One Punch: Johny Hendricks Hopes for Title Shot After UFC 141 KO of Jon Fitch
Twelve seconds. That’s all it took.
Usually that’s how long it takes to drink the remaining milk left from your bowl of cereal, or untie and remove your shoes, or how long it takes for you to tune out your girlfriend.
While Johny Hendricks might be able to untie his shoes rather quickly, he will certainly remember the twelve second milestone for a different reason.
That is when his mixed martial arts career changed forever.
Before December 30th, the last time Jon Fitch was finished in a fight was over nine years prior.
Hendricks was still in high school at that time.
But now, after his now infamous knockout of Fitch at UFC 141, Hendricks is ready to graduate to the top of the UFC.
Going into the fight, Hendricks was seen as an underdog to the veteran. But even with the odds against him, Hendricks knew he had gotten his big break, and he did not want to let this one slip away.
“I finally had my opportunity,” Hendricks told MMAFrenzy.com. “I could either crumble under the pressure, or make my move. And at the beginning of the night, something just felt good. I did a solid warmup and just tried my best to stay relaxed.”
Staying relaxed can certainly be a task, especially when fighting on your first pay-per-view main card. While Hendricks was seen as a formidable opponent in the welterweight division, until UFC 141, he had not yet reached title contender status.
The four time All-American wrestler made his debut at UFC 101 in similar fashion, defeating Amir Sadollah in under thirty seconds. But even with impressive wins over contenders like Charlie Brenneman and Mike Pierce, the most recognizable aspect of Hendricks’ career was his beard. But hey, there is absolutely nothing wrong with being recognized for that.
That beard came into the Octagon against the former title challenger, and Hendricks knew exactly what he wanted to do as soon as he stood opposite of him.
“When I saw Fitch, I couldn’t wait to fight,” Hendricks explained, and fortunately for him he did not have to wait long to fight, and for it to be over.
Hendricks knocked Fitch out with the first punch he threw, a quick left straight to the jaw.
Who better to explain how it happened, than Hendricks himself:
“When Jon throws a straight right, which is what he started with, he wants to take you down. He expects the opponent to back up, then he attacks the legs. When he threw it, I circled away, and I threw everything. His right hand was in the right spot, to protect my counter, but I put it in the right spot. Then it all froze, and I had to tell myself to keep hitting him. Luckily the ref was there when I was going down to hit him again.
“To this day, it still seems unreal.”
Even though it may feel unreal, Hendricks’ quick ascent to the top of the division is absolutely real. And with the welterweight division in a state of flux, due to Georges St. Pierre’s injury, Hendricks wants to take advantage of his newly anointed contender status.
“I want an interim title shot,” said Hendricks. “That is my dream. I did not want to talk that way before UFC 141 so I could protect myself in case I lost. But you’ve got to promote yourself. And I know that. The interim title holder is going to likely have to defend his title at least once. I want to be that person.”
Even if he is not that person, and he has to continue moving up the ladder, Hendricks’ place in the division is confirmed with that victory. But he still knows that can all go away just as quickly as it came about.
“I don’t want people thinking it was a lucky punch. I have to go out and prove that. And I will.”
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No reason he shouldn’t get a shot at the interim title, assuming GSP is out long enough to warrant a defense. When you KO the de facto #2 guy, why shouldn’t you jump into his place?
IDK shiny, I think he moves up the rankings for sure but to assume he jumps into the #2 spot for beating Fitch is too far IMO. GSP is widely considered the best ww ever, but by your logic of Hendricks moving in to the #2 spot for beating Fitch when Serra ko’d GSP then all of a sudden Serra is the best ww in the world? Just because he held a belt that he won with some lucky shots against a GSP who wasn’t mentally prepared doesn’t make him the best ww in the world.
