Den forne welterviktsmästaren Johny Hendricks kommer härnäst att möta Neil Magny under UFC 207, vilket han tidigare hävdade kan bli den sista matchen i hans karriär, oavsett om han vinner eller förlorar.
Hendricks har nu gått med förlust i 3 av sina 4 senast matcher och har bland annat haft problem med bantningen, vilket vid ett tillfälle gjorde att han behövde föras till sjukhus.
Det här berättade Hendricks via ’MMAJunkie Radio’:
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As soon as my wife says, ‘Honey, I want you home more,’ that’s when I’m done. Even if I win this fight, (I could retire). We have four kids now, and she needs help, and I get that and I want to be a father in my kids’ life.
I know for my career this isn’t my last fight – unless my wife says so. I have a feeling I’m going to go out there and show I am going back to the old me. I want to show I do still want to compete in this sport and that I can.
If I don’t win this fight, then obviously it’s not my fighting skills, it’s my willingness to train. That’s sort of where my mindset is. I’m back to training hard and working out hard. But let’s say something does happen and I lose – for one I would be a gate keeper. For two, I don’t want to just fight the fights. It’s a waste to beat yourself up for 12 weeks and go from there. Then I can also put more time into my kids and all that stuff, and that’s really where my head’s been.
I’m going back and wrestling and wrestling and really focusing on that. Whenever I got to the belt, it wasn’t who I worked out with or how many great partners I had. There was one common denominator: It was wrestling. Those kids (I work with) at Oklahoma State, all they remember you as is a two-time national champion, and they want to beat you up. That pride, I already feel it coming back. Work hard, grind it out, do whatever it takes to win. That’s where my head’s at right now: Do whatever it takes to win. … That’s all I can think about right now. Neil Magny, I have 10 weeks, and in 10 weeks it’s hopefully everyone is going to say, ‘What did Johny do different?’
I think my wrestling dropped. It’s that grind wrestling brings (to the fight). You get a leg and you got to grind it out because that takedown could be the difference between winning and you losing. I got away from that. I got away from the fact every takedown matters. It does.
For a while, I thought I could win on pure talent, and guess what, the good lord blesses other people with a lot of talent as well and that’s why we have a top-10. Now I’ve got to go back to the grinding style and go back to what I was, and that’s wrestling.
I’m usually the strongest mental person out there – I’m never worried about that aspect. I didn’t set my priorities as an athlete. I set them as a father. That’s why I talked to my wife and said, ‘If I’m gong to do this, I’m going full-blown. I have to be an athlete first.’ That’s why I’m taking it one fight at a time.
