Peak Johny Hendricks would have destroyed the best moderns Welterweights

[Thesnake101]

The man arguably lost to the ghost of Koscheck yet he would "destroy" Usman and Colby? Those would be even fights at best.

Hendricks was good, but he was not unbeatable.

 

[SolarSeiko]

Thread starter shows signs of a learning disability

 

[pankrat]

That's a good point, tho I think the details is revealing:

Maia: is one of the only Uber elite Brazilian jiu jitsu guys that learned to wrestle and learned intelligent striking defense. Maia never relied on just athleticism, had great fight IQ and did not take tremendous wear and tear like Pele Landi or Wand.

Lawler: dropped from MW where he was too small, underwent a Anderson Silva like transformation (wink -wink) and got better as he got older, has been pretty fairly average under USADA but also had the sprawl and brawl style to give wrestlers that dominated welterweight problems. Lawyer also stopped hard sparring and accredited that to his resurgence, which is like Maia who does not take unnecessary damage in spars (i.e. "update the software without damage to hardware").

Woodley: super great genetics like other guys with great longevity (DC/Yoel), great wrestling base like DC and Yoel too, specifically dedicated lots of time to learning there craft of dat sic nasty hand game (again i.e. DC/Yoel), played the game very conservatively - even accused of being excessively boring, and sat out for long periods of time and complained to get his shots. Again we see fight IQ and smarter preparation/lack of wear and tear and updating the skillset plays an important role here/

There are just certain fighters that age well, both because of genetics, style and investing in to their careers, and others that do not. Just look at Mini Phil Baroni, aka Mike Perry: if you treat it like ghetto wars and not a career based athletic craft, your career and chin will resemble a ghetto war and you'll lose more often than winning. Being smart, cautious even, and improving with the game is so important. A guy like Pig-Pigg did not invest in his health like GSP and only cared to win a title and then stopped caring - he's akin to the guy that scores the chick but can not keep her. There is a reason a guy like him beat Askren in high school, was much more talented, but Askren out performed him in college and beyond because of his brain.

The point is that even with all you have adressed about current ranked Maia, Lawler or Woodey, wich I agree, they would not necessarily beat at this stage the best WWs around in 2010, say GSP, Jon Fitch or Nick Diaz; or Nate Marquardt or Yushin Okami woul would be making the cut as arent really bigger than Usman or Till.

There is obviously more talent around these days but by Hendricks prime the sport had already got near the excellence we see today - some would argue that was already the case by 2000 even - but compard to just 6 years ago, the evolution at the higest level is a much slower pace than, say, from 1994-2000

Jon Fitch at 41 and almost 20 years of mileaga as a professional has very arguably beat few months ago then Bellator champion Rory McDonald who left UFC as a ranked WW too

 

[RoJo303]

The point is that even with all you have adressed about current ranked Maia, Lawler or Woodey, wich I agree, they would not necessarily beat at this stage the best WWs around in 2010, say GSP, Jon Fitch or Nick Diaz; or Nate Marquardt or Yushin Okami woul would be making the cut as they have actually done and arent really bigger than Usman or Till.

There is obviously more talent these days but by Hendricks prime the sport had already got near the excellence we see today - some would argue that was already the case by 2000 even - but compard to just 6 years ago, the evolution at the higest level is a much slower pace than, say, from 1994-2000

Jon Fitch at 41 and almost 20 years of mileaga as a professional has very arguably beat few months ago then Bellator champion Rory McDonald who left UFC as a ranked WW too

Yep, USADA free Hendrick was indeed a modern WW at his peak: tremendous wrestling and striking. His only weakness was cardio to a degree. I can see him possibly KO'ing Usman, but it would be a good fight. Neither Colby or Usman have his power, but I feel they have more diverse and fluid striking paired with better cardio. It would actually be an awesome fight.

I wish GSP would fight Usman, but even if he came back he may be too old and we would not get the fight that we wanted.

 

[Ghostoftheville]

When was his peak?
2010 when he lost to Rick Story?
2011 when he squeaked past Mike Pierce with a split?
2012 when a broken down Koscheck survived 3 rounds and barely lost a split decision?
2013 some argued he didn't deserve his win over Condit, and his coasting cost him against GSP.
2014 he traded wins with Lawler.
Hendricks even claims using diuretics gave him his edge so he could cut weight easier. When was his peak?

 

[pankrat]

Yep, USADA free Hendrick was indeed a modern WW at his peak: tremendous wrestling and striking. His only weakness was cardio to a degree. I can see him possibly KO'ing Usman, but it would be a good fight. Neither Colby or Usman have his power, but I feel they have more diverse and fluid striking paired with better cardio. It would actually be an awesome fight.

I wish GSP would fight Usman, but even if he came back he may be too old and we would not get the fight that we wanted.

Hendricks and any of the guys mentioned, among others, were indeed modern WWs 6 years ago.

By the way, Hendricks had tremendous wrestling in the defense and clnching, not that much at TD/top control. It would come to the stylistic match up just as it is today, if you matched the best welterweight sized guys 6 years ago with the current ranked ones.

 

[Lavalamp]

How is it Hendricks doesn't look more jacked than his opponents?

 

[SuperNerd]

Thanks science

 

[Dirge]

Johny Henricks at his peak would have wrecked the modern welterweight fighters.
He had better wrestling and better striking than all of them especially in the knockout power department.

If a guy like Masvidal was to have the advantage on the feet Hendricks would have just mixed up the game plan to win like he has in the past against certain opponents, plus Masvidal can be chinny at times.

Usman and Colby wouldn't have been able to outwrestle him and would get knocked out on the feet.

Against Woodley, Hendricks essentially was the better version of him in all areas plus a more diversified attack and way better cardio.

Peak Johnny Hendricks only existed pre usada.

So this is a time travel scenario?

 

[Ruthless_swag]

Johny Henricks at his peak would have wrecked the modern welterweight fighters.
He had better wrestling and better striking than all of them especially in the knockout power department.

If a guy like Masvidal was to have the advantage on the feet Hendricks would have just mixed up the game plan to win like he has in the past against certain opponents, plus Masvidal can be chinny at times.

Usman and Colby wouldn't have been able to outwrestle him and would get knocked out on the feet.

Against Woodley, Hendricks essentially was the better version of him in all areas plus a more diversified attack and way better cardio.

he was on roids. So no. imagine Woodley on roids. imagine usman on roids. get out of here.

 

[Bearknuckle]

Lmao hendricks is the most overrated champ ever. His skillset was trash.0