Johny Hendricks Claims UFC Wants Him To Make Weight Class Change
Former UFC welterweight champion Johny Hendricks may have to make one big change to his professional MMA career.
Some fight fans might not know that Hendricks is currently a free agent. A big part of that is due to his performance inside the Octagon under the UFC banner.
By looking at his fight history, he is just 3-7 dating back to late 2013 and has been finished in his last two losses.
During this time, he has had issues making weight. Hendricks made the decision to leave the welterweight class to move up to the middleweight division due to weight issues. His last two bouts at welterweight saw him miss weight.
His debut at middleweight was against Hector Lombard, which saw Hendricks win.
After the fight, Hendricks went on record by saying that the weight cut was the easiest of his life and that middleweight was his new home.
As a result of his decline in performance, there have been many fans that believe that his career is over.
However, Hendricks doesn’t see it that way as he believes that he has a lot left in the sport and is contemplating an Octagon come back later this year.
In a recent interview with MMAJunkie Radio, Hendricks stated that the UFC wants him to move back down to welterweight if he ends up signing a new deal with the MMA promotion.
“I’m a free agent,” said Hendricks (transcript courtesy of MMA Fighting). “I am up for grabs. The UFC stills wants me. They want me back at 170 [pounds] and I agree. If you’re gonna keep giving me these big ol’ 85 pounders, I’ve got to get back down to 170.”
“I’ve got to fight back to what I want to get to,” said Hendricks. “I’m not that type of guy that says, ‘No, I think I deserve more.’ I will get back to where I want to be at the welterweight division. I really do believe that.
I’m starting to get faster. I’m working with a trainer here, Ryan. He’s been working on my fast-twitch movement, he’s been working on my speed – quickness, explosion – and whenever I’m doing these things and then I go back and train boxing or whatever, everyone can see that I’m getting quicker and my weight is coming down.”
With him about to turn 35 years of age and the fact that he has already seen his fair share of wars against the likes of Robbie Lawler and Matt Brown, it will be interesting to see how he rebounds in his next fight.
“Right after my last fight I emailed them saying, ‘Hey, I want to go back to 170. Obviously, y’all don’t want me at 185. I understand,’” said Hendricks. “And realistically, the only reason I went up to 185 was because I thought I had one more fight on my contract. So I go, screw 170, I’m gonna go to 85 and then we can renegotiate a contract.
“Needless to say, I got two big ol’ boys and it didn’t go the way I wanted it to. But after fighting those fights, it really brought back something in me because I was like, ‘Dude, they don’t kick that hard.’
I still hurt all those 85 pounders with my punches and with my kicks. So if I can hurt 85 pounders, what can I do if I go back to 170. It sort of built my confidence back up to where I believe in my power, I believe in what I can do.”
