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Johny Hendricks: Thin Hand Wraps Had Me Punching at Only 70% Power at UFC 167

Recent UFC welterweight title challenger Johny Hendricks, whom many are praising as the uncrowned champion at 170 pounds, believes there is a simple reason why Georges St-Pierre lasted 25 minutes with him: thin hand wraps.
“Bigg Rigg” explained t…

“Bigg Rigg” explained to the Dallas Morning-News that thinner hand wraps than he is normally accustomed to had him punching at just 70 percent total power at UFC 167 last weekend.

“I usually get a thick wrap and this time I didn’t do that. Instead of me asking for a thicker wrap, I kept my mouth shut. It’s my fault. That’s on me. It means I hit hard enough that I can punch through the 4 oz gloves. So that’s what made my hands get bruised. I couldn’t punch as hard as I could (have). The more injured I get, the less I get to use it, the more he gets comfortable, so I had to tone down my power. I was still hurting at 70 percent. Wait till I get a full hand wrap. That only builds confidence, because I beat the pound for pound best fighter in the world. I will be back, and I will be stronger than before.”

While most fans, fighters and analysts alike, as well as UFC President Dana White, all believed the challenger did enough to dethrone St-Pierre on Saturday, two of the three judges in Las Vegas disagreed and awarded the champion the fight via split decision.

As St-Pierre appears to be mulling over retirement in the midst of dealing with some undisclosed personal issues, White insists that GSP vs. Hendricks II will be booked “within a couple weeks,” per MMA Mania.

Controversial or not, “Rush” has now won 12 fights in a row, including nine successful title defenses.

On the other hand, Hendricks saw a six-fight win streak snapped, which included quick knockouts over then-perennial contenders Jon Fitch and Martin Kampmann.

The UFC welterweight title picture remains a bit cloudy at the moment, as it seems pretty obvious that Hendricks will be the next man fighting for the welterweight strap, but will it be a rematch against GSP or not?

John Heinis is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA Editor for eDraft.com.

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UFC 167: St-Pierre vs. Hendricks Phantom Cam Highlights

While UFC 167 was memorable in full speed, nothing quite captures UFC action like the Fox Phantom Cam does in slow motion. The event saw Georges St-Pierre defend his welterweight belt for a ninth consecutive time in a controversial decision. Although many felt he should have lost to Johny Hendricks, St-Pierre broke the record for UFC title fight wins on Saturday with his 12th win.

Rashad Evans also picked up an important win at UFC 167, dominating Chael Sonnen to return himself to light heavyweight title contention. Sonnen, meanwhile, is now set to coach opposite Wanderlei Silva on The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil.

Additionally, Robbie Lawler put himself near the front of the line for a shot at the welterweight strap by beating St-Pierre teammate Rory MacDonald. Unfortunately for Lawler, he may have to win again, with a rematch between St-Pierre and Hendricks looking like an eventuality. St-Pierre hinted at retirement following his win on Saturday, but UFC president Dana White expects the Canadian champion to return to the Octagon for a bout with Hendricks sooner rather than later.

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Johny Hendricks: What Will 2014 Hold for the UFC’s No. 1 Welterweight Contender?

On November 16, 2013, at UFC 167, Johny Hendricks shocked the world of MMA with his performance against the reigning and six-year welterweight champion, Georges St-Pierre. “Bigg Rigg” took down, beat up and damaged the champion’s face beyond recognition. Yet, at the end of the two combatants’ epic matchup, to the disbelief of mostly every spectator who witnessed the bout, St-Pierre was granted the split-decision victory.

Almost immediately, the crowd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev., was in an uproar. However, no one appeared more disgruntled with the decision than UFC president Dana White. After the fight, he exclaimed (per Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports):

I’m blown away that Georges St-Pierre won that fight. Listen: I’m a promoter. He’s the biggest pay-per-view star on the [expletive] planet tonight for me, and I still don’t think he won that fight. I want what’s fair and that wasn’t fair.