Hendricks wants the winner of Condit/Diaz? Give it to him. I’m not saying he doesn’t deserve it or shouldn’t be given a chance, but there are a lot of guys who could be considered in a fictional top 10 who Hendricks has yet to face. Maybe he should fight the winner of Mills/McDonald or Ellenberger/Sanchez first.
But remember all that’s needed for a title shot is an approximate top five ranking and being free to take the fight. It’s almost never about who’s number two and waiting until that person is free. It’s about fitting title shots around times when the champ is physically capable of competing and finding the top ranked free/available fighter. Given that that’s the criteria and given how spectacular the KO was, it would not surprise me if Hendricks got the winner of Diaz/Condit.
This may come off as off topic but this is in regards to your first paragraph. Rankings are always subject to the editor’s discretion, based on what has happened and what they believe would happen in future fights, usually resulting in disagreements. Ideally the only way to truly say if someone is better than someone else is to base rankings on actual fight outcomes. Think of it this way, before the Fitch-Hendricks fight you have to think of it as Fitch holding a title that says #2 WW in the world (assuming that was his then ranking and please for argument’s sake, ignore the Diaz coming over from Strikeforce and upcoming interim title match), when Fitch got KO’d, he lost that title to Hendricks. You can argue that Fitch has beaten a lot of quality opponents but when it came down to it, he lost head to head to Hendricks.
So yes, technically when Serra KO’d GSP, he became the top WW in the world, those lucky shots as you refer to them could also be considered the perfect game plan. Isn’t mental preparation just as important as physical preparation and game planning and shouldn’t the top WW in the world not suffer from mental unpreparedness. Why should Serra’s victory be tarnished? On that night he was better and a year later, GSP came back fully prepared and gained not only his title but the status as top WW in the world.
I see your point, and he could definitely be considered top 5 with the KO, and because it was so fast obviously Hendricks would still be ready to go. And yeah, it wouldn’t surprise me either if Hendricks gets the first crack at the winner of Condit/Diaz.
I think the win against fitch would’ve been more impressive 2 years ago, but he still deserves and will likely get winner of diaz/condit. So the win was still slightly overrated in my opinion, as I sort of expected it. Any div 1 wrestling champ who can throw like that is a danger for anyone. But I think this also shows how could Mike Pierce is, who could’ve easily got the decision in their fight. But we’ll see exactly who Pierce is when he fights kos. Anyway its nice to finally have some decent competition for Gsp in my opinion. Go Condit!!!
yes, the division certainly is looking alot better. We shouldn’t have to sit through another title fight involving someone on par with Dan Hardy for quite awhile. Ellenberger is a breath of fresh air too. Diaz, Condit, and Ellenberger all have great killer instinct as well, and that’s always nice to see.
IMO he should either fight the winner of ellenberger sanchez or Kos if he beats pierce or MacDonald but he doesnt fight till the end of march
“or how long it takes for you to tune out your girlfriend”
Obviosly, You don’t know my wife.
Too funny…i feel your pain
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Hendricks against Rory McDonald. Jake Ellenberger is a possibility too. Heck, maybe even Koscheck.
Totally agree. I’m not saying Hendrick’s win over Fitch was lucky, but anyone can get caught. He still needs to prove himself against a top tier guy to establish himself amongst them. There is no shortage of talent to match him up against for him to prove this point: all the guys the guys you mentioned plus Silva, Kampman, Story, etc. I love the potential match-ups in this division over the next 2-3 years.
So who do you put up against Diaz/Condit in four months? Certainly not GSP. And if you don’t plan on more or less immediately making the Interim Title active, what’s the point in even having it? Hendricks is available now. Ellenberger might be available more or less right after his fight with Sanchez. If you want to debate the Hendricks/Ellenberger merits, that’s fine, but the Interim Title needs to be defended at least once or it’s a giant excuse in futility.
If Jake Ellenberger beats diego i think HE is next in line for a title shot without question.
Hendrick’s no doubt moved up the rankings but IMO Hendricks gets the winner of alves vs kampann for a number 1 contender slot or even Koscheck IF koscheck beats peirce.
