UFC on Fox 5 showed what could be a changing of the guard in the welterweight division. Rory MacDonald, all of the age of 23, defeated former UFC welterweight champion BJ Penn by unanimous decision. It was MacDonald’s most dominant perfo…
UFC on Fox 5 showed what could be a changing of the guard in the welterweight division. Rory MacDonald, all of the age of 23, defeated former UFC welterweight champion BJ Penn by unanimous decision. It was MacDonald’s most dominant performance inside the octagon. What’s next for MacDonald? He called out former interim champion Carlos Condit, so time should tell if that rematch from UFC 115 takes place.
Who are the top 10 welterweights right now in the UFC? Maybe MacDonald and Condit are in there. Let’s take a look and see.
When you feel you have done enough to earn a big opportunity and you don’t get it, you wonder why it didn’t happen. Johny Hendricks has that running through his mind. It was announced by Dana White yesterday that UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pi…
When you feel you have done enough to earn a big opportunity and you don’t get it, you wonder why it didn’t happen. Johny Hendricks has that running through his mind. It was announced by Dana White yesterday that UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre told White he doesn’t want to face middleweight champion Anderson Silva or welterweight contender Johny Hendricks for his next fight.
St-Pierre told the UFC President that he wants to square off with former Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz. White said that the welterweight champion told him that he has unfinished business with Diaz and wants that fight next.
Hendricks, who knocked out Martin Kampmann at UFC 154 in 46 seconds, has knocked out two of the top five welterweights in the world in Kampmann and Jon Fitch. He wasn’t thrilled that he was getting bypassed for a shot at St-Pierre.
“I’m pissed and it showed yesterday,” Hendricks told Bleacher Report:
Being pissed and being on Twitter shouldn’t happen. All day yesterday I’m sitting and trying to run through my head, “Why would you (St-Pierre) not want to face me when I’m the number one contender? Why do you want to face somebody that lost (Diaz) his last fight?”
GSP just beat the guy (Carlos Condit) who beat him. He’s (Diaz) has been out for a year. Here I am in that year, I fought all these guys to earn my spot. That’s what I really have been trying to do and that’s earn my way.
To see GSP say that he hates seeing people that talk trash and here he is rewarding a guy and giving him a title shot. I don’t see the logic behind that.
The Oklahoma native feels that St-Pierre doesn’t want to face him because he is the harder fight for the champion. He has also been questioning whether he should have finished Fitch and Kampmann and taken the safer route to victory.
Asked if he feels St-Pierre doesn’t want to face due to being the harder fight, Hendricks stated:
Yes, and that’s what I have said. I think I make too good of a case that I wanted to fight GSP by knocking out these guys. It makes me want to go back and not finish them. That way I do get a shot at GSP.
How sad is that I have to think that way because I want to get a title shot? Here I am yesterday and everybody is like, “You have to be more of a douchebag to get a title shot.”
That kind of stuff made me mad. I don’t want to be that way. Here’s the thing, whenever somebody takes your livelihood and that kind of opportunity away from you, I believe you should be pissed. Everybody is saying, “Johny, quit your crying and whining,” and I’m like, “Guys, it isn’t whining whenever you earn something, you deserve it.”
It just feels like if I didn’t finish these guys and I just would have beat them, I would have gotten a title shot.
Hendricks says if Diaz does fight St-Pierre, he will take another fight if he is told he has to.
I like to fight, I love fighting. If they (UFC) say I have to fight, guess what, I’m an employee of the UFC. If you don’t do what your employer says, you get fired.
Unless otherwise noted, all quotes obtained firsthand.
(Highly advanced photo-simulation via CagedInsider. We’re living in the future, people.)
Despite Johny Hendricks seemingly clinching his position as the UFC’s #1 welterweight contender with his recent knockout of Martin Kampmann, Georges St. Pierre will next defend his title against a guy coming off a loss and a year-long suspension — and the champion actually wants it that way. Ariel Helwani was first to break news (via twitter) that GSP’s next opponent will be Nick Diaz, on word from Dana White himself:
Dana just said GSP told him I want Nick Diaz. Dana said that’s probably the fight we’ll make. Dana said that GSP doesn’t ask for much, so he feels like he has to do it. Silva and Hendricks will have to wait.