However, despite the heart-wrenching loss, Hendricks’ future has never seemed so bright. In fact, according to White, 2014 will most likely bear witness to a St-Pierre/Hendricks rematch of even higher stakes. At the UFC 167 post-fight media scrum, the UFC president stated, according to John Morgan of USA Today, “There needs to be a rematch. Johny deserves this rematch.”

All things being equal, Hendricks’ rematch against St-Pierre will most probably be immediate. St-Pierre/Hendricks II will occur, not only because the UFC president deems it so, but simply because it is logically sound. A No. 1 contender’s matchup between Hendricks and anyone else in the division is void of reason and lacks rationale.

And Then There Were None

The UFC’s No. 2 welterweight contender is Carlos Condit. “The Natural Born Killer” lost to Hendricks at UFC 158 and is currently scheduled to face Matt Brown (No. 8) at UFC on Fox 9, on December 14. Five of the next seven welterweight contenders—Rory MacDonald, Jake Ellenberger, Demian Maia, Martin Kampmann and Nick Diaz—have lost their most recent matchups.

Despite Jake Shields’ win at UFC Fight Night 29, many believe that the MMA veteran (No. 7) lost his matchup against Maia in yet another controversial, split-decision bout. Given Hendricks’ controversial loss against the welterweight champion at UFC 167, granting any of the above fighters a shot at the No. 1 contender would represent a gift of grand proportions.

The Dark Horse: Robbie Lawler

Robbie Lawler jumped up to the No. 3-ranked position after his decision win over St-Pierre protégé Rory MacDonald at UFC 167. The Iowa native sports heavy hands, with 18 of his 22 wins coming by way of knockout. With the victory and subsequent ranking, Lawler is just one successful victory removed from challenging for the title. Therefore, a matchup between him and Hendricks would draw great interest, particularly if St-Pierre does not return from his self-inflicted hiatus within a reasonable amount of time—or at all.

St-Pierre/Hendricks II

All in all, no fight makes more sense than a 2014 St-Pierre/Hendricks rematch. A sentiment shared by the UFC president himself, the coming year will, undoubtedly, represent one in which Hendricks challenges for the UFC welterweight title one more time.

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Quote of the Day: Georges St. Pierre Will Never Fight Again Unless Freddie Roach Is in His Corner

(Hey, it could be worse. / Photo via Sherdog)

We’re not sure if you’ve heard about this yet but UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre hung onto his belt this past Saturday at UFC 167 with a controversial split decision win over Johny Hendricks and then kinda, sorta announced a retirement, of sorts. The story hasn’t got much attention so first off, we wanted to make sure you knew about that.

In any case, UFC president Dana White is intent on bringing GSP back to fight Hendricks again and, according to a new report from Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole, who is in Macau to cover the Manny Pacquiao/Brandon Rios boxing match this week, “Rush” told “PacMan” trainer Freddie Roach that he’ll never fight again if he doesn’t have him in his corner.

Roach said he has yet to speak to St-Pierre on the telephone, but said the champion texted him.

“He said, ‘I’m not going to fight again unless you are in my corner,'” Roach said. Asked to clarify if that meant on fight night, as well, Roach said, “Absolutely.” To this point, Roach has never been in a UFC fighter’s corner on the night of a fight.

Roach, always eager to promote himself, also said that he “pretty much came up with the game plan” for St. Pierre against Hendricks. So…good job?

(Hey, it could be worse. / Photo via Sherdog)

Roach said he has yet to speak to St-Pierre on the telephone, but said the champion texted him.

“He said, ‘I’m not going to fight again unless you are in my corner,’” Roach said. Asked to clarify if that meant on fight night, as well, Roach said, “Absolutely.” To this point, Roach has never been in a UFC fighter’s corner on the night of a fight.

Roach, always eager to promote himself, also said that he “pretty much came up with the game plan” for St. Pierre against Hendricks. So…good job?