But to say Hendricks is now the next in line IMO is jumping the gun like hell especially if you consider the guy he just ko’d was 5-0-1 since losing his last fight.
Hua?
If Ellenberger wins, I have no problem with him getting the shot over Hendricks at all. But if he loses, who do you put in there? Do you wait a year for Hendricks to get a win over whatever qualifies as a high enough ranked fighter and during that time let the Interim Title rot on the shelves? Because whoever you want to put up as worthy of a good enough test for Hendricks would be much better served keeping the Interim Title active instead. My point is that he’s a hot name with a hot highlight over a guy who hadn’t been stopped in nine plus years and most importantly HE’S AVAILABLE NOW. Which, in the end, is almost more important than how many quality wins he’s got.
how is Hendricks a hot name? By the time diaz and condit fight no one is going to remember hendricks
“He’s available” is not an appropriate reason to give him a title shot – even if he is coming off a highlight reel KP, and even for an interim belt. All I’m saying is that he has potential to be an elite guy at 170, but you can’t be granting title shots to guys who haven’t proven themselves against the upper eschelon beyond a one punch highlight. Ellenberger, Story and MacDonald are all in the same “young gun with a big win” category. Sanchez, Kos, and Kampman are all deserving veterans. I like Hendricks and want him to get a shot one day, but timing is not an argument that would place him ahead of any of those guys in the.next 6 months.
I think it makes sense to raise the stakes of the Diaz/Condit fight to the interim belt. Hendricks still needs to fight some top tier WW’s
He goes by bigg rigg. His name alone deserves a title shot.
The WW division is looking great now, compared to not too long ago when it seemed GSP had cleaned out the division. GSP had vanquished the old guard (Hughes, Trigg, Serra) in such dominant fashion and then took care of the next wave in like manner (Fitch, Alves, Kos), leaving the division looking trumped, with GSP holding four aces.
Now, suddenly, it’s a whole new ball game. Anytime a fighter is out for a long time due to a serious injury, his first fight back is always a little questionable. Even if you re-hab perfectly, it’s impossible to compensate for the sharpness you lost due to being out. Then maybe you get a little tentative, you’re a bit less explosive, a split second slower, etc. And of course, there’s the mental side of things. Do you have the same confidence you had when you were active and on a run before the injury?
We may have seen the best GSP we are going to see. Maybe not, there’s no way to tell until he comes back. But meanwhile, waiting for him are the most dangerous crop of WW’s ever.
Whoever wins the Diaz/Condit match, especially if he wins in emphatic fashion, is going to be extremely confident going into a match with GSP, provided they don’t fight someone else beforehand, then if they win that fight, forget about it. You have Ellenberger and Hendrix in the wings. All of these guys have very dangerous stand-up games. Only Diaz hasn’t shown one punch KO power, but he has that incredible volume of strikes and is one of the toughest guys mentally in mma. If GSP can’t finish Hardy, he sure as hell can’t finish Diaz, and Nick is probably one of the few guys who has better cardio then him.
GSP’s trump card has been his wrestling. And it would likely be his key to victory over all of the above guys, save Hendrix, who probably has the wrestling pedigree to deal with him there. But all these guys possess ground games good enough to prevent GSP from riding out a victory on the ground. And someone as good a Nick Diaz off his back would be a serious submission threat from that spot.
The bottom line is that GSP is going to have a pack of hungry wolves waiting for him when he returns. Gone are the very favorable stylistic match-ups like Hughes and Fitch. If GSP can take down this new guard then he will be in sight of his stated goal as being the best in the sport. Right now, after his run of safe fights, he is losing momentum to guys like Jon Jones and Jose Aldo, and he’s always been behind Anderson Silva.