Diaz’s last Octagon appearance resulted in a somewhat controversial decision loss to Carlos Condit during their interim welterweight title fight in February. Afterwards, Diaz tested positive for marijuana metabolites in a post-fight drug test, and caught a year-long time-out. Diaz has been on the sidelines ever since, waiting, planning, talking mad shit. And now his big opportunity has arrived again, which he hopefully won’t blow this time. Meanwhile another contender has spent the last 12 months actually fighting people and winning — LOL, what a sucker! — beating three of the UFC’s toughest welterweight contenders in the process.
As you can imagine, Hendricks isn’t too happy with all of this…
(Highly advanced photo-simulation via CagedInsider. We’re living in the future, people.)
Despite Johny Hendricks seemingly clinching his position as the UFC’s #1 welterweight contender with his recent knockout of Martin Kampmann, Georges St. Pierre will next defend his title against a guy coming off a loss and a year-long suspension — and the champion actually wants it that way. Ariel Helwani was first to break news (via twitter) that GSP’s next opponent will be Nick Diaz, on word from Dana White himself:
Dana just said GSP told him I want Nick Diaz. Dana said that’s probably the fight we’ll make. Dana said that GSP doesn’t ask for much, so he feels like he has to do it. Silva and Hendricks will have to wait.
Diaz’s last Octagon appearance resulted in a somewhat controversial decision loss to Carlos Condit during their interim welterweight title fight in February. Afterwards, Diaz tested positive for marijuana metabolites in a post-fight drug test, and caught a year-long time-out. Diaz has been on the sidelines ever since, waiting, planning, talking mad shit. And now his big opportunity has arrived again, which he hopefully won’t blow this time. Meanwhile another contender has spent the last 12 months actually fighting people and winning — LOL, what a sucker! — beating three of the UFC’s toughest welterweight contenders in the process.
“He’s trying to keep money from my kids. If I win that belt and take it from him, my life changes. He’s trying to not give me the fair shot. That’s crazy to me to think this guy is trying to control my future. That makes me want to win that much even more.
“Here is a guy is trying to pull out a curveball saying, ‘We really don’t think we can win with this guy, but we think we can beat Nick Diaz.’ That’s what it sounds like to me.
“I think I’m going to be fighting GSP in six months – April or May. I want GSP, and nothing else matters. Nobody else is in the equation in my mind. But hypothetically, as long as it takes (to get GSP is how long I’ll wait). You only get so many opportunities to fight at the top level and stay at the top level.
“I can’t keep fighting and being the No. 1 contender for years. There has to be a time to take a stand, and I feel like now is that time.”
With Dana White saying that GSP’s next opponent will likely be Nick Diaz, the presumed top contender, Johny Hendricks, has been whipped into a fervor, lashing out on Twitter and retweeting every supporter he can find.One person, though, is coming to th…
With Dana White saying that GSP’s next opponent will likely be Nick Diaz, the presumed top contender, Johny Hendricks, has been whipped into a fervor, lashing out on Twitter and retweeting every supporter he can find.
One person, though, is coming to the defense of Nick Diaz. It’s his Cesar Gracie teammate, Jake Shields.
From Shields’ Twitter:
@johnyhendricks quit crying. Nicks done more than you. Its cool you beat my old punching bags at AKA but I think you need to fight me next.
The tweet is somewhat confusing, as Shields recently moved back to the middleweight division after going 2-2 as a welterweight in the UFC. He is currently serving a six-month suspension following his UFC 150 fight with Ed Herman. While Shields won the fight by unanimous decision, the bout has since been changed to a no-contest.
Hendricks was originally expected to be the next to face Georges St-Pierre (assuming he passed on Anderson Silva, of course) but Dana White broke the news earlier today that the UFC is working next pit him against rival Nick Diaz.
On paper, Hendricks is the far more deserving challenger. Nick Diaz is currently 1-1 in the UFC, with his most recent fight a loss to Carlos Condit. Hendricks, meanwhile, is riding a five-fight winning streak and scored huge knockout victories over top fighters Martin Kampmann and Jon Fitch.
Ultimately, though, Diaz is substantially more popular and St-Pierre has avidly pushed for a fight with him. He even said he wanted Diaz to beat teammate Carlos Condit for the interim welterweight belt.
