How would the Hendricks who fought GSP fare against the current top 5?

sampuncher said:
Im hoping this doesnt just descend into GSP and Hendricks fans going at it but I was watching the fight again the other day and regardless of who I think won, either way Hendricks put in a great performance that night.

Prime Hendricks, (USADA rumours aside Sherdoggers) had great power and great wrestling and it got me wondering how would he fare against the guys today?

I think him/Usman is a really intriguing match up, hes one of the few guys Usman would struggle to wrestle with and the same with Colby.

Im not sure if Hendricks of 2012/13 would win the belt but I definitely think hed be a mainstay in the top 3-5.

How would you rate his chances against:

- Usman
- Covington
- Burns
- Masvidal
- Edwards
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he knocks them all out with one punch imo
 
dipstickjimmy said:
Pre USADA Hendricks would fare very well against all of the above. His wrestling would negate Edwards, Usman, Colby and he KO's them all. Masvidal and Burns would be more interesting as Hendricks didn't use he wrestling offensively all that much and he would stand with Burns and Masvidal giving them both a better chance due to style. He still likely beats them both.
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Yeah Burns is a tricky one purely because of how slick his ground game is.

Not sure about him not using his wrestling offfensively though, maybe not as much as he could but the Matt Brown fight instantly come to mind when I read that.
 
Would love to see that version of Hendricks vs Khabib, easy win for Johny.
 
TheMessiah said:
He beats all of them. Prime Hendricks was the most complete WW of all time (Short of GSP)
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FTFY
He wasn't more complete than GSP. Has no BJJ/Sub skills, no championship heart (let off the gas in the 5th losing the chance to defeat GSP), only fought at 70% and doesn't know how to have his hands wrapped.
 
That Hendricks pic where he looked obese makes me wonder how he even made it to 170 in the first place. He's at least over 200 for sure in that pic.

Also, this was before USADA took place and even then, prime Hendricks was about as good as prime Lawler when he was champion (who more or less can go toe to toe with Condit?).

Maybe Hendricks at his absolute best can contend with Usman and Burns if it ever comes down to a title shot, but both of those guys have enough skills and conditioning to serious challenge Hendricks, maybe even put on a dominant performance if Hendricks can't keep up with the pacing of this gen's grinders.

Especially Usman who has a significant size advantage against him.
 
sampuncher said:
Im hoping this doesnt just descend into GSP and Hendricks fans going at it but I was watching the fight again the other day and regardless of who I think won, either way Hendricks put in a great performance that night.

Prime Hendricks, (USADA rumours aside Sherdoggers) had great power and great wrestling and it got me wondering how would he fare against the guys today?

I think him/Usman is a really intriguing match up, hes one of the few guys Usman would struggle to wrestle with and the same with Colby.

Im not sure if Hendricks of 2012/13 would win the belt but I definitely think hed be a mainstay in the top 3-5.

How would you rate his chances against:

- Usman
- Covington
- Burns
- Masvidal
- Edwards
Click to expand...
Probably very well. Not sure he beats Colby or Usman, but could likely handle the rest.
 
He was a tough stylistical match up for GSP. Almsot tailor made krypronite not just wrestling but even his striking style.

Condit would beat him in a 5 round rematch back in those days when Robbie, Woodley, Rory, Johnny, Condit were all tearing blazing paths to the title it seemed like. Cant call it the golden era of ww because of the Hughes serra gsp koscheck hardy alves. The last pre usada era I suppose, ah memories.

Prime Johny loses to probably a number of them except the ones with questionable chins/defense and susceptible to wrestlers.
 
Mal Intentions said:
he knocks them all out with one punch imo
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One punch each? Or did you mean one punch that KO's them all. Kind of like this:
878a8bb0fc422875a76c661bf336140a.gif
 
Bend NvR Break said:
Hendricks pre USADA is a good enough wrestler to neutralize the other grapplers and honestly will probably defensively wrestler and keep the right standing with every fighter except Masdival. He has better striking that Usman, Colby, Burns maybe Edwards. He'd probably KO each.

Against Masdival, Masdival would get double legged across the cage and then pounded into unconsciousness.
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His striking wasn't much to brag about, he had serious ko power of course, but it's not like he was putting on a striking clinic against anybody. Colby's pace might be too much for Hendricks if he can't catch him clean. Burns is a toss-up. Burns, if he can keep it standing wins on points.
 
Takes out Colby, Masvidal, and Edwards without too much trouble, and I'd favour him over Usman and Burns as well.
Pre-USADA Hendricks was strong as fuck and surprisingly fast for someone of his build. You're not going to outwrestle him and he had the power to put anyone out cold if he connected clean, and he was pretty good at catching people when they thought they were out of range. He's a tough matchup for anyone in the division, even today.
 
That Hendricks was murdering people like we’ve never seen in the welterweight division, I wouldn’t underestimate him
 
TheMessiah said:
He beats all of them. Prime Hendricks was the most complete WW of all time
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BJJ ? Cardio ? ....diverse striking game ? Discipline? ....Johhny “ big pig “ Hendricks was far from complete....he was a great wrestler with hammers for fist
 
Ghostoftheville said:
His striking wasn't much to brag about, he had serious ko power of course, but it's not like he was putting on a striking clinic against anybody. Colby's pace might be too much for Hendricks if he can't catch him clean. Burns is a toss-up. Burns, if he can keep it standing wins on points.
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I don't think Colby can initiate and complete a TD against Johnny. So it will be a straight standing match because Johnny wants it to be. Hell eventually catch Colby.
 
He'd beat 70% of them and less tests.
 
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