Johny Hendricks returned to Submission Radio to chat with the boys about his fight with Tyron Woodley at UFC 192.
If Johny beats Tyron being getting the next title shot should be almost guaranteed however if that doesn’t pan out we might just see Bigg Rigg start beating people from ranking 15 up he explained “Well I hope so. If that doesn’t get me the title shot – if I beat the number five ranked guy and I beat the four ranked guy, I guess I need to drop down to the number 15th guy, beat them and that will give me a title shot.” With Carlos being ranked 4th and getting the shot over Hendricks Submission Radio asked the former champion if rankings really still mean anything Johny still thinks there’s a place for them “I understand rankings, you know what I mean, I do. And there’s a place for ’em. Now it’d be different if I was 0-2 against Robbie. If I was 0-2, then you sit there and say “okay, how do I get back to being number one”, or I gotta hope that somebody beats him. If somebody beats him, then I can go back into another title fight. But this is 1-1. I just feel like no matter what it was, nobody should have jumped me.”
In a similar position in the Featherweight division a fellow wrestler Frankie Edgar has found himself passed over many times for a potential title shot when asked if he worries about becoming the “Frankie Edgar” of the welterweight division Johny said “Here’s the thing, look at Frankie Edgar. He’s exciting and he hasn’t got a title shot in how long? You know what I’m saying? It’s just one of those things. Here’s what I’ve learned, do not try to think too much. Do not try to think too much. Do your job. And my job is to fight.
Being picked over Hendricks as a more exciting fight for fans Johny questions how exciting Carlos Condit really is in a title situation “We’ve seen him – they keep saying that “oh he does exciting fights”. But realistically his title shots, they haven’t been as exciting. You know, Nick Diaz. Five round fight. Then Georges St. Pierre – besides the head kick. The way he fights whenever he fights these guys that he knows that he has to worry about power.”
Speaking of Carlos, GSP recently made a comment about “If I would have to bet between Lawler, Hendricks and Condit, I believe Condit is the one that will emerge victorious. That’s on a five round fight. He’s a nightmare.” Johny Hendricks doesn’t really care about what Georges has to say “Ah, who cares? (laughs) You know what I mean? Who cares? Yeah the reason why he’s saying that is ’cause the last time [against Condit] I got tired in the third round, right? But here’s the thing, it’s a three round fight. Everybody’s like “Oh if you would have went five rounds, Condit would have beat him”. Well no, because if I was training for a five-round fight – which I think I’ve proven that I can go five rounds – I can do those things and that’s important. So realistically, who cares?”
Before UFC 192 Johny discussed some of his advantages over Tyron Woodley “One. Fighting a lot of top five opponents back to back to back to back. I think since 2013 I’ve been fighting top five guys, actually probably even sooner than that. ‘Cause I went Fitch, Koscheck, Condit was one of them, then I had Martin Kampmann and then GSP. So I’ve had a lot of them, and I’ve also had a lot of five-round fights. So maybe that’s one thing that could be in my favour, is that I’ve had a lot of experience, a lot of exposure to the media and all that kind of stuff. And also the big-time pressure fights. I’ve been there. But realistically I try not to think of any of that. I know I just named off some of the stuff, but whenever I’m training and whenever I’m doing things I try to sit there and say “we’re equal, we’re the same”. Because how do I beat a guy that’s equal to me? And that’s sort of the way that I try to approach every fight.” So how will the fight play out? Johny shares his prediction “There’s a couple ways I see it ending. First and foremost I want to get my hand raised. I think that’s most important, getting your hand raised. Second is that hopefully I can go out there and showcase some of my things that I’ve been working on. Every fight I’m improving my striking. I think people see that, that I am improving my striking. And that’s really important to me because I think that’s gonna help me further down the road. And knowing that, but also showing the power that I have now, you know, getting back to the old ways. That’s really what I want to showcase.”
Interview link: http://bit.ly/1WB9YFd
Transcript
Johny’s reaction when he got passed over for Carlos Condit on the next title shot
“You know what, realistically it’s not the first time. You know what I’m saying? Yeah you’re a little upset, but realistically you just look at it and say “Man, it is what it is”. Don’t know why, don’t know how, but he did. So if he did, then you just sit there and say “hey, get one more win. Get one more win and move forward”, to where you start getting ‘Cowboy’ [Cerrone]. I’ve been telling everybody, you do the Cowboy way. You just sit there and start beating everybody until there are no more number one contenders except for me.”
If Hendricks believes he gets a title shot after he beats Tyron
“Well I hope so. If that doesn’t get me the title shot – if I beat the number five ranked guy and I beat the four ranked guy, I guess I need to drop down to the number 15th guy, beat them and that will give me a title shot.”
On if having rankings makes sense if Johny is ranked #1 and still doesn’t get a title shot
“I understand rankings, you know what I mean, I do. And there’s a place for ’em. Now it’d be different if I was 0-2 against Robbie. If I was 0-2, then you sit there and say “okay, how do I get back to being number one”, or I gotta hope that somebody beats him. If somebody beats him, then I can go back into another title fight. But this is 1-1. I just feel like no matter what it was, nobody should have jumped me.”