No date has been set, but with UFC 156 and 157 both assigned main events — Frankie Edgar vs. Jose Aldo and Ronda Rousey vs. Liz Carmouche, respectively — the earliest possible date would likely be March 2013.
MMA is undoubtedly a sport of thrills and surprises. Aside from exciting knockouts and back-and-forth slugfests, perhaps the most interesting element of shock within the UFC can be reached when a formerly unappreciated fighter rises above all expect…
MMA is undoubtedly a sport of thrills and surprises. Aside from exciting knockouts and back-and-forth slugfests, perhaps the most interesting element of shock within the UFC can be reached when a formerly unappreciated fighter rises above all expectation, displaying levels of athleticism and expertise most spectators were not aware of.
Many times has the UFC witnessed several competitors rigorously push themselves to learn, train and ultimately adapt to match the physical and mental abilities of the top-tier adversaries of their weight class. It is truly a moment of wonder when fans see a fighter nobody thought would ever escape the lower ranks of a specific division suddenly giving performances that beckon intimidation, potential and undeniable determination.
This is a list of five fighters that were previously not taken particularly seriously but have now become valid if not top contenders in their division due to their work ethic, dedication and desire to improve their skills and degree of fitness.
These newly successful fighters have proven that if you’ve got that fighting spirit and vital love of the game, a prosperous career is just a solid streak of rigorous practice sessions away.
Will he or won’t he? That’s the question on everyone’s mind when it comes to UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre. More specifically, will he or won’t he face UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva or the next time he s…
Will he or won’t he? That’s the question on everyone’s mind when it comes to UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre. More specifically, will he or won’t he face UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva or the next time he sets foot inside the Octagon?
And while we don’t know the answer to that question, we do know that top-ranked welterweight contender Johny Hendricks doesn’t plan on taking another fight until he gets his chance to fight for UFC gold.
Hendricks, appearing on MMAJunkie Radio had the following to say about his future, “I’m not going to fight unless it’s for a belt. Nothing else matters but the belt.”
When pushed on the subject and asked if he would take a non-title fight if the UFC asked him to do so, Hendricks plainly stated, “No. I really want a belt. They don’t come around that often and I feel like I’ve done enough to earn a shot for the belt and that’s all that I’m thinking of right now.”
The problem facing Hendricks is, despite running up a five-fight winning streak that included three “Knockout of the Night” bonuses, his name doesn’t ring out nearly as much as the names Anderson Silva or currently suspended Nick Diaz do.
We know that UFC president Dana White wants to see St-Pierre face Silva sometime around May. We also know he thinks he could sell out Dallas Cowboys Stadium with that fight.
As for Diaz, we know that St-Pierre’s head trainer at Tristar Gym in Montreal, FirasZahabi thinks that Diaz, currently serving out a one-year suspension for testing positive for marijuana metabolites, should be the No. 1 contender for St-Pierre’s crown. And while we know who those two would like to see as St-Pierre’s next opponent, we don’t know who that opponent will actually be.
As far as Hendricks is concerned, he thinks it should be him, but if Diaz gets the shot first, something that Hendricks feels would be undeserved; Hendricks would still sit and wait for his chance at the title.
Hendricks clearly thinks he deserves a shot at the UFC title and if you go by records, rankings and recent performances, you’d be hard pressed to disagree with that thinking. However, we all know that sometimes in a sport that is pay-per-view driven and to some extent driven by the desires of the fans, sometimes “deserves” doesn’t really come into play.
Will Hendricks’ shot at glory be derailed by a more lucrative option for the UFC? It’s possible. Will Hendricks have to sit and wait while the promotion books a fight that the fans have been clamoring for? Again, it’s possible.
If either of the above scenarios plays out, Johny Hendricks may not be a happy man, but by the sounds of it he will patiently wait his turn for his shot at becoming a UFC champion.
When you feel you have done enough to earn a big opportunity and you don’t get it, you wonder why it didn’t happen. Johny Hendricks has that running through his mind. It was announced by 
Will he or won’t he? That’s the question on everyone’s mind when it comes to UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre. More specifically, will he or won’t he face UFC middleweight champion