Johny Hendricks: 'I'm done fighting at welterweight'
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by
Ariel Helwani@arielhelwani Dec 30, 2016, 4:41pm EST
TWEET
Esther Lin, MMA Fighting
Johny Hendricks' days of fighting at welterweight are about to come to an end.
Hendricks, who failed to make the 171-pound limit on Thursday, prior to tonight's
UFC 207 fight against
Neil Magny, told MMAFighting.com that he's not going to cut to welterweight anymore.
"I'm done fighting at welterweight," he said, just hours before the fight. "Unless they open up a 175-pound division, I'm moving up to middleweight."
Hendricks missed weight by 2.5 pounds on Thursday, however, this was far from his first hiccup.
First, he needed an extra hour to make weight prior to his UFC 171 title fight against Robbie Lawlwer in March 2014. Then, in Oct. 2015, he was forced to withdraw from his
UFC 192 fight against
Tyron Woodley a day before due to weight-cutting issues. And prior to his most recent fight against
Kelvin Gastelum, at
UFC 200 in July, Hendricks missed weight by a quarter of a pound.
As a result of this most recent mishap, Hendricks will forfeit twenty percent of his purse to Magny.
While he expressed some concern over his height for a middleweight, he said he was confident his strength would give him an advantage at 185 pounds.
"The lord blessed me with great strength," he said.
Hendricks said he told UFC officials about his plans to move up to middleweight on Thursday, but added that they didn't say whether they were on board with the idea.
First things first, get back on track against Magny Friday night. Hendricks hasn't won since March 2015.