UFC NEWS | Fresh Off Of Fitch KO, Hendricks Asking For Diaz vs. Condit Winner
“I’ve been telling everybody I really want the winner of [Diaz/Condit]. You don’t get this opportunity too often. Now that I’ve done it in the ring, I’ve got to do it outside the ring. If I don’t promote myself outside the ring — I mean, there are great fights going on and now they’re happening almost every week. You can be forgotten. So if I don’t say in the news that I want that interim title shot — there’s a fight this weekend in the 170 class, and [if Koscheck or Pierce] does good, I might get bumped. So I always got to be out there making my case. I want my goal. My goal is to be UFC champ some day, and I know I’m right there. I just need that shot. Here’s the thing. Unless the UFC says, ‘Johny, you have to fight — we want you to get a shot at the title, but we have some questions, and you need another one first,’ then of course I’m not going to bite the hand that feeds me. I’m going to do what they say. But if it’s up to me, I’d much rather go for the UFC interim belt. I’ve seen so many people who are right there, right there to get that shot and something happens … it never fails, something happens, and they don’t win. And then it takes them three or four fights to get back, which is a year to a year-and-a-half back, and that’s if everything lines up perfectly.”
Coming off of his big win over John Fitch at UFC 143, UFC welterweight fighter Johny Hendricks told ESPN.com that he wants a shot at the interim title once the victor is crowned in this weekend’s main event.
With only one professional loss to his credit, the fast rising Hendricks just took out the long-time number two ranked Fitch and now believes that he is entitled to his chance at UFC gold.
Does the win over Fitch put him in-line or is there still work to be done?
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I think he would get schooled by either one. I also think he should have to fight another top ten WW before getting a shot at the (interim) belt.
i thought he should have gottne a title shot a while ago. He is becoming the jon jones of his division. Young, and hard to beat. I would love to see Diaz and hendricks exchange punches
I don’t think he has ever been ready for a title shot. His fight with Rick Story is an example I can use. He has improved since then but I agree with Luke’s father that he needs to beat another top guy before becoming a #1 or #2 contender. Maybe somebody like Ellenberger, Koscheck, even Alves or Kampman. Just because his style was bad for Jon Fitch doesn’t mean he’s ready for a title shot. Don’t get me wrong..He has plenty of potential but things shouldn’t be rushed in my opinion (ex. Phil Davis).
He’s relatively unknown so that is an X next to his name.
It’s a bit of a moot point anyhow, since the winner of the Diaz/Condit fight is already slated to face GSP in the unification fight. The only hope Hendricks has that GSP doesn’t heal … and then he’s still a long shot.
Hendricks vs winner of Sanchez & Ellenberger for #1 contender…..
or vs. winner of Kos and pierce/ shields akiyama
Ye Dustin good point there, that would work nicely
That would work perfect. I truly think Hendricks is the real deal. I think he would struggle against GSP, but he might give Diaz some problems. Diaz takes a lot of damage and Hendricks has real power, plus Diaz struggles with wrestlers and Hendicks has an active top game.
aye laddy dustin.
I was never a huge fan of Hendricks until he starched the human blanket Fitch. Now he one of my favorite fighters at WW and that beard is glorious.
Yes, Nick or Carlos would eat him alive. Fitch is over-rated so that ko blinds people, love Hendricks though.
I’m going with Dustin on this one.
Dustin is right
In any case… It looks like the division is getting staaaaacked with great fighters!!! Nice… Good matchups are coming…
Not going to happen! GSP has first shot. Hendricks might get a shot at whoever wins that one.
Diaz & Condit? Winner vs GSP, loser gets Hendricks, how about that?
Beautiful photo! lol Wow. Hendricks looks like a MW there. Yeah, realistically Hendricks needs to beat someone else in the top 10 before he gets a shot at the top 3 WW’s IMO. I might put Ellenberger in that group instead of Diaz, but I think those guys are the top 4 for sure.
he should fight josh kos next when josh knocks out mike. and if johhny could beat him he will be at the top of the ww divison i dont think he will. but he still has work to do b4 he gets that title shot.
Hes smart to throw his name in the mix, but ww is way to stacked right now, hes dillusional if he thinks hes gona get a title shot off that win. Its almost far fethed to think hes one win away, more like two; that win was impressive and i was glad to see it but im gona be the devils advocate here cause thers gona be alot of people that say ‘fitch just got caught’ and hes still the better fighter. Sounds like the typical bs excuse but, they would have a point; if he wer to have got the beter of fitch and showed he could shut down his lay n pray ground game for a round or two or three, and then knock him out, that would have made a much louder statement to the ww div and he wouldnt have to have thrown his name out ther because everyone else would already have put his name in the mix.
Paulo thiago knocked out koscheck in simular fasion when he was no 1/no 2 top contender, and noone spoke of him geting a title shot. And koschec went on to geting his second title shot very shortly there after like that loss never happened.
agreed..an i thught that was bs to give him a shot but at that time the ww had no guys to challange greasy..now thw div is so stacked he will for sure lose that strap soon..if he fought more then 1 time every 16 months he would lose it already…but hes injury prone
You also have to take into account, what match-ups will generate the most revenue. If Hendricks can win in dominating fashion against at least a couple of top fighters in the division, his stock will go up considerably. And more people will want to see him fight for the #1 contender spot. It’s not like that at the moment. First and foremost, the UFC is a business. And businesses are about making the cash.
true that – with exception of the real mma/ufc fans, most people hadnt ever heard of hendrix befor that fight and have probably already forgot about him. Him in a main event would most certianly be a bust, as of right now.
whether he get the shot or not, hes still my hero for knocking fitch the **** out before he had a chance to steal another 15 minutes dry humping a dude
Agreed!!!
Wouldn’t mind seeing Johnny vs Thiago alves.
C’mon. I like the guy. But he’s not ready for either one of them. Personally, he got lucky with the Fitch KO. Fitch underestimated him, and left himself open. Fitch was his first true test. Now he still has a at least a couple of top tier guys to go through before making that title run. ie. Alves, Koschek, Kampmann, Shields. I’ll even go as far as Hardy, MacDonald, and Kim.
It should be Ellenberger vs. Hendricks first before any one of those guys gets a title shot. That should be an awesome fight esp. in the stand up department. Who would knock out who?
It’s good that he has ambitions, but he doesn’t yet have the skill set to take Diaz (unless he is running out of Gracie’s house again….), Condit, or for sure GSP. I think his next fight should be Koscheck and, if he passes that test, then give him the winner of Diaz/Condit.
he hasnt done enough to get a title shot
shoot i think he deserves it just for taking fitch out of the welterweight equation AM I RIGHT GUYS?!?!?!?!?!
Someone needs to knock this fool out imo. Give him koscheck after he won against pierce, and all will see this guy isn’t title worthly.
Dont be suprised when Sanchez comes back in a big way hes been out with injury for a while but he will kill ellenberger, ellenbergers win over shields was pure luck if they had that fight again sheilds would win 10/10 times and ellenbergaer hasnt really impressed against top level guys except the Sheilds fight, havent we all got short memories Sanchez has beaten some big opponents, remember his was with Guida or the fight with Riggs and he has only really been smashed by bjpenn and he was in his prime then (bj) Dont underestimate Sanchez out of the picture just yet!!