Sidelined Johny Hendricks speaks out on the current state of the welterweight division

[The Great Cochrane]

In March this year, Johny "Big Rig" Hendricks proved that he was on top of the mountain in the UFC's well stacked welterweight division. Following his close loss to Georges St-Pierre, GSP vacated the title which left Hendricks to face rising welterweight Robbie Lawler. In just as equal controversy, Hendricks defeated Lawler for the title and also gained a fight of the night award in the process of finally capturing what he'd desired for so long.

The win did not come without a cost though, as he was instantly sidelined with a torn bicep which required for him to have surgery shortly afterwards. Since then, the welterweight division has been heating up; as names like Lawler, Matt Brown, Rory MacDonald, & Hector Lombard have all been outspoken on their most recent chances to get a shot at the title that Hendricks currently holds.

During the midst of his recovery, Hendricks recently took some time to speak with USA Today Sports about his injury and the current state of the welterweight division:

It sucks being on the sidelines, knowing these guys are all fighting to get to me, and I can’t do anything about it. I can’t train for it, can’t get ready for it. The only thing I can do is sit here and wait for them to battle it out. I don’t like that.

They scared me into being a good patient. It’s tough for me. Growing up wrestling, you get injured and they expect you back on the mat in a couple weeks unless it’s really bad. What I found out is that if I jump the gun, instead of being six weeks in a sling and six weeks recovering, it might turn into 12 weeks in a sling and 12 weeks recovering.

One person Hendricks took the time to address is Rory MacDonald, who is most recently coming off the heels of an impressive outing over Tyron Woodley last Saturday.

He’s one of those fighters that he can do that to people. I’m not going to talk trash on anybody, but he makes guys feel awkward. But when someone is doing that, hey, you’ve got to know that sometimes you have to eat a punch to deliver a punch. Sometimes you’ve got to say to yourself, ‘I am paid to be an entertainer.’ In my fights it’s not if I get hit; it’s when I get hit.

But it won't be MacDonald that's next on the list for the champion, Dana White announced earlier in the month that the first challenger would be the winner between the UFC Fox Saturday 12 main event between Robbie Lawler and Matt Brown.

If Matt Brown wins, that’s awesome because it’d be nice to train for someone new. But if Robbie Lawler wins, I’ve trained for him before and I can do it again and make some corrections. I could also go into it injury-free this time. That’d be nice.

Prior to his loss to St-Pierre, Hendricks was riding a 6 fight win streak, including wins over Jon Fitch, Martin Kampmann, and Carlos Condit. No word has been said as to when he's cleared to return to action.

Author: Alex Cochrane
Cited sources & quotes: BJPenn.com

----------------------------------------------------

Man, any of those fights sounds like they'd be good; Hendricks vs Lawler 2, Hendricks vs Brown, Hendricks vs MacDonald. I really can't wait to see this Robbie Lawler vs Matt Brown fight to see who's next in line.