Johny Hendricks appeared recently on Submission Radio and discussed his upcoming middleweight debut at UFC 210 against Hector Lombard, what went into the decision to change weight classes, how he’ll deal with the bigger fighters at 185, the last fight remaining on his contract, free agency, his perfct weight, and more.

“I’m moving up to middleweight, because cutting weight now is hard on my body. It’s getting difficult, as you can tell, for me to hit 170,” said Hendricks in an understatement. “I think it’s just cause I’ve done it for so long. And after that, I told my coaches I want to go to 185. And once we made that decision, we sort of started trying to get another fight.”

“Now I’m at 200. I hit 196 on Friday. So the weight is not going to be an issue. And I think also with my fighting, that I haven’t really been able to fight to the best of my ability because the weight cut’s been so difficult for me. So that’s really what the last month has been like for me, is sort of talking to the wife, saying, ‘Hey I wanna move up.’ I know that obviously we don’t want to see 170s anymore. I wish I could. You know, I know that I’d have to do a huge lifestyle change, but I also know that with four kids it’s sort of hard to do that. And like I said, we started training again, we started doing things just to get ready for the next event that could possibly happen.

Hendricks described the moment when he was decided to move up. It was while he was cutting to fight Neil Magny at UFC 207.

My weight was going great,” he began. “I was going, ‘Dude, we’re going to make weight easy.’ And then all of a sudden I hit 179. Once I hit 179, I went up there, we did a workout that I usually normally do. Nothing crazy, but something that I’ve been losing six pounds doing. So 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. 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. 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.

“And another thing that happens, when I went to OSU, 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. I either gotta retire or I gotta move up. 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, 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. Even my last fight, you know, I thought I did enough to win. 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. Not only that, but with the IV, no IV and all that kind of stuff, you’re seeing a lot more people move up in weight class because they’re not able to regain all their strength. Even though we’re weighing in earlier and they give us more time to hydrate, but it’s still not going to where it needs to go, like in our muscles and all the things to perform at our best.

“If I go out there and I can’t compete, well I guess I can’t make 170, right? And I’m not going to try to ever again. It’s just too hard on my body. And if I fight good at 185, well then I’m gonna stay there. But if I don’t do good, then guess what, it’s time. I had my fun, I had my time. It’s not worth going out there and training for 12 weeks and then being done, or going out there and just losing. And that’s really what it’s about.”

“There’s a part of me that wanted to move up right after I lost to Lawler. Once I lost that fight, I was sitting there going, you know what, I wonder if I can move up? And really, that’s where my head’s been since then, is hey, let’s just move up. It’s going to be harder, but life will be more enjoyable. But the thing is, with that being said, after the Lawler fight, I knew that if I did one thing I could be back in the hunt.

“Well guess what, I’m chasing a rabbit that I can’t catch, because it’s either the weight hurts me or I do make weight and I don’t fight to my ability, and there’s so much that’s going on. Like I said, I’m just done chasing the rabbit. I sort of want to fight for me and me alone.

“I still want to stay 205 like I have been, 210. So I don’t want to balloon up to 240 and have to cut down to 185 or 230 and do the same thing and hey, you still have to lose 50 pounds. I want to stay at 205, build up my strength and start focusing on what I need to get better, not about the weight. Most of my camp, half of it is focusing on how to get myself down to 170. Well like I said, Friday I wasn’t trying and I hit 196. Alright, well now I’m ten over.

“Now I can actually go to my coach and say, ‘Hey, what do we need to work on?’ They’re like, ‘Well how’s your weight?’. My weight? Oh, right now I am exactly 15 over. I wake up at like 13 over and by the time I see them I’m 15 to 16 over. That’s sort of nice to have in your back pocket when it comes to training.

A perfect example is look at Cowboy – Donald Cerrone. He was struggling at 155, he moves up to welterweight. Now he’s not cutting as much weight, he’s not killing himself. He’s able to fight better. So you’re going, there is a possibility that that’s all I needed to do, is move up. Move up to 185 and I could be a better fighter for that.

“But like I said, if they still had IVs, then it wouldn’t be a question. In my last couple of fights, I wouldn’t have been hurting like I was and you can re-fluid yourself a thousand times better. But you have to adapt with the times. If times are now that you can’t use IVs, then guess what, adapt with them. Move up in weight, get something more now around my natural bodyweight.

