Johny Hendricks may not like the way things turned out for him recently, but he’s moving on. At least for now.
On Saturday’s TUF 16 Finale broadcast, the UFC officially announced that Hendricks will meet Jake Ellenberger on March 16 in Montreal. Hendricks was hoping to fight Georges St-Pierre next for the UFC welterweight title, but GSP elected to fight Nick Diaz on the same card.
MMAFighting.com asked Hendricks how the UFC convinced him to take the fight, and the welterweight contender, who initially threatened to wait on the sidelines until he was granted a title shot, jokingly wrote via text message, “They made me I guess lol.”
He went on to say that his manager dealt with the UFC in putting the fight together and that his mindset going into the welterweight bout is clear and focused.
“(I) just have to win and GSP has nowhere to hide from me.
“Man, he’s scared. That’s why he wants me to keep fighting because maybe I’ll lose and then he won’t have to retire (before fighting me).”
Hendricks said he believes GSP would be forced to retire after fighting him or would choose to retire before fighting him.
UFC also officially announced GSP vs. Diaz, Rory MacDonald vs. Carlos Condit and Patrick Cote vs. Alessio Sakara 2 for the UFC 158 card at Montreal’s Bell Centre.