For the first time in a long time, the WW division is up for grabs. Can GSP put it back on lock-down?
diaz vs . condit = title shot
hendricks vs . winner of koscheck and pierce for title eliminator
(alves vs . kampmann)
(ellenberger vs . sanchez) = the winner of eachh fightt will fight eachh other for the nextt titlee eliminator
jon fitchh vs . winner of shields vs akiyama = winner faces rick story or anthony rumble johnson
rory macdonald vs . che mills = winner faces loser of diaz and condit
and if rory or che mills wins that fight they will be next in line for title shot
just a reminder rumble is in the middle weight division now.
can’t believe I’m saying this but a shields/fitch match would be pretty darn interesting.
Anyone who said kos, alves, kampmann or Macdonald are top contenders are out of their mind. And same with saying that you only have to be top 5 and available to fight at that time. That is only true in lhw and only recently. And in my opinion just because Joe Ortiz has some hidden intention never to let rashad and bones fight.
But that’s all opinion…just like saying Serra was the best ww when he got a lucky shot off gsp’s temple. It was fair, and he deserted the win, but he was never a top 5 ww, even after the lucky win. I mean come on, can you imagine Serra fighting any of today’s ww contenders lol.
Anyway the next title shot is def Hendricks or Ellenberger if if beats Diego. But Diego, alves, kampmann, kos, and Macdonald are all at least 2 fights away, all having recent losses. And kos is in fitch land where we know he’s solid but poses no threat to Gsp so he will just fight top talent till he’s washed up or changes weight, which is what he should do.
Btw is it me, or does Joe Ortiz just baby the hell out of some of these guys. I mean how does Macdonald almost beat condit in his debut, and then rip off 3 in a row including an impressive one over Mike pyle, and then get faced with effin nobody che mills. And then weidman just punishes everyone, including sakara, but then sakara gets to fight stann and weidman still doesn’t have a fight? And how the hell does Bader get rampage??? I hope its just cuz they wanted to throw rampage a bone. Most of the time I’m impressed with ufc, but sometimes Joe Ortiz has me just scratching my head.
Oh yeah and shields is right there with kos. Art I can only assume you are not a ufc fan. Not only is Hendricks a hot name, he is unbelievable.
And T3ch I can’t believe you said that either! What a boring fight.that fight could go 20 rounds and would still end in decision.
Fili I Love your inner Ortiz, but a million things will change in the next 30 days which will make probably all but one of those fights not happen.
the fact that there is no ranking system set in place means it doesn’t matter where you are in the “ladder” to get a title fight. this goes for all weight classes.
look at WW. Dan hardy isn’t even a top 10 fighter, but he got a shot. Due to promotions and availability.
Brock lesnar is/was outside the top 5 he got a shot.
is condit a top 5 in ww? maybe top 10.
for someone to get a title shot its all about the alignment. when is the champion gonna fight again? how close is your “#1 contender” fight to the championship fight? is the fighter willing to sit on the shelf for a length of time?
UFC has no ranking system, therefore wtf does ‘your’ rank mean? absolutely jack ****. You seem well knowledgeable of the sport so you out of all people should know that ufc title fights come down to mainly who the people want to see and who is available out of the ‘pool’ of contenders. It’s not really who deserves it. with that being said, we could all agree a ranking system will help the sport out dramatically. OR UFC could have a yearly tournament style to crown a champion (alternating weight classes each year).
I disagree. Someone knowledgeable would have said Joe Silva instead of Joe Ortiz, since Joe Silva is the “official” matchmaker for the UFC.
When it comes to rankings I disagree with someone jumping to the top just from beating a top opponent, (in this case the #2 ww) unless you’re already at the top like #3 or #4. That doesn’t happen in other individual 1 0n 1 sports. You get a good amount of points and you up your ranking when you defeat a top opponent or win a big tournament, but you don’t sky-rocket to the top. You have to consistently win and beat top opponents in order to get that top ranking. That being said I still think Jon Fitch is the #2 ranked WW or he dropped one position to #3, which in turn would make the #3 ranked WW #2.
