Hughes: Hendricks lost because he tried to fight like GSP
Matt Hughes: “I believe Johny Hendricks got this from GSP, GSP is not a guy to go out and finish fights. He wants to win three of the five rounds.”
Former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes recently appeared on The MMA Hour and said that former UFC welterweight champion Johny Hendricks lost Saturday to new UFC welterweight champion because he tried to fight like former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre.
“I don’t think Johny was effective on his take downs as he thought he was planning on being,” began Hughes, as transcribed by Adam Guillen Jr. for MMAMania. “I think that really hurt him. I think the crowd actually hurt Johny because they were booing so much on his take downs, and the judges hear that. So when the crowd is yelling, that’s not good for the judges.
“And also, I believe Johny got this from GSP, GSP is not a guy to go out and finish fights. He wants to win three of the five rounds. He wants to win a round, win another round and then win another. Johny really tried to do the same thing; which is not go out there and win fights, but go out there and win rounds.
“That’s not the most exciting thing to watch, is watch a guy go out and try to win rounds. People want to see a guy go out and finish the fight. I think Johny got caught up in the whole aspect of trying to win rounds based on take downs. You never saw Johny go out there and try to finish the fight. There were a couple of times when he had Robbie stumbling a bit where he could’ve capitalized on it. I think Johny had a hard weight cut, I think that affected him. I think now he will go in with the mindset of finishing the fight and not let it go to the judges.”
“I was surprised because Johny is a finisher, he really is. But I think in that first fight with Robbie, he got hit a couple of times and he didn’t want to get hit by Robbie again, like that and take the blows. I’m not saying it’s not a smart thing to do, because I know how Robbie hits, I’ve sparred with him plenty of times. I’m not saying that it won’t save his career where he’s not taking those big hits down the road, but that’s just not the way about doing things. That’s not a champion the UFC wants. Maybe I’m speaking out of turn here, but they don’t want a champion that just tries to win single rounds and not try to close the fight.”
What do you think UG? How do you rank these four men who win the ww belt as finishers?
Matt Hughes
GSP
Johny Hendricks
Robbie Lawler