I wrote elsewhere today that St. Pierre may very well want to go ahead and stay retired. He’s anxious, can’t sleep and suspects that aliens are fucking with him. Plus, he’s almost gotten knocked out two out of his last three fights and has been at it for over a decade.

I don’t know what’s more worrisome — St. Pierre believing that he’s been abducted by extra-terrestrials or him believing that Freddie Roach knows anything about MMA and should therefore be designing his game-plans and cornering him during fights.

– Elias Cepeda

If MMA Is About Respect, Why Have We Turned Against Georges St. Pierre?

(Photo courtesy of Getty Images)

By Seth Falvo

My first thought following the main event of UFC 167 was that Georges St. Pierre had a concussion. Granted, “hack journalist” is a far cry from doctor, but he was displaying symptoms that should make any sports fan concerned. He lost track of what round it was, he had trouble forming words, and the completely vacant look in his eyes was disturbing — even for a guy as stoic as GSP.

If this thought occurred to Dana White and the media members in attendance, they did a damn fine job of hiding it. You know what happened by now: White claimed St. Pierre “owed” everyone an immediate rematch, the media attempted to steer Georges St. Pierre away from talking about the signs of brain damage he has been experiencing — despite St. Pierre’s best attempts to do otherwise — and White eventually talked to the champ in private before downplaying everything that St. Pierre admitted to experiencing as much as possible.

As Stand and Bang accurately wrote, “White’s behavior [was] so transparently morally repugnant that there’s no reason to spend time pedantically analyzing it.” He wanted to pressure GSP back into the cage as quickly as possible, because the longer the champion has to reflect upon the damage that he’s done to himself, the less likely he is to return to the sport. Yet there are actually fans — and plenty of them — who managed to take the bait. There are fans who buy the ideas that St. Pierre somehow “owes” it to anyone to accept a rematch against Johny Hendricks, that he’s obligated to return to the cage immediately, that Dana White’s dangerously-capitalistic treatment of his most influential champion is completely acceptable.

And let’s not forget the most disgusting part about this: These fans are delusional enough to say with a straight face that MMA is about “respect.”

(Photo courtesy of Getty Images)

By Seth Falvo

And let’s not forget the most disgusting part about this: These fans are delusional enough to say with a straight face that MMA is about “respect.”

I’m really not sure how we ever managed to accept the “mixed martial arts is about respect” fallacy in the first place; pretending that the earliest MMA events were complex rituals of respect — as opposed to sporting events and entertainment — is adorably delusional. Perhaps it caught on due to the revisionist history that all martial arts suffer from, perhaps due to a misunderstanding of Bushido. Or perhaps it’s just reframing caused by the cognitive dissonance required to care about the people you enjoy watching injure themselves. Regardless of how it got here, it’s at the point where even fighters like Houston Alexander believe that MMA is about respect, which is laughable on its own, and downright dangerous in the aftermath of UFC 167.

No human being “owes” someone harm to their own mind and body. That I have to explain this to people who claim that their sport is built around respect is more than a little disturbing, and their rationalizations only paint a scarier picture. There’s the argument that Georges St. Pierre “chose to be a fighter,” as if he also chose to give up his right to retire whenever he wants (which he was hinting at well before Saturday night) and his right to look out for his own health when he made that decision. Others are slightly more humane, and instead argue that he simply “owes” it to us to get back in the cage within the next few months, because second-impact syndrome and brain damage are things that should be taken as lightly as possible. I’m sure the medical community will be thrilled to learn that.

Respect does not come with conditions. You can’t only respect someone when they do what you want them to. If you do, you aren’t “respecting” them, you’re manipulating them, and that’s exactly what abusive spouses do to their victims. “Georges, you know I respect you, baby. It’s just that I love watching you fight soooo much and you made me soooo mad by wanting to take time off that I didn’t have a choice but to publicly humiliate you like that. Please don’t leave me, please give me (or in this case, Johny) one more chance.”

