White sympathetic to those who passed for title shots, but sees silver lining

MONTREAL – It was a proverbial case of water under the bridge on Saturday night for Johny Hendricks.

The man who wanted a welterweight title shot against champ Georges St-Pierre but had to wait because of Nick Diaz got what he needed – a win in what he had to have deemed an unnecessary fight against Carlos Condit.

And with his win in the co-main event and St-Pierre’s win in the main event at UFC 158 at Bell Centre in Montreal, Hendricks was officially given his title shot.

But Hendricks is far from alone in having to take another fight – and a dangerous one – before getting his title shot. Ricardo Lamas thought he was going to get a shot at Jose Aldo after Aldo’s win over Frankie Edgar this past month at UFC 156. Instead, Anthony Pettis gave up a lightweight title shot to drop to featherweight to fight Aldo.

UFC President Dana White on Saturday told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that seemingly deserving fighters getting passed over essentially is part of the business.

“It’s tough, man. It happens a lot,” White said. “So was Pettis (passed over at one point). Some guys get trapped in a spot sometimes and it happens. I asked a bunch of fans the other day when I talked to them, ‘Does anyone feel that Pettis, getting the 155-pound title shot, doesn’t deserve the 145-pound title shot?’ And everybody was like, ‘No way, he deserves it,’ and everyone wants to see it.”

In the meantime, guys like Lamas are forced to stay busy and take other fights, putting them at risk of losing and falling back in the pack – as happened with Pettis when he lost to Clay Guida in June 2011 instead of waiting for a promised lightweight title shot after coming over as WEC champion.

In Lamas’ case, he’ll fight Chan Sung Jung in July – and after that, maybe he gets a shot at the Aldo-Pettis winner with a victory.

But even though the situation isn’t fair to everyone, White said good things certainly can come of it. Hendricks having to wait one more fight for a title shot meant a “Fight of the Night” against Condit where the fighters, and certainly the fans, all came out winners.

“It’s like Johny Hendricks tonight,” White said. “Johny Hendricks wanted that fight (with St-Pierre). The Condit-Hendricks fight should have happened. It happened tonight, and you can’t f—ing deny the kid now that he deserves that No. 1 spot.”

The same thing could happen with Lamas, White said.

“If he fights the ‘Zombie,’ that’s a high-profile fight that people are excited about, and we’ll see what happens,” he said. “And at the end of the day, if you truly believe you’re the best in that division and you’re going to win the title and hold it for a while, who gives a s—? You’re going to end up fighting all these guys anyway, whether it’s now or two years from now.”

For Lamas, he and Jung sit atop the next-in-line pecking order after Pettis in the featherweight division. But others are knocking on the door, like Darren Elkins – who on Saturday became the first 5-0 fighter in UFC 145-pound history with a knockout of Antonio Carvalho.

Elkins now will be requiring a much bigger name if he’s to enter the upper echelon and the conversation about who falls where when it comes to chances to fight for the belt.

“Now I just want someone in the op 10,” Elkins said after his win. “I don’t care who it is. Whoever doesn’t have a fight signed right now, who is in the top 10, I am ready. I’m here to get into the top 10 and fight for a title.”

But as many before him have found out, even when you think your win has you next in line, anything can happen.

For complete coverage of UFC 158, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.

(Pictured: Ricardo Lamas)