The prevailing image of UFC 181’s main event war between Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler was that of Hendricks hugging for dear life the leg of Lawler in the fourth and fifth round of their title fight. After starting the fight strong it appeared that Hendricks simply stopped fighting. Gone was the fire and tenacity that we have grown to expect from Hendricks, in its place was the look of a fighter praying that the fight would end soon so that he could be anywhere but the UFC Octagon.
Hendricks has had issues with finishing fights strongly in the past. See his fight with former champion Georges St-Pierre where he simply stopped pressing the action in the later rounds despite beating the hell out of GSP. In the post-fight presser Hendricks was scolded by UFC president Dana White for not fighting hard throughout the bout.
History seemed to repeat itself on Saturday when Hendricks did little to convince people that he was trying to keep his belt in the final frames of the fight. Credit to Lawler for capitalizing on the open window Hendricks left for him, but damn, what the hell happened to “Bigg Rigg?”
One of the reasons why fans resonate so much with Hendricks is that he never gives an excuse fpr his performances. Even in defeat Hendricks chose to prop up Lawler instead of issuing an excuse. All Hendricks has gone on record as saying was that his body failed him in the fight. This has led many to suggest that it was a weight cut gone wrong that sapped Hendricks of all his will and killer instinct.
Hendricks is a big man. He carries a wide, muscular frame and is not shy in professing his love for eating. The fact that he fights at 170 pounds is a miracle of modern fight science. Working with weight cut guru Mike Dolce has been credited for Hendricks making such a dramatic weight cut time and time again but it appears that even Dolce’s magic is not working as well as it has in the past.
Hendricks struggled to make weight in his initial battle with Lawler back at UFC 171. Hendricks and his team chalked that up to a damaged scale and while no such issues appeared in his making weight at UFC 181, the question is being asked in MMA circles is if Hendricks may have gone to the well one too many times.
So did this weight cut cost Hendricks the title on Saturday? It appears that his body hit a wall in the fight and whether that was a result of the trauma of cutting weight, or a result of Lawler’s relentless pressure is uncertain. However, it will be telling to see how Hendricks rebounds from this loss in his next fight. He has already mentioned that he will not balloon up in weight as he has historically done after a fight which leads credence to those who are attributing the weight cut to his performance. In the end only Hendricks knows that caused his lackluster performance in the championship rounds of his fight. Hopefully he can correct whatever was the issue and come back stronger than ever.
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