When it comes to who should get the next shot at the interm belt I think Hendricks is a good possibility since he’s healthy, ready and coming of a big win. As @bsbiz pointed out we all know that you don’t have to be #2 in the world to get a shot at the belt. If you’re around #5 that’s good enough and Hendricks is around that ranking with his last victory. Who I think deserves the next shot at the interm belt is Ellenberger, if he can defeat Sanchez and come out of that fight without any serious injuries. Besides the winner of Ellenberger/Sanchez I can’t think of a better contender then Hendricks. The winner of Macdonald/Mills still needs to win a few more fights, same with the winner of Shields/Akiyama and Alves/Kampmann. If Kos can defeat Pierce then he could very well be in the mix with Ellenberger/Sanchez and Hendricks.
This is how I would put the 5 most worthy contenders in order:
1)ELLENBERGER (with a win over sanchez)
2)HENDRICKS
3)SANCHEZ (with a win over ellenberger)
4)KOSCHECK (with a win over pierce)
5)REMATCH (depending on outcome)
In the end it all depends on what shape the winner of Condit/Diaz are in. If they suffer any serious injuries and are out until GSP gets back then no one gets a shot at the interm belt. Then all the guys that were mentioned, plus Fitch, will probably have to compete again while the interm champ and GSP unify the titles. By that time a different name might pop up as the #1 contender. We’ll all just have to wait and see how everything unfolds with the welterweight division in the next couple of months.
I’m a GSP fan but with him injured there seems to be a lot more possibilities out there.
I see what your saying more with the availability thing being a factor. But without a ranking system, which I doubt (and pray never happens – see BCS), your last few fights are the main thing that you must go off of. Hardy was a terrible opponent, but he happen to have won a few in a row, and with fitch just having been dominated, even bein the clear #2, hardy got the shot. Same happened with Machida, coming off ONE win, after TWO losses, getting the fight. But primarily I think they give the next guy up the shot (based on winning several fights in a row off top contenders). And on that note condit and Brock were both def top 5 in their class.
Brock proved that by winning the belt and smashing randy, Mir, and Carwin, and condit does nothing but win win win. HIs one loss in the last few years was a bs decision against kampmann imo. And on that note I Love kampmann, but he kos, shields and Diego need a couple good wins coming off recent losses. We’ll see how smart I am when, and if condit beats diaz, who is def a top 3 ww.
Either way, other than a few exceptions, without a ranking system, the ufc does a nice job of taking guys who have some pretty decent win streaks against top opponents and giving them their deserving shots. On that not Ellenberger prob would deserve the next shot even over Hendricks, but Hendricks is close enough, and ready to go, so it will likely be him. But the big thing is I’m Just happy we have so many ww contenders to argue about!!
NOw please give my boys Macdonald and weidman son real competition and let them finally rise to the top!
imo the system right now is more of a BCS style. its one or two people making matchmaking decisions. A ranking system ensures those who deserve it most get the shot over those that don’t. boxing has a pretty effective system in place and with the multiple aspects of the game I believe a ranking system could far exceed that of boxing and be a very helpful instrument, instead of dana promising title fights and taking them back at will.
brock lost to mir and beat herring to get his title shot. Yes he won, but did he deserve the title shot over other contenders? and brock didn’t smash carwin ><
after the loss that was robbed of him against kampmann, condit went on to beat ellenberger, mcdonald, hardy, and dong hyun kim. I'm sorry, but as impressive as that 4 fight winning streak is those opponents don't put him into the top 5 imo.
this comes down to do you want the fighter who deserves the title shot to fight or would you want the next in line, sometimes that person next in line is way down the ladder and probably unworthy of the title shot.
I agree that the UFC does a good job with the matchmaking, but it could be dramatically better and with the sport growing ever so rapidly and each weight class having a crop of top tier fighters there will need to be some kind of system to set in place to determine who deserves the next shot. if you think about it right now there is a little bit of luck involved in getting a title shot, in some cases.
