After losing three fights in a row for the first time in his career, Johny Hendricks is a man fighting for his future.

Hendricks' losing run has been compounded by the fact he’s also missed weight in his two last fights—first at UFC 200, then at UFC 207—and with him now seemingly unable to make the 171-pound welterweight limit, he must take his next fight at middleweight.

Recalling the horror of his last experience with coming in over weight at UFC 207 in December, Hendricks explained how his body just gave up on him.

“My weight was going great,” Hendricks recalled to Submission Radio. “I was going, 'Dude, we’re going to make weight easy,' and then all of a sudden I hit 179 (pounds). Once I hit 179, I went up there, we did a workout that I normally do—nothing crazy, but something that I’ve been losing six pounds doing.

“I was like, 'Hey, we’ll probably lose three, you know, I am getting a little lighter.' And it was not Thursday, it was Wednesday, excuse me. And whenever I hit that on Wednesday, I did it and I only lost a pound. And that’s whenever things started going south for me. And that’s when I realized, you know what, there’s a time to listen to your body and there’s a time not to, and I’ve decided not to listen to it for the last year." 

Having now accepted the fact he must ply his trade at 185, Hendricks still feels he’ll be a force inside the cage. 

“I’ve wanted to move up to 185 for over a year now, but I still know that I could compete, I know that welterweight was a great division for me,” Hendricks said. “But now it’s not. Because if I can’t go out to perform, if I’m performing at my worst and I keep losing, well what does that do for me? You know what I’m saying? That’s just a waste of camp and a waste of time and a waste of money for one, and I know I can still fight.

“When I went to OSU [Oklahoma State University], I was wrestling these guys and they were like, 'How are you losing weight, you still feel strong?' Well, the next time I went up I was close to 182, and they pretty much said, 'You don’t feel as strong now.' And once that happens, I’m going, okay, now it’s really time for me to listen to my body and say, hey, something’s gotta give.”




With his middleweight debut looming Feb. 19 at UFC Fight Night Halifax against Hector Lombard, the former UFC welterweight champion feels he’s at a crossroads in his career.

“I either gotta retire or I gotta move up,” Hendricks said. “And why not? I’ve got one fight left on my contract, why not see what happens at 185? If I go out there and I feel strong and I feel good—and here’s the thing—in most of the fights in the last year, past the first round I’m wondering if I have enough to get to the second and the third. And that’s sort of where my body’s been. It’s sucked, but it’s just like I said, [it's] something that I wanted to do.

“I still wanted to be a welterweight. And like I said, now that I know, now that I missed weight twice in a row, I’m done with that. And what’s worse is I haven’t performed that well. I’ve been looking pretty bad.”

Having lost four of his last five, Hendricks says that one more defeat would likely spell the end of his MMA career.

“Even my last fight, you know, I thought I did enough to win,” Hendricks said. “It didn’t go my way, so what do you do? Do you continue to beat your head against the wall? Or do you say it’s time to jump over it—and jump over it means to go to 185 and see how you do?

“Here’s the thing, worst-case scenario, this is my last fight. If I fight and I still don’t perform like I want to, then guess what? I’m done. But if I go out there and perform like I want to and I can move like I want to and have the energy, then it’s a great choice.”

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