By Tony Reid

Former Bellator lightweight champion Will Brooks recently got his first taste of competing inside the UFC Octagon as he won his debut over veteran Ross Pearson by unanimous decision at the "The Ultimate Fighter," season 23, finale.

Brooks is no stranger to throwing down with elite fighters—he has been training with numerous high-level Zuffa employees for years at the famed American Top Team (ATT) gym in Coconut Creek, Florida.

For our latest gym story, he shared his experience from his first day at ATT and his introduction to who is now his good friend, UFC lightweight contender Dustin Poirier.

"The first day I came to American Top Team, Dustin Poirier was getting ready to fight Jonathan Brookins." Brooks said. "The first time I met Dustin was when they put me in there to spar with him. The way there were running it was, for two rounds, you could only strike. At the time, I was really green with my striking. I had a jab, double leg and ground and pound—that's it."

The supremely athletic, grappling-focused Brooks had a tough go for the first two stanzas, and exchanged only hands and feet with Poirier, a standup specialist.

"Dustin and I get after it, and he is beating the life out of me. He is kicking my legs, punching, kneeing me. I am sucking wind. He is chopping me down. I was just trying to survive." Brooks said. "At the end of the second round, my coach said we could do takedowns. I took this big deep breath and knew it was time to go. Dustin's wrestling has come leaps and bounds, but at the time, his wrestling wasn't great. I just started double legging him all over the place. I made sure I got through the rest of the rounds.

"Afterwards, we laughed about it. We have stuck together ever since. He has helped me a lot with my striking and I have helped him a lot with his wrestling. After, my manager called and asked me what I thought. I told him this was my sport. I will never forget it."