MONTREAL – “I’m a wrestler and can knock people out, that’s pretty sweet, huh,” chuckled Johny Hendricks following his win over Martin Kampmann on Saturday night in Montreal.
The comment brought smiles to the faces of those in attendance at the UFC 154 post-fight press conference and most likely accepting nods from other fighters in the UFC’s welterweight division.
Yes, Johny Hendricks is an accomplished wrestler, a two-time NCAA champion with Oklahoma State University, but he also has a left hand that may just be the most dangerous offensive weapon at 170 pounds right now.
Everyone saw what Hendricks did to Jon Fitch at UFC 141. Everyone knew Hendricks was going to come out looking for that one big left against Kampmann, the same punch that put Fitch away at the 12-second mark back in December.
In an interview early in the week Hendricks called his shot, saying of Kampmann, “Let me hit him one time. I can’t wait to put my left hand right on his chin and let’s see where it goes from there.”
Where it went from there was to the bank. The 46-second knockout earned Hendricks a cool $70,000 “Knockout of the Night” bonus.
Where that knockout will lead to next is the bigger question. The win over Kampmann put Hendricks’ record at 14-1 and gave him a five-fight UFC winning streak.
The victory should put him in line to face Georges St-Pierre in the champion’s next UFC welterweight title defense, but there’s that pesky superfight with Anderson Silva hanging in the air for St-Pierre that may have some effect on Hendricks getting a timely title shot.
Title shot or no, Johny Hendricks has shown that he is a very dangerous man.
**all quotes obtained first hand by BRMMA
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