Frustrated champ Johny Hendricks eyes fall return to stacked UFC 170 class

(This story first appeared in Tuesday’s USA TODAY.)

To hear UFC welterweight titleholder Johny Hendricks tell it, it’s not such a great feeling to watch from home with an injured arm as the world’s top 170-pounders vie for the opportunity to beat him down upon his return.

“It sucks being on the sidelines, knowing these guys are all fighting to get to me, and I can’t do anything about it,” Hendricks tells USA TODAY Sports. “I can’t train for it, can’t get ready for it. The only thing I can do is sit here and wait for them to battle it out. I don’t like that.”

Inactivity is not in Hendricks’ nature. Growing up on the wrestling mats in Oklahoma, where he was a high school state champion and two-time NCAA Division I national champion at Oklahoma State, he was used to rushing back into action after an injury.

After injuring his biceps training for fighting Robbie Lawler for the vacant UFC welterweight title in March, Hendricks (16-2 MMA, 11-2 UFC) pushed through it in the fight and suffered a complete tear of the muscle during his winning effort. That landed him in surgery after he was crowned the new champ, and now, with a doctor’s appointment looming at which he hopes he’ll be cleared to return to full-time training, the urge to overdo it is almost overwhelming.

“They scared me into being a good patient,” Hendricks says. “It’s tough for me. Growing up wrestling, you get injured and they expect you back on the mat in a couple weeks unless it’s really bad. What I found out is that if I jump the gun, instead of being six weeks in a sling and six weeks recovering, it might turn into 12 weeks in a sling and 12 weeks recovering.”

That’s something Hendricks couldn’t handle, not with the UFC’s welterweight division heating up, and top contenders like Rory MacDonald, Matt Brown and his old foe Lawler each making their cases to challenge him when Hendricks expects to return in the fall.

MacDonald, 24, is the latest to step up, thanks to a unanimous decision victory against Tyron Woodley at UFC 174 in Vancouver on Saturday night. It was a solid win for MacDonald, though Hendricks says he saw a fighter nullifying his opponent rather than dominating him.

“He’s one of those fighters that he can do that to people,” Hendricks says. “I’m not going to talk trash on anybody, but he makes guys feel awkward, But when someone is doing that, hey, you’ve got to know that sometimes you have to eat a punch to deliver a punch. Sometimes you’ve got to say to yourself, ‘I am paid to be an entertainer.’ In my fights it’s not if I get hit; it’s when I get hit.”

As for whom he’d like to face next, Hendricks insists he has no preference. MacDonald might not put on the most thrilling fights, he admits, “But I know I can make anybody exciting,” he says.

UFC President Dana White says MacDonald’s win was impressive, but the winner of next month’s bout between Lawler and Brown will get first crack at Hendricks.

“If Matt Brown wins, that’s awesome because it’d be nice to train for someone new,” Hendricks says. “But if Robbie Lawler wins, I’ve trained for him before and I can do it again and make some corrections. I could also go into it injury-free this time. That’d be nice.”

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

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