Hendricks also discussed the upcoming fight with Lombard.

“I think it’s gonna do very good,” he said. “Because you gotta think, I have knockout power too, I just haven’t been able to show it because I didn’t have – I really think that it’s because I’ve been using all of my energy to make welterweight. Now what if I can use all that time and effort and refocusing from using all my energy to go to 170, if I can use that energy to get my power back, to get my combinations better, to get my energy levels back and be able to fight the way that I want to. I could knock people out again. And in my head I’m thinking, hey, if I can be stronger, I’m still gonna be faster because I’m so used to 170, right? Whereas these middleweights, they’re not used to fighting welterweights that have fast hands.

“Don’t get me wrong, middleweights, they’re gonna have heavy hands as well. But if I can be faster than them because I’m not ballooning up myself to fit middleweight, I’m trying to just make myself where I fit middleweight in a way that doesn’t strain me. Like I said, if I can go out there, do a little bit of strength, still stay fast, still have cardio and have the wrestling background that I do, I think I can compete with a lot of the guys at middleweight. I really do.

Hendricks was asked if the middleweight title was on his mind.

“It’s something that I want, of course,” he said. “Because anything I do, I wanna set myself to the highest standard. So if I tell myself, oh it’s not in the mindset, then why am I moving up to middleweight? I should just retire now. I should just say, ‘Hey, I’m done with it,’ and move on. But, it is in my mindset. Even though I haven’t fought up there yet, it’s something that I’d like to try to achieve. Who knows if I can, right? But who’s to say I can’t. Yeah I’m not the tallest guy. Yeah I don’t look like a 185-pounder, but I don’t look like a 170-pounder either. And that’s what it really boils down to. In my mind I’m telling myself, I can and I will. And I think that’s the most important thing.

Hendricks only has the Lombard fight left on his contract, so will be test free agency?

My standing with the UFC is good, I think,” Hendricks said with a laugh. “I hope it is. And you know what, really, I haven’t thought much on that. I haven’t. I know they’re probably thinking, ‘Well is Johny washed up, can he do more or can he not?’ So in my head, I’m thinking I still have to prove my worth. So I gotta go out there and perform to a way I know I can. And if I do that, I get my hand raised, they’ll probably come back with another contract. But then again, even though I win, they might say, ‘Johny, we just don’t see you as a middleweight and sorry.’ And if that happens, then we’ll reassess what I need to do. But as of right now, literally your contract is on the line, right?

“Every fight is your most important one, and this could be my last one, meaning that they might say, ‘We don’t want you back.’ Even if I go out there and win they might say, ‘Johny, we don’t want you back,’ or they might say, ‘Hey, we do want you back.’ So that’s how important this fight is to me, that I gotta go out there and prove my worth. Does it put more pressure on me? No. I think what it really boils down to, is can I still perform like I want to and is middleweight the weight that is gonna let me do that, let me show the fans and show the people that I can still do what I want to do and achieve what I need to achieve? And I do believe that.”

Hendricks also discussed his perfect weight.

“I’ll tell you a little secret. Guess what,” he said. “I’m not gonna make 185. I’ve always felt the best at 182. Whenever I hit 182, I still feel awesome. And guess what I feel like whenever I fight my best? 195. So instead of gaining 20 pounds, that 20 pounds sitting on you, I don’t want to see over 195 the day of the fight. And that’s really, like I told my coaches, I said this before already, I didn’t go up in weight to gain weight or to just say, ‘Hey, it doesn’t matter, I can fight at 185 and jump up to 210 to fight.’ No.

“When do I feel the quickest, when do I feel the strongest? It’s right around 182. I still have to eat good, I still have to run, I still have to work hard. And on fight day, if I can fight right around 192-195, that’s where I’m gonna be the quickest, the strongest and have the best shape. And now the way that I’m looking at it, instead of gaining 25 pounds back to fight, if I can do ten pounds now, now I’m not gonna be as heavy, as water loaded and all these things that have hurt me in the past. I’m gonna be cutting all that out.

So how does the fight end?

‘I really think that once a couple of things happen, I think that my hands are gonna do the work,” said Hendricks. “Because he’s gonna be a guy that’s not going to back away from me. He’s gonna be a guy that’s gonna move forward, that doesn’t care about my power. He’s gonna try to hit me and I know I’m gonna be able to touch him. So I have a feeling that my hands are gonna be what ends the fight.