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CHICAGO – To say Will Brooks really needed a win is probably understating things.

Brooks was one of the hottest things in the lightweight division when he was Bellator’s lightweight champion. He vacated his belt there and went to the UFC, but after a debut win he was finished in three straight fights and found himself looking for work elsewhere.

In the main event of Thursday’s second event for the new Professional Fighters League, Brooks (19-4) outworked fellow UFC vet Luiz Firmino (20-9) for a unanimous decision in front of his home fans in Chicago.

“It was definitely one of those things like, ‘Winning … I miss you so much!’” Brooks told MMAjunkie after the fight. “It took us a little bit to get back together, but we’re back. I’m a guy that’s very critical of myself. Even though I got the win, I was still a little bummed out.”

PFL 2 took place at Chicago Theatre in Chicago. The main card aired on NBCSN following prelims on Facebook. Brooks and 11 other fighters in the division have a pair of regular-season fights in which they’ll earn points to qualify for this fall’s playoffs. At the end, the winners in each of six divisions will take home $1 million each.

Some of the disappointment from Brooks may come from PFL’s point-accrual system. His decision win got him just three points. A first-round finish would’ve netted six. And the points are what will qualify fighters for the eight-man playoff field after their second fights. It’s feasible that some fighters will come up a point short of qualifying based on going to a decision vs. getting a finish.

But Brooks knew there was a strong chance he’d need to go 15 minutes with Firmino.

“We definitely knew he was very tough, just watching some of his previous fights – like Justin Gaethje,” Brooks said. “That was one that we kept going back to, just recognizing how tough the guy was and how much pressure he could take and put on you. We just knew we were going to wind up having to fight all 15 minutes and continue to stay on top of him, and at some point just push the pace on him.

“We did a great job tonight – just getting back in the win column. That’s what I kept telling my team: Just get back to winning, and that’s what we tried to do tonight.”

That’s not to say Brooks wasn’t gunning for a finish. In fact, he said in the second he thought he might’ve had an opening to start to put Firmino on the ropes.

It just never came.

“It wasn’t just thinking about getting back to the win, but also understanding what kind of fighter we were going against – a guy who’s extremely tough,” he said. “I hit him with a lot of heavy punches, and he just kept coming forward.”

For more from Brooks, check out the video above.

And for complete coverage of PFL 2, check out the MMA Events section of the site.