Johny Hendricks will wait for a UFC welterweight title shot. After a 46-second knockout of Martin Kampmann at UFC 154, he became the consensus number one contender for the title. On the Verbal Submission radio show with Bloody Elbow’s Ben Thapa and MMA Mania’s Brian Hemminger, Hendricks said he wasn’t going to take another fight before his title shot, even if champion Georges St. Pierre decides to take a catchweight fight with UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva:
“I think I’ve earned the shot. I’ve fought all the tough guys in the division. The only thing left is to fight GSP. I think I have the tools. I haven’t shown all my tools cause I haven’t had to. But I believe I have all the tools to win that fight.”
If GSP does pass up Anderson, he’ll get his shot right away. But if not, and GSP/Silva goes forward in May like Dana White wants it to, Hendricks could be sidelined for 10-12 months depending on what happens there. Hendricks (14-1) is in a similar position to last night’s UFC 154 challenger, Carlos Condit, was after he beat Nick Diaz at UFC 142. He doesn’t have a shiny interim belt, but it’s tough to give up a title shot against the biggest draw in the company when you’ve earned it.
We’ll have to see how it all goes down, but for now the top of the division appears to be in a holding pattern once again.
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