Former UFC welterweight champion Johny Hendricks beat Tyron Woodley when all three were folkstyle wrestlers. Woodley wrestled for the University of Missouri, while Hendricks wrestled for Oklahoma State University. Woodley has wanted to fight Hendricks since both of them started mixed martial arts.
Woodley was scheduled to fight Hendricks at UFC 192, until the latter had to withdraw from the fight over weight cutting issues. Then Hendricks ended up fighting, and losing to Stephen Thompson. And now the fans are calling for Wonderboy to get a title shot.
On his latest Deez Nuts with Morning Wood podcast, Woodley disagreed.
“I had to get off my Twitter,” said Woodley, as transcribed by David St. Martin for MMAFighting. “People telling me, ‘You haven’t fought for a year. [Thompson] went out there and beat the No. 1 guy.’ OK, why didn’t I beat the No. 1 guy? [Hendricks’] lack of commitment to the sport and that bout [at UFC 192]. I’m starting to think he was scared to fight. I never believed that, but the fact that he didn’t even make it to the scale, it forfeited my opportunity to have a performance like that, to do what I’ve trained to do.
“Should I be penalized for that? I’ve been the only guy that’s been professional, making weight, going out there and fighting, taking short notice fights, doing favors for the UFC. Because [Thompson] fights the person I was supposed to fight he should jump over me? That’s a joke. That’s kind of comical.”
“He went out and got his damn name out there Saturday night when he roughed-up Johny. He didn’t earn a title shot, but he put himself in position. I feel like he should fight one more fight, maybe against Rory MacDonald, maybe Carlos Condit. Another long striker so we can see how he does with a striker who can deal with that. Then he’s ready to roll.”
“(Hendricks) was so worried about the weight. He wanted to shut up all the naysayers. I think the focus should have been more on the gameplan, on preparing him for that style of a matchup. I guarantee you he didn’t bring in the right training partners to prepare him for that unorthodox style. He didn’t take him lightly like Jake Ellenberger did. He didn’t have the proper preparation. He was weighting 174 pounds on Tuesday. That’s stupid. Your body has no nutrition. You basically held your body for a week because you wanted to prove to everybody that you can make weight.
“The first round, he looked terrible. He looked like he was done. He looked like it was the sixth round. We’ve seen Johny take some hard punches. He can take a punch. This guy got hit with a back kick that hit his arm and shoulder, not even the face. His brain was dehydrated which made it easier for him to be concussed. It was sad to watch, to be honest.”
