Johny Hendricks beat Robbie Lawler on Saturday night with a torn bicep and fractured shin.
Hendricks is doing the media rounds on Wednesday explaining the injury, but his manager Ted Ehrhardt confirmed with MMAFighting.com that Hendricks will have surgery on his right bicep Monday. According to Ehrhardt, Hendricks, who injured his bicep approximately two weeks before the fight and considered withdrawing from it as a result, heard it pop in the first round against Lawler. He also suffered a hairline fracture in his left shin in the first round.
If all goes well with Monday’s surgery, he’ll be able to start rehab in six weeks time. He’ll then have four weeks of rehab and will hopefully be able to start training again in two months. The shin injury will require a lengthy recovery period.
“We thought about it,” Hendricks said on Monday’s episode of The MMA Hour when asked about pulling out of the fight. “But that world championship means a lot more.”
Hendricks defeated Lawler via unanimous decision in Dallas to become the new UFC welterweight champion.