Johny Hendricks Accuses Robbie Lawler Of Running From Him

When news broke yesterday (Thurs., July 23, 2015) that UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler was supposedly facing former interim champ Carlos Condit and former champ Johny Hendricks would be facing No. 3 Tyron Woodley, “Bigg Rigg” was not surprisingly miffed at the situation.

After all, Hendricks beat “Ruthless” for the belt in one of 2014’s best fights at UFC 171, and he took him to the limit once again at last December’s UFC 181 only to lose a close split decision that some still feel he should have won. Hendricks also forwent a perceived trilogy match with Lawler to rebound well by dominating top-ranked Matt Brown via unanimous decision at March’s UFC 185, but UFC president Dana White wasn’t all that impressed with his wrestling heavy performance.

So Condit got the fight on the laurels of his UFC Fight Night 67 TKO stoppage of former title contender Thiago Alves, a fight he won after 14 months off dealing with a torn ACL he suffered against Woodley at UFC 171. From Hendricks’ point of view, who took to Twitter to voice his displeasure, he believes that Lawler is running from him, and as a true fighting champion should want to fight the No. 1-ranked contender:

As the champion I would think that u would want to fight the #1 person instead of running @Ruthless_RL bc we have unfinished business

— Johny Hendricks (@JohnyHendricks) July 23, 2015

It’s difficult to argue with him here, as Condit is no doubt a top contender, but he’s also lost three out of his past five fights after being given every chance to succeed against the stacked welterweight division’s true elite. While those losses included a close split decision defeat to Hendricks, a unanimous loss to Georges St. Pierre where he almost finished ‘GSP’ with a head kick, and his injury against Woodley, they are still losses at the end of the day.

But we’ve also already seen Lawler vs. Hendricks twice before, and the UFC obviously wanted to go in a fresher direction for the immediate future. Lawler vs. Condit was confirmed for December 5’s UFC 194 from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and it’s thought that Hendricks vs. Woodley will go down to decide the next rightful title contender.

Do you think “Bigg Rigg” has a right to be mad, or is his insinuation that Lawler is ‘running’ a bit much given that he owns a recent win over him?