Johny Hendricks targets fall return, wants division to move forward in absence

UFC welterweight champion Johny Hendricks will be on the mend until the latter portion of this year, but while he recovers from a recent bicep surgery, “Bigg Rigg” would like to see the contenders narrow in a crowded division.

“How many people are claiming they deserve a shot at me?” I’ll be out for a little bit longer, so I would like to have them all fight one more time,” Hendricks told MMAjunkie.

In the current 170-pound landscape, the likes of Tyron Woodley, Hector Lombard, Rory MacDonald, Matt Brown, Nick Diaz and Robbie Lawler could all have legitimate claims as the next opponent for Hendricks (16-2 MMA, 11-2 UFC).

From the champ’s perspective, though, he believes there should be no doubt surrounding who holds No. 1 contender status, much like when he climbed to the top.

“How many people in the last year were the No. 1 contender? Just one: It was me,” Hendricks said. “That’s what you work for. You don’t work to be one of the four, one of the five or one of the six guys who think they deserve it and hopefully get picked. They should fight. Then instead of picking from four, you can pick from one or two. That’s what I’m looking at.”

While Hendricks wants the most deserving contender once he returns to the cage, he also believes he’s in no position to pick and choose. Hendricks has been willing to fight any opponent put in front of him to this point in his career, and now that he has the belt, he doesn’t expect that to change.

“Realistically, it doesn’t matter to me,” Hendricks said. “I don’t care who I fight. Now that I’m at the top, I know I’m going to have to run through everybody, and that’s what I plan on doing. Whoever the UFC thinks is the No. 1 contender, let’s fight them, get through them, and then move on to the next one.”

One man Hendricks won’t be fighting anytime in the near future is former UFC champion Georges St-Pierre. “Rush” is just one of two men to hold a win over Hendricks, and the American was hoping for a rematch if St-Pierre came out of his self-imposed hiatus from the sport.

But St-Pierre recently suffered a torn ACL in training, meaning any plan to return are off the table for the foreseeable future.

“It does bum me out; it does stink,” Hendricks said. “It sucks when you hear about anybody getting injured. It doesn’t matter when it is, who it is or how it happened. It always sucks. You don’t wish anything bad upon anybody. So when I heard about him getting injured, I felt bad that he got injured again. My thoughts and prayers go out to him and hopefully he comes back.”

While St-Pierre’s injury will sideline him for an undetermined period of time, Hendricks says his return to the octagon is targeted for a much more specific timeframe.

After undergoing a gruesome surgery to reattach a torn bicep, Hendricks would like his next fight to take place in the fall. If it were up to him, the sooner the better.

“I want to push myself to the limit, but I want to keep it within the doctor’s range,” Hendricks said. “I’m saying I’ll return anywhere from September to November. I know that’s a huge spread, but if I’m healing up quickly, which I believe I’m going to, then September is easy. Then again, I don’t want to push it too quick because if I reinjure it, I’ll be out even longer.”

Even though just a few weeks have passed since Hendricks won the belt at UFC 171, he is already itching to get back to work. The 30-year-old still has a lot of rehab to do before fighting becomes a reality, but with the line of hungry contenders growing, there’s no shortage of motivation for the champion to get back to 100 percent.

“The only thing that’s bothering me right now is I’m on the DL list,” Hendricks said. “I’ve got to sit and let my body heal and that’s probably the hardest thing for me to do. I want to get back in the octagon. That’s all I really know is to fight. I’m hoping I can get back there as soon as possible.”

For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.