Johny Hendricks Knows He’s Going to Have to Beat Georges St-Pierre Twice… and He’s Ready

Johny Hendricks has been lobbying for a shot at UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre for the better part of the last two years.

Having defeated contender after contender – including knocking out Jon Fitch and Martin Kampmann – the two-time national wrestling champion finally got everyone to declare him the No. 1 contender… including St-Pierre and UFC president Dana White.

The one question mark was: What if Anderson Silva defeats Chris Weidman at UFC 162 in July? Would GSP finally take a superfight with the Spider?

But the superfight talk has died down. St-Pierre, amidst movie roles, said that he needs to fight Hendricks.

“I need to do stuff in my division before I take (a superfight) because (my division) has moved now,” said St-Pierre in a recent Joe Rogan Experience podcast.

The details of a St-Pierre vs. Hendricks fight are still very much up in the air, although White recently put a moving target on it.

He said the fight would “probably be in the fall.”

That’s fine by Hendricks. He’s keeping his calendar cleared through the end of the year.

“Pretty much wherever he wants, whenever he wants, that’s what I’m gonna do,” Hendricks said recently. “I just want it by December. Before January 1, I wanna fight him.”

Hendricks is confident that he has the answer to the Georges St-Pierre riddle. He’s got the wrestling to counter St-Pierre’s, and he has the power punch to finish the job.

But he knows that even if he does finish the job, he’ll likely be called back for a repeat performance.

“I’m gonna have to beat him twice. Unless I knock him out. If I manhandle him for two round and I knock him out, then there won’t be a rematch,” Hendricks explained. “But if it’s a close fight or I go out and knock him out in the first minute, yeah, there’ll be a rematch.”

That’s okay. He is so ready to face St-Pierre that the prospect of a twofer doesn’t detract from his excitement.

“I’m so excited to finally get to the Octagon and look across and there’s Georges. That’s all I can think about. That’s all I dream about every day. Words can’t explain how excited I am.”