I’m not saying that I don’t think Hendricks was robbed on Saturday night. And I’m also not saying that I wouldn’t watch a rematch. But I am saying that if Georges St. Pierre decides to stick around for one more fight, I want him to do so only after he feels he’s had enough time to recover from Saturday night and make an educated decision. He’s built his entire life around being the ideal Zuffa employee and perfect ambassador for our sport, despite never needing us as much as we’ve needed him. If you think this sport is about respect, you’ll wait patiently, too.

Georges St. Pierre Denies Rumors of Father’s Illness/Unplanned Pregnancy While Dana White Continues to Force a Hendricks Rematch

(Does this look like the face of a man with an illegitimate batchild? Via GSP’s Twitter.)

It’s safe to say that Georges St. Pierre’s post-fight interview/semi-retirement raised a lot of questions in regards to not only his mental well-being, but the litany of personal issues he claimed were forcing him to step away from the sport. Although Dana White was quick to tell reporters that GSP’s problems “aren’t as bad as he thinks they are,” Dana White is neither a recognized psychologist nor a Scanner to our knowledge, so his opinions mean fuck all.

Being the bottom-feeders that they truly are, TMZ in turn used St. Pierre’s ambiguous post-fight speech as a platform to let the unsubstantiated rumors fly — specifically, that his father was dying and that he had knocked up a woman who was keeping the baby against his wishes.

In any case, White spoke to St. Pierre yesterday and has since refuted both rumors via The LA Times. While he neglected to discuss the specifics of GSP’s “personal issues,” St. Pierre’s former manager, Stephane Patry, attempted to shed some light on the issue during a segment on Quebec’s 98.5 FM Sports. His statements are after the jump:

(Does this look like the face of a man with an illegitimate batchild? Via GSP’s Twitter.)

Being the bottom-feeders that they truly are, TMZ in turn used St. Pierre’s ambiguous post-fight speech as a platform to let the unsubstantiated rumors fly – specifically, that his father was dying and that he had knocked up a woman who was keeping the baby against his wishes.

“Do you have any idea what the personal problems that seem to have haunted him and affected his concentration during these past few weeks or days are?”

Patry: “The only thing that I can think of, that I know of, is that between the period where I was his manager and his current management, he had a manager for three years, a woman named Shari Spencer. It didn’t end well between them. When things ended between me and Georges, we stayed good friends but it ended very badly with Shari Spencer and I know she’s suing him for several million dollars. I don’t know if the lawsuit is advancing against Georges and he’s gonna lose it but I don’t see another problem. His parents are in good health, his two sisters too and he doesn’t have health problems otherwise he couldn’t fight. The only thing I could see…”

“Georges doesn’t have children?”

Patry: “No, he doesn’t have any children either. At the moment he isn’t married, he has someone in his life but that’s not on this side either that’s 100% sure. The only thing I can see is the lawsuit with his former manager.”

As we all know, St. Pierre split with Spencer in late 2010 to pursue a somewhat misinformed business relationship with fictional “Entourage” power agent Ari Gold that was sadly doomed from the start. Prior to that, St. Pierre was managed by Patry while training at Brazilian Top Team Canada. He split with both following his shocking upset loss to Matt Serra at UFC 69.

While Patry’s words help shed some light on the mental state of St. Pierre nowadays, they still raise a lot of questions. In his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, GSP stated that he had “a bunch of stuff happening” that required his full attention. While it’s understandable that a multi-million dollar lawsuit could trouble a guy even if he makes 12 million dollars a year, it also makes one wonder if said lawsuit is the *only* obstacle St. Pierre is currently facing.

In any case, White also told the LA Times that a St. Pierre/Hendricks rematch is “on track” despite St. Pierre’s pesky concerns for his future health:

As far as a rematch, we’re on schedule and I’ll have a date within a couple weeks. I feel confident that Georges is fine with that and all is on track.

So there you have it: A personally conflicted, emotionally/physically battered and uninterested GSP is already on track to rematch the guy who beat him into semi-retirement, before he can even recover from said beating. We’re sure that nothing terrible can possibly come from this scenario.

–J. Jones