Middleweight for Johny Hendricks? Ex-UFC champ wants one more crack at welterweight

There’s really no denying Johny Hendricks’ cut to the welterweight limit for the UFC 192 co-main event last week was an unmitigated disaster.

Hendricks (17-3 MMA, 12-3 UFC) was set to meet Tyron Woodley (15-3 MMA, 5-2 UFC) in the co-feature this past Saturday at Toyota Center in Houston. Although Hendricks had been vocal that he should have been fighting for the 170-pound title again, rather than champion Robbie Lawler’s next opponent, Carlos Condit, the fight was at least expected to be one that would get him back in a championship bout with a win.

But the fight never took place after Hendricks had to be hospitalized the night before the weigh-ins with what his manager told MMAjunkie was intestinal blockage and a kidney stone.

Given that when Hendricks has a history of bulking up outside of training camps, and that he missed weight on his first try at UFC 171 when he was fighting Lawler for the vacant welterweight title, plenty was made of him struggling to make the welterweight limit this time around. Depending on the report, Hendricks was well over 200 pounds at the start of his camp for UFC 192 and more than 20 pounds over the 171-pound max when he checked in for fight week.

On Wednesday’s edition of “UFC Tonight” on FOX Sports 1, Ariel Helwani reported Hendricks, after recovering from last week’s issues, will attempt a test cut to 170 pounds to make sure it’s something he can still do, but healthily.

Hendricks has never missed the mark at welterweight, but his out-of-camp weight gains have been well documented. UFC President Dana White said last week that the fighter’s health isn’t worth risking to be at 170 pounds, and he intends for him to fight at middleweight.

But according to “UFC Tonight,” Hendricks only wants that to be the case if his body doesn’t react well to his test cut to 170. Then, he said, he would move up to 185. Naturally, if he is able to make 170 in his test cut, he’ll likely be keeping his weight much closer to the welterweight limit in the offseason than he has in the past.

For what it’s worth, even though it’s still to be determined if he’d move up to middleweight, he’s got at least one fighter there attempting to welcome him to the division – perhaps with a little bit of trolling.

Tim Kennedy, who hasn’t fought in a year, took to his official Twitter account to say, “Welcome to the middleweight division @JohnyHendricks” and included hashtags of “#weightwatchers” and “#weightcut.”

For more on UFC 192, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.