Upcoming UFC welterweight title challenger Johny Hendricks was recently involved in a bizarre turn of events that could have possibly taken him out of his title bout with Georges St-Pierre next month.
As MMA Fighting first reported, “Bigg Rigg” suffered second-degree burns while filming a commercial promoting his UFC 167 matchup with GSP, as his manager Ted Ehrhardt recollected.
Ehrhardt said Hendricks recovered from the injury after a week and only missed “one-to-two days of training.” The burn apparently was caused because the stage lights used to film the spot were too close to Hendricks.
Furthermore, Ehrhardt revealed that Hendricks did not ask the UFC to foot the bill of any medical costs, the report says.
The promo where the injury occurred, which was released by the UFC on October 19, can be seen here:
The four-time Division I All-American wrestler earned his shot at the belt after six straight victories between March 2011 and March 2013, knocking out top contenders Jon Fitch and Martin Kampmann, and also defeating former interim champ Carlos Condit in a thriller at UFC 158.
“Rush” enters the heavily anticipated title bout on the strength of 11 straight wins, looking to make his ninth consecutive title defense.
He also last competed at UFC 158, easily out-pointing former Strikeforce titleholder Nick Diaz at the March 16 event, which was hosted in GSP’s backyard of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Will this freak mishap play any role in the November 16 title tilt between GSP and Hendricks, or is the whole incident a minor inconvenience that will have no relevance once these top-tier competitors square off in the cage?
John Heinis is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA Editor for eDraft.com.
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