Issue 129

June 2015

He may have lost the 170lb belt, but Johny Hendricks isn’t licking his wounds. Instead, ‘Bigg Rigg’ is reinvigorated and more ravenous than ever to reclaim the UFC welterweight crown

As he walks along George Hooper Road in Midlothian, Texas, Johny Hendricks gives off the aura of a man who’s fully content with his life.

And why wouldn’t he be? The former UFC welterweight champion is accompanied by his wife, Christina, and their three happy daughters. They’re also en route to his newly opened, family-run steakhouse. Hendricks recently jumped into the restaurant industry feet first – and business is booming. 

But perhaps the biggest reason behind his high spirits is that his MMA career is back on track. ‘Bigg Rigg’ just defeated top contender Matt Brown in resounding fashion at UFC 185 and he’s finally free of the injuries that plagued him throughout 2014. Life is good.

However, underneath the trademark smile he routinely flashes to anyone who approaches him to talk or take a picture, there’s a man who has had a fire lit beneath him. His burning desire to recapture the UFC welterweight title is the only fuel he needs to succeed.

When Bruce Buffer read out the scorecards and Herb Dean raised Robbie Lawler’s hand at UFC 181 in December, Hendricks was devastated. A fierce, determined competitor ever since he first hit the wrestling mats as a child, the 31-year-old hates losing and not being the best at whatever he does. 

However, it wasn’t to be and he left Las Vegas empty-handed. His disappointment was there for all to see in the immediate aftermath of that second five-round war with his rival. He’d not only lost the fight, the 12lb of gold he’d worked so hard to earn was no longer wrapped around his waist. While lesser men may have sunk into a deep depression and failed to find the motivation needed to get back into the Octagon after a crushing defeat, Hendricks was saved from any potential mental torment when he received some wise words from one of his young daughters after the bout. 

“As soon as I lost, they showed the fights on TV and one of my daughters started crying,” he tells FO, while sitting down with his family for a steak dinner. “She kept on saying ‘He’s the champ,’ and pointing at Robbie, but my other one said ‘No, you are, Daddy!’ What more motivation do you need other than that?”

Hendricks took inspiration from his daughter’s vote of confidence. He also used the mantra of legendary wrestler and Oklahoma State University head coach John Smith to drive himself back to the Octagon. 

“I love adversity. Coach John Smith used to tell us all the time that we need to face our adversities, and every fight in the Octagon is full of it. Whenever you have a loss like that you’ve got to pick yourself up and get back on the horse as fast as possible. I could have probably waited for Robbie but that’s a long time to wait. The UFC called me and asked if I wanted to fight Matt Brown and I was ready for it.”

But before he accepted that fight, Hendricks and his team of elite coaches reviewed his training camp for the rematch with Lawler and made the brave decision to revamp things.  

“To be honest, after that fight something had to change. Win or lose, something really had to change for me. The fight with Robbie really got me thinking. I feel like I was slicker than him on the feet, I was throwing good combinations and doing all the right things,” he says, clearly exasperated as he once again runs over the bout in his head, blow by blow. 

“Now it’s like, maybe we shouldn’t throw so many combinations when we’re fighting, but whenever we do throw one, each of them has to count. That’s what we got from that fight and that’s what we tried to do during the Brown camp. I’m also getting to do more strength and conditioning as a fighter. I love lifting weights and working out, so I’ve found a way to make mixed martial arts even more fun. That’s what it’s really all about.”

He adds: “I’ve always been more of a family person, but, after that loss, it really made me focus on what’s important – and that’s my family. Now my family life is much better, which in turn is making training much more enjoyable too.”

One of the biggest changes he made to his fight preparation was to his nutrition program. Hendricks is well known for his love of junk food and ballooning up in weight between camps. It was that vice that came back to haunt him before that first, unsuccessful defense of his strap. A near-botched weight cut before the bout was the worst trip down to 170lb he’d endured during his career. It seriously inhibited his performance in the Octagon. Hendricks admits he learned from his mistakes the hard way and knows it can’t happen again if he’s going to win back the belt.

That meant he did more than just use nutrition specialist Mike Dolce during his last fight camp ahead of UFC 185 and a challenge from one of the 170lb division’s toughest fighters. Hendricks got a head start by keeping his weight down with Dolce’s food philosophies ahead of camp – thanks to a little help from his wife. It was a decision that paid dividends.

“Every Sunday, me and my wife do meal prep. We’re creating every single meal by ourselves. For the fight against Matt Brown, I’ve never been so light in terms of how much weight I had to cut,” he tells FO.

“Usually just prior to my weight cuts I’m never under 195lb, but there was a point a few weeks out that I weighed 191lb and I hadn’t even really started cutting weight properly. It was just naturally falling off because of the way we were doing the meals.”

Hendricks also brought former Olympic gold medalist and former OSU head wrestling coach Kenny Monday into the Team Takedown fold to help sharpen his already outstanding grappling game. It was another astute decision. The former NCAA Division I champion went back to his base and used his wrestling skills during his fight against Brown. He took ‘The Immortal’ down at will and controlled him on the ground for 15 minutes. 

“I love having Coach Monday around,” says Hendricks with a smile. “I used to go to OSU a lot for fight camps but this time I didn’t. This fight camp I stayed at home because Kenny wanted to work on some stuff which was strictly MMA wrestling. 

“I go to OSU and I get great wrestling practice, but it’s not MMA wrestling. For the last fight camp we stayed at home and it was a luxury to be able to get great wrestling training and not have to go anywhere else to get it done. Not only is Kenny a great coach, he’s also a great guy, and I like having him around the gym as a coach and a person. He’s been an absolute joy to work with.”

As he and his family finish up their meals and wave goodbye to the customers in Bigg Riggs Restaurant, he talks about the upcoming championship fight between Lawler and Rory MacDonald at UFC 189 in July.

The pair have fought once before and ‘Ruthless’ came out on top at UFC 167 in 2013. A repeat result would mean a rubber match with Hendricks is almost guaranteed. With that summer title fight creeping up on the calendar, the division’s number-one-ranked fighter has a keen eye on the winner. However, it really doesn’t matter to him who the winner is. He plans to win back 170lb gold no matter who he faces.

“I think it’s going to be a good fight, that’s for sure,” he says. “Rory is the guy who tries to figure people out and keep them at bay. He’s going to try and keep Robbie on the outside and move forward from there, whereas Robbie is the type of guy who doesn’t mind getting hit so he can throw a few punches of his own. 

“It’s going to be exciting. I remember watching the last fight and thinking it was a close bout. I thought it was a good fight, though, and I can’t wait to see who wins. 

“However, I also don’t care who wins the fight because I’m ready to get that title back. That’s my main focus right now and nothing else matters besides that. That is what I’m trying to achieve and that’s what I plan on doing.”