Johny Hendricks Discusses Possible Future At Middleweight
Johny Hendricks has been a force at Welterweight in recent years, knocking competition out cold and earning himself a title shot at Georges St-Pierre at UFC 167. ‘Bigg Rigg’ racked up an impressive 10-1 record for the UFC before receiving his shot at the belt, and almost took advantage of the situation.
The fight against GSP at 167 was a much debated one, both before and after the fact. Many fans believed that ‘Rush’ would finally get knocked from his perch by the younger, hungrier man in Hendricks. Many also believed that Hendricks had beaten GSP on the night, but was doled a terrible slice of fortune by the judges.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom though, St-Pierre vacate the belt soon afterwards and now Hendricks will face the resurging Robbie Lawler for the vacant strap. Hendricks has the world at his feet right now, but is already looking to the future. More specifically, which weight class he wants to fight at:
” For sure, you always want to take it to the next level. Hendricks said during an interview with Dallas News You want to be the next sensation. That’s been my dream for awhile and hopefully I can do that. Yes, once I can get through my weight class, I would love to retire at 185. I definitely don’t want to go down a weight class.”
Hendricks actually walks around at 220lbs., meaning he cuts a terrible amount of weight to get to 170. It’s only a matter of time before that becomes too much of a strain on his body
“I like to have that confidence. I like to prove it too. Everyone says I am not as good of a striker, I am not good at this or that. I try to prove them wrong as much as I can. I looked up to Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture. Two wrestlers who made it work for them.”
“They were two completely different fighters. One was a standup guy, one was a control type fighter. What I learned, if you can mesh the two, you can be amazing fighter. Control but have the Chuck Liddell mantra to knock them out.”
Hendricks caught the eye of UFC brass with his knockouts over Martin Kampmann and Jon Fitch. A wrestling ace, ‘Bigg Rigg’ is living proof that anyone can become a great striker if they work hard enough. But does he have what it takes to become a legend of the sport?
“I am not the person who calls people out. unless they have the belt. I’ve called out another person and they didn’t accept the fight. Every fight is a super fight for me. Each fight presents a problem to solve — good or bad. One day I would like to move up in weight class that would be fun for me. Super fights right now? No I need to get through my division first before I can think about that.”
Bring on UFC 171 where Hendricks and Lawler will collide to decide the future of the 170lb. Weight class.
