Johny Hendricks Thought About Retiring During UFC 181 Weight Cut
It’s been an up and down time in the recent career of former champion Johny Hendricks, as he sits in reflection of a pretty significant loss to Robbie Lawler at UFC 181. “Bigg Rigg” completed the second five-round fight in a row against “Ruthless” this past December 6th, but was on the wrong side of the judge’s opinion and lost the title to Lawler.
It’s no secret that Hendricks didn’t show up in the final rounds of the fight at UFC 181, and he has credited the poor weight cut leading up to that night in Las Vegas, Nevada. Now eyeing a likely trilogy match with his two-time opponent “Ruthless”, Hendricks talks about how he felt after the brutal weight cut leading up to UFC 181 to MMAFighting.com:
“That weight cut was so bad, and I thought about retiring. I feel like I’m still young in this sport, I want to get my belt back. My last couple fights have been questionable. It boils down to weight cuts. I can’t get bloated up to 218 any more, I’m walking around at 195 now, I’m getting my muscle mass back. I’m doing the right steps, I’ll have my power back and my coaches are noticing that I’m hitting hard again. I want that belt, it’s waiting for me and I want to get that thing back.”
“Bigg Rigg” stating that he would rather retire than move to 185 pounds, at least that was his mindset in the aftermath of his crushing loss to Lawler. Having only won the belt from his fellow power puncher seven months before, there is the strong possibility that the two will complete a trilogy within 13 or 14 months. Hendricks expanded on how he felt the second fight went:
“Whenever I watch it, I am bias although I try not to be, but how much time did I control this fight? There’s about three minutes where I didn’t control. I got caught up on that single leg, but then I went to a brain fart. It happened so quickly in my mind, whenever I dumped him he just fell, and I kinda got caught up. There’s a lot of faults that I did. My striking wasn’t as good as I’d like it. This next fight I’ll have the cardio and muscle endurance to maintain it.”
The final moments of the second fight saw Lawler battering an apparently exhausted “Bigg Rigg”, and that obviously made the final moments stick in the judge’s memories.
“You’re only as good as your last fight, and my last fight was great. I think the fans want to see a third fight, so that’s the way it is. I got Robbie again, and I want to prove myself. I can still grow, I plan on making the judges see it next time. I’m not done, he got the better of me but it’s not the end of me. I’m still learning as a fighter, and as long as I still feel the desire I know I can get that belt back. I know it’s mine to win.”
With the official date yet to be announced for Johny Hendricks vs Robbie Lawler 3, “Bigg Rigg” says he heard that the fight will be happening ‘From April through July’. Rory MacDonald will have to fight again to prove his part , and perhaps the third fight between Lawler and Hendricks will be even better than the first two.
If “Bigg Rigg” is able to keep his weight down, do you think he can win the belt back?
