Former UFC welterweight champion Johny Hendricks spoke with Submission Radio ahead of his fight with Kelvin Gastelum UFC 200 on July 9.
He began by talking about the loss to Stephen Thompson at UFC Fight Night 82 on February 6, 2016?.
What we were thinking and sort of where my head was at, is that Stephen Thompson is a good fighter, and I think he proved that this weekend, but for us it was always the weight,” said Hendricks. “You know, I missed weight with Woodley and so I trained for the weight cut more than Stephen Thompson and that was a bad mistake on my part.
“And second, is that whenever we sparred – you know, everything is a learning curve for me and I try to constantly evolve myself, and I didn’t for that fight. And one thing he didn’t do – every fight that he has fought [prior] he’s always came forward. He’s always moved forward. He’s always like an aggressor. And so we were planning on him doing a little bit of movement, not a whole lot like he did.
“And so whenever I did my sparring sessions, they would do some movement, but as soon as I would do my movements, I would trap them and I would throw my hands. And that’s sort of what I did the first minute – okay, I know it wasn’t a very long fight. I think it’s like a minute and forty seconds – and so the first minute I did exactly what I was supposed to be doing. Well of a sudden he went to gameplan B. Maybe he thought he could do gameplan A, if that didn’t work, he went to game plan B. Well I didn’t work so much on the gameplan B of him trying to run away, you know, throw the kick to run, in a sense. And that’s sort of what he did, he threw the kick to run.
“And whenever he did that to me, I lost my cool. Doesn’t happen very often, but I did. And that’s why whenever I took the center of the Octagon I was like ‘fight me.’ You know, we’re here to fight, we’re not here to run around, we’re here to fight. And as soon as you think that, it’s all downhill, and he capitalized on it and he finished me.
“So sort of what I’m doing now, is sitting here going, alright, this fight I’m planning both ways. Gastelum, in every fight I’ve seen, he moves forward. But guess what? What if he learns from that fight? What if he’s sitting here and going, ‘hey, what if I throw a couple and get him to chase me, and then he’ll get flustered and then he’ll take the center of the octagon and it’ll be easier for me?’ Well we’re working both gameplans.
“Gastelum likes to move forward. That’s something that I can definitely use against him. And the way that he throws punches – I’m not gonna get into too much of the details because some of it is my gameplan – but the way that he does certain things, I have figured out, I’ve watched the footage and I think I’ve figured out how to use that against him. And I really, really hope that he is gonna fight that way.
“But I’ve also prepared for a guy who knows that I can hit hard, that knows that he’s sparred me before and it didn’t go well. So what I’m thinking is that he might do a little bit of both, where he’s going to try to come out and see if he can set up himself to be a forward fighter and come forward. And once I do what I’m supposed to do and once I do all that, then he will turn into a guy that might try to throw a couple of punches and run.
I just plan on beating him down for three rounds. That’s my main goal. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be looking for the finish – I want a finish, but I’m not gonna go out there and say I’m gonna finish him. I’m gonna go out there, I’m gonna make sure that I’m the more dominant fighter, I’m the better-skilled fighter and at any given moment if the knockout’s there or the submission’s there, I will be going for it.”
The UFC has instituted new weight cutting measures, and Hendricks has suffered major weight cutting issues, but the fighter says he does not believe the new rules will hurt him.
No, because Wednesday I hit 189,” he said. “So I just have to lose five by Tuesday. You know, in two weeks or twelve days, I gotta lose five pounds to be under that target weight – because I think it’s 184 for my weight class. For 170, you have to hit 184. Last fight [week] I came in at 176.7. This camp I wanna come in at 181. You know, 182, that’s pushing it though. I’d like to be at 181 because we easily lost ten pounds the week of the last fight. And so I’m actually doing better than I was last camp on my weight. So if that all stays true, I’ll be able to put more water in me in the next week or so, to keep my bodyweight where I want it. So whenever I go into fight week I’ll be drinking a little bit more water, which will be easier to lose that weight.
