 96′ Atlanta Olympic Finals against highly regarded Kendall Cross. Very close match. A lot of people cry fluke on this one.)

Everything seemed normal that day until I was walking in our locker room and I noticed a whole bunch of guys in the doorway. I was kind of confused at first because I didn’t know who they were. At first I thought maybe they let Mike bring in some family or something which I thought would have been great.

It actually seemed normal, but I had forgotten about the rules for a second. But then another guy walked through the door, and it was MIKE TYSON!

I loved the way it all worked out, and it was a perfect day for Tyson to come hang with us. It meant a lot to Michael Johnson, probably more than it would have meant to the rest of us, so it was very cool to see.

Watching the fight on TV made me just as nervous as it did when I was there. We had just kind of moved into the house and even though Aaron was my roommate, I hadn’t really gotten the chance to know him. After the whole experience of being in the house I can honestly say that it was an honor to be able to share a room with Aaron and be able to kick it with him for the short period that we did. I can’t say enough good things about the guy.

The fight was so emotional watching it on TV because he is such an incredible person that it even brought my girlfriend to tears a little (sorry miss, didn’t mean to front you out on the internet like that :-)

I really hope everybody in the US gets to know Aaron Wilkinson a bit more. He’s somebody you can feel good about rooting for. Kudos to both of you fellas for putting on a hell of a fight! You both showed plenty of talent and heart.

There is a lot more of that in this season. Stick with Season 12 – we won’t let you guys down.

Just make sure you tell all your friends to find their favorite fighters and support them. Nam Phan, Kyle Watson and Spencer Paige all had their own schools to support while doing the show, so go and support these guys in any way you can, even if you just add them on Facebook or Twitter them (doesn’t that sound vulgar, god I hate that word).

Either way, we love every single one of you guys who finds what we do interesting. We couldn’t be more grateful And I am speaking for the entire cast because I know they feel the same way.

Thanks for watching the 3rd episode of the season. Can’t wait until next week to see Bruce and Sevak get into it. Looks pretty intense. See ya next week.

Follow HeavyMMA on Twitter and Facebook