Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Welterweight champion, Johny Hendricks, was among the many who believed a trilogy match against reigning division kingpin, Robbie Lawler, was imminent.
Then things got weird ... and then Carlos Condit leap-frogged him.
With a win over Lawler and Condit already, Hendricks appeared to have the inside track. But, the world's leading mixed martial arts (MMA) league went ahead and pitted him against No. 5-ranked Tyron Woodley instead, a meaningful 170-pound clash that will serve as the co-main event of UFC 192, which is set for Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, on Oct. 3, 2015.
It's a situation that Hendricks now refuses to overthink. But, for anyone who thinks Condit is a "more exciting" option, "Bigg Rigg" has a message (via Submission Radio).
"Here’s the thing, look at Frankie Edgar. He’s exciting and he hasn’t got a title shot in how long? You know what I’m saying? It’s just one of those things. Here’s what I’ve learned: Do not try to think too much. Do not try to think too much. Do your job. And my job is to fight.... We’ve seen [Carlos Condit] -- they keep saying that, "Oh he does exciting fights.' But, realistically, his title shots, they haven’t been as exciting. You know, Nick Diaz. Five round fight. Then Georges St. Pierre ... besides the head kick. The way he fights whenever he fights these guys that he knows that he has to worry about power."
Condit did earn a controversial decision over Diaz to claim the interim division title, but failed to unify the belt when he collided with St-Pierre months later. "Natural Born Killer" would go on to lose two of his next four bouts to none other than the UFC 192 co-main event tandem of Hendricks and Woodley.
Nonetheless, a nose-crushing win over Thiago Alves in his return match earlier this year was apparently enough to earn Condit another title shot and his first fight against "Ruthless." It's a match up that the aforementioned St-Pierre has since called a "nightmare" for Lawler.
Hendricks doesn't really want to hear about that.
"Ah, who cares? (laughs) You know what I mean? Who cares? Yeah the reason why he’s saying that is 'cause the last time [against Condit] I got tired in the third round, right? But, here’s the thing, it’s a three round fight. Everybody’s like, 'Oh if you would have went five rounds, Condit would have beat him." Well no, because if I was training for a five-round fight -- which I think I’ve proven that I can go five rounds -- I can do those things and that’s important. So realistically, who cares?"