Johny Hendricks Says Sparring Session With Kelvin Gastelum ‘Didn’t Go Well’
Former UFC welterweight champion Johny “Bigg Rigg” Hendricks has fallen on some rocky times as of late. After losing his title to reigning champion Robbie Lawler at UFC 181 in December 2014, Hendricks bounced back with a decision victory over Matt Brown in March 2015, but it was then that things began to fall downhill.
Hendricks was forced to withdraw from a scheduled bout with Tyron Woodley just a day before last October’s UFC 192, leaving a bad taste in the mouth of the UFC brass. He was then matched up with rising talent Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson last February, but “Bigg Rigg” ended up getting steamrolled and knocked out in the first round by the karate expert.
Now, the Texas native will get his chance to get back to his winning ways when he meets former The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) winner Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 200 on July 9, 2016 from Las Vegas, Nevada. Gastelum has actually lost two of his last three, and Hendricks feels as if he has the keys to victory locked up. In fact, “Bigg Rigg” recently detailed a past sparring session between the two that he says ‘didn’t go well’ for Gastelum:
“He likes to move forward. That’s something that I can definitely use against him. And the way that he throws punches – I’m not gonna get into too much of the details because some of it is my gameplan – but the way that he does certain things, I have figured out, I’ve watched the footage and I think I’ve figured out how to use that against him. And I really, really hope that he is gonna fight that way, but I’ve also prepared for a guy who knows that I can hit hard, that knows that he’s sparred me before and it didn’t go well. So what I’m thinking is that he might do a little bit of both, where he’s going to try to come out and see if he can set up himself to be a forward fighter and come forward. And once I do what I’m supposed to do and once I do all that, then he will turn into a guy that might try to throw a couple of punches and run.” Hendricks told Submission Radio.
Do you feel as if the former champion will come prepared and get back to his winning ways, or will his downward spiral continue in ‘Sin City’?
