Johny Hendricks needs to fight Nick Diaz
Johny Hendricks sitting on the sidelines and having no issue with waiting until Georges St-Pierre decides to defend his title against him bothers me.
Why? Well, I don’t think that Hendricks has earned the right to sit on the bench for what could amount to a year before he faces GSP. Is he the #1 contender? Sure, I guess so. I mean, he did flatten both Martin Kampmann and Jon Fitch in less than a minute. That’s pretty damn impressive. But do I feel like he’s the 2nd best fighter in the division behind the champ? Nope.
I’m not totally sold on the bearded one just yet. We’ve seen this guy before and his name is Shane Carwin. Remember him? He steamrolled the opposition on his way to a showdown with Brock Lesnar only to get choked out in the second round. However, Hendricks isn’t quite as “hot” as Carwin was. The engineer wouldn’t let any of his foes escape the first round before playing Mr. Sandman and giving them a touch o’ sleep. Hendricks has heavy hands but he has lost before to Rick Story back in 2010. While I wouldn’t have any qualm with Hendricks if GSP was fighting him next, the fact of the matter is that St-Pierre might be tied up with Anderson Silva and the “Bigg Rigg” isn’t really in a position to say “I’m not fighting.””
As a fighter, Hendricks needs to fight. And considering that guys like Rory MacDonald, Carlos Condit and Jake Ellenberger are still lingering about, it’s not like Hendricks doesn’t have anybody to scrap with. In my mind, he’s not that far ahead on the rankings. I’m not totally convinced that Hendricks could beat any of the fighters I just mentioned. But the most intriguing fight for Hendricks right now comes in the form of the soon-to-be returning Nick Diaz.
Oh, what a wonderful fight that would be. Hendricks knocks out people that aren’t used to being knocked out and Diaz doesn’t get knocked out. Hendricks has one punch power and Diaz lands punches in bunches. There are so many interesting things about a Diaz-Hendricks fight that it almost sounds more appealing than a Hendricks-GSP fight.
The fight would deliver a bonafide #1 contender and would certainly fill the void if St-Pierre is busy with “The Spider.”
And the whole “I’ll wait” mentality doesn’t really work out. Ask Rashad Evans about that.
