Last night at UFC Fight Night 105 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, Johny Hendricks looked great in his middleweight debut, defeating Hector Lombard via unanimous decision. Now that that former welterweight champion has put his career back on track, he has a score to settle with a certain UFC star who recently announced their return - Georges St. Pierre.
Johny Hendricks' history with GSP
At UFC 167 on November 16, 2013, in Las Vegas, Nevada, Hendricks stepped into the cage with the legendary St. Pierre and challenged for the welterweight title. At the time, Hendricks was 15-1 and riding a six fight winning streak with his only loss coming by decision to Rick Story nearly four years earlier.
St. Pierre was the king of the welterweights, having been undefeated in eleven straight contests over the course of six years. Their clash was an exciting five-round war, and when the dust settled, the judges non-unanimously scored the contest in GSP's favor - a ruling fraught with controversy. Although many felt that Hendricks had been robbed, there would be no chance for retribution. Directly following the match, St. Pierre declared that he was leaving the sport indefinitely and vacated the championship, denying Hendricks and the MMA world the immediate rematch they so desperately craved.
GSP is back, and Johny Hendricks is calling for revenge
After much debate between GSP's lawyers and the UFC brass, St.
Pierre is finally on board for a comeback, and Johny Hendricks is ready to be GSP's first roadblock on his trip back to glory. When asked directly about the possibility of facing GSP again, he told Steven Marrocco of USA Today Sports that he thinks St. Pierre would not stand a chance against him now that he has moved to middleweight.
I’m going to have to beat his face in, definitely, if he comes to 185," Hendricks said. "Because that’s a fight that I’ve been really looking for. And now that I’ve got a win under my belt at 185, he’s a newcomer at 185.''
UFC president Dana White has said that GSP would probably be making his comeback against middleweight champion Michael Bisping or the winner of Tyron Woodley and Stephen Thompson. However, a rematch between Johny Hendricks and Georges St. Pierre has been on fans wishlists for so long that White may just have to change his plans.