I am by no means a Fitch hater. I respect his skill and his ability to grind out a win against top competition. However, I must say it was refreshing to see Fitch not get his chance to do what I thought he would do…..
The old lay and pray
Or dump and hump,
Or ground and NOpound!
Or hold and fold! ;)
Touche, touche…
Yeah that was my bad, clearly I just wrongly named Joe Silva in haste. Idk who Joe Ortiz even is lol. But I like how out of my 12 paragraphs that’s the one thing you find and use to declare me unknowledgeable. As if I don’t know who Silva is. Anyway..
YOu just laid out condit’s record and you don’t see how he’s arguably a top 5 and hypothetical #3?? And he’s been that dominant since long before ufc. All of This is opinion based, Just like bcs, but I think most opinions are that condit is top 5. Brock I agree with you as that was more of a ratings play, but the hw division was a little slimmer at that time as well. And the opinion that he was deserving of a title shot did prove to be true, not only cuz he won, but because of his domination after (which while I Love Carwin, included the eventual thrashing of him too). There was also Silva inexplicably giving Machida a title fight recently, just for the sake of a main event.
But that’s more of the exception than the rule in my opinion. Most guys get their due. Yes there have been week contender pools from time to time, but besides rashad continuously being robbed of his earned title shot, can you really name anyone else who didn’t get their deserved shot?? As much as I’m not really a fan Joe Ortiz..err..Joe Silva, with his oddball fights from time to time (for instance how he totally baby’s some fighters who deserve better competition, or how he will do other head scratchers like not let rashad get his GD title fight, I think that he and the ufc generally do a good job of posing good fights, and giving worthy contenders their shot at the title when its their time.
So please god don’t ever give us that ranking system, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, and don’t implement something like the bcs which is already broken.
those mentioned about condit are no where near the top 10 when they fought… I’m not sure how you can put condit in the top 5… the main reason condit is in this position is because hes a new face and GSP has gone through everyone else but condit and nick diaz.. as much as I want to see condit win and fight GSP I have a feeling hes about to get shafted if he doesn’t beat diaz. even if he does beat diaz the interim champion isn’t really guaranteed a shot at GSP
as the sport grows there will be A LOT more fighters. More fighters mean more competition. the greater the competition the more the fighters are pushed to become better for their shot at a title. Thus more tier 1 fighters.
BCS is derived on what your opponents rank is and how badly you beat them (style points) plus AP poll. only 3 factors come into play in this crappy ranking system. not to mention a computer calculates the rankings..
a ranking system in combat sports is entirely different and even comparing it to BCS is bogus. off the top of my head an example would be calculate your opponents rank in with the style of win (via sub/KO/decision) (say your strength is BJJ, maia, but you KO someone so you get more pts for that KO as opposed to submitting someone, to show your working on other aspects of your game) plus % of punches thrown/landed; submission attempts; combos landed? points given for the win. you could even give bonus points for FotN, KOotN, SotN. so many aspects in MMA that making a ranking system could easily be achieved
with todays champions being clearly above everyone else in the field (Silva, Jones, GSP, Cruz, Aldo?, JDS?) would you rather see the #2 or the #5-#9 guy fight the champion. ALA silva/maia/cote. yes the feild is weak but the same would happen if it wasn’t…
rashad has untimely and unfortunate injuries so I dunno what to say about that situation.
do you really think fighters agree with giving someone else their shot so they can possibly get their shot in two years only if they win out since then. Its a huge risk not giving the #1 contender the shot right away because you never know wtf is going to happen, injuries; bringing in fighters from outside the UFC, etc.
btw the system is broke. have you not listen to dana throw title shots out like buy 1 get 1 free coupons? then tells them they are not valid coupons..
imo its kinda messed up to set up a #1 contender fight and if one fighter wins he gets the shot if the other fighter wins he still has work to do…