Former UFC welterweight champion Johny Hendricks gave up an opportunity to get his title back when he elected to fight at UFC 185 rather than wait for a rubber match with champ Robbie Lawler. Now that he’s back on the winning track, Hendricks (17-3 MMA, 12-3 UFC) is waiting to see what happens when Lawler (25-10 MMA, 10-4 UFC) meets Rory MacDonald (18-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) in July at UFC 189.
Hendricks, who outpointed Matt Brown at UFC 185, doesn’t want to jump into anything if it’s going to significantly delay his ultimate goal. “I might take a fight – I might not,” he told reporters backstage at UFC on FOX 15 earlier this month. “We’re just still waiting things out. We’re going to see where we fall and see what happens.
“But right now, I see myself as the No. 1 contender. I took a fight, and guess what? It took a belt opportunity away for me.” Lawler outpointed Hendricks this past December at UFC 181 in a rematch of their first meeting at UFC 171, which ended with Hendricks winning a decision to claim the welterweight title left vacant by Georges St-Pierre.
Hendricks said he’ll make do if Lawler and MacDonald, who met in 2013 with Lawler winning a decision, fight a third time. But the wait he anticipates is not one that justifies an interim bout – unless the UFC asks for it. “Let’s say I do wait until November, December,” he said. “For the last three years, that’s nothing. That’s what I’ve been fighting; it’s not a big wait for me.”
Johny Hendricks See's Himself as UFC's No. 1 Welterweight Contender
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