Unfazed Hendricks while being destroyed. He has some problem or was just outclassed ?

[ocfightfan]

Wonderboy is a terrible stylistic and body type matchup for t-rex Hendricks.

 

[Metallicalabran]

people are going to get mad but Wonderboy is on another level