On if Hendricks worries about ending up in a similar spot to Frankie Edgar and constantly missing the title shot
“Here’s the thing, look at Frankie Edgar. He’s exciting and he hasn’t got a title shot in how long? You know what I’m saying? It’s just one of those things. Here’s what I’ve learned, do not try to think too much. Do not try to think too much. Do your job. And my job is to fight. And the way that I look at it and the way that I’m thinking of it is that sometimes you gotta take it in your own hands. Yes. But I’m never going to talk trash or call somebody something or do anything to get a fight. I mean I have kids. I’ve done so good so far letting my fighting do the talking. And if that’s what I have to do to get a fight [talking trash], then I’m not gonna do it. Like I said, then that’s why I’d rather go with this kind of attitude. I’m just gonna keep beating people and beating people and beating people until there is no one left.”
On who’s winning between Carlos and Robbie
“I think it’s gonna be a good fight. I don’t know. The reason why it’s gonna be tough is because it depends what game plan Carlos Condit comes out with. We’ve seen him – they keep saying that “oh he does exciting fights”. But realistically his title shots, they haven’t been as exciting. You know, Nick Diaz. Five round fight. Then Georges St. Pierre – besides the head kick. The way he fights whenever he fights these guys that he knows that he has to worry about power. And who knows, he might go out there and try and throw offense right off the bat and take the fight to Robbie Lawler. Only time can tell. ‘Cause like I said, there’s still a lot of time. You also gotta think too if it’s November the 14th, that right there might be a great thing [for Carlos]. How well does Robbie recover from this last fight [against Rory MacDonald]? That might play a big factor. [You] just don’t know, and only time can tell.”
On if a part of Johny hopes Carlos wins because it’s the more “Marketable” fight than another rematch against Lawler
“Yeah. Realistically I don’t care who it is. I don’t care who wins it. I was hoping that Robbie was going to win this last one deep down so that way I could get my rematch. Now that it didn’t happen I don’t care who wins this fight. Whoever, whenever, it doesn’t matter. But realistically right now the thing I can think of – that I know I have to think of – is Tyron Woodley. If I don’t look for him – he’s ranked in the top five for a reason, and if I overlook him then that can be bad news for me, and it might take me two more fights to get back to the title.”
On if it’s difficult for Johny to see Tyron as a big threat going into this fight due to his lack of performance against top Welterweights previously
“No, you have to. You have to think of him as threat. If you don’t think of him as a threat it could be poor judgement. It’s a fight, and it’s a tough fight. He has wrestling and he has power in his right hand, and whenever you look at those two things, if you don’t look at him and respect him, then you lose. And when you lose it takes you that much longer to get back to where you wanna be,”
Who is the better MMA wrestler and if Tyron’s wrestling is something that Johny will have to watch out for
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“It is and then it isn’t. Meaning that it is because when you start some of the exchanges, who’s to say that he doesn’t come out and try and get a take down, you know, sort of bait me into one or try and throw some punches to get to one. So you sort of have to worry about those takedowns. But then again, you don’t go in there thinking that that’s the only thing he’s going to do because then that might mess up your striking abilities. But what you want to do and what you need to do – let’s say he goes out there and I’m worried about his takedowns. I start striking but I’m not really committing on a lot of punches. That’s gonna build confidence on him. And the more confidence he builds, then he might use that to his advantage to get some takedowns.”
His advantages of Tyron
“One. Fighting a lot of top five opponents back to back to back to back. I think since 2013 I’ve been fighting top five guys, actually probably even sooner than that. ‘Cause I went Fitch, Koscheck, Condit was one of them, then I had Martin Kampmann and then GSP. So I’ve had a lot of them, and I’ve also had a lot of five-round fights. So maybe that’s one thing that could be in my favour, is that I’ve had a lot of experience, a lot of exposure to the media and all that kind of stuff. And also the big-time pressure fights. I’ve been there. But realistically I try not to think of any of that. I know I just named off some of the stuff, but whenever I’m training and whenever I’m doing things I try to sit there and say “we’re equal, we’re the same”. Because how do I beat a guy that’s equal to me? And that’s sort of the way that I try to approach every fight.”
Hendricks responds to GSP’s comments about Condit being more dangerous than Hendricks (GSP: “If I would have to bet between Lawler, Hendricks and Condit, I believe Condit is the one that will emerge victorious. That’s on a five round fight. He’s a nightmare.”)
“Ah, who cares? (laughs) You know what I mean? Who cares? Yeah the reason why he’s saying that is ’cause the last time [against Condit] I got tired in the third round, right? But here’s the thing, it’s a three round fight. Everybody’s like “Oh if you would have went five rounds, Condit would have beat him”. Well no, because if I was training for a five-round fight – which I think I’ve proven that I can go five rounds – I can do those things and that’s important. So realistically, who cares?”
Johny’s Prediction
“There’s a couple ways I see it ending. First and foremost I want to get my hand raised. I think that’s most important, getting your hand raised. Second is that hopefully I can go out there and showcase some of my things that I’ve been working on. Every fight I’m improving my striking. I think people see that, that I am improving my striking. And that’s really important to me because I think that’s gonna help me further down the road. And knowing that, but also showing the power that I have now, you know, getting back to the old ways. That’s really what I want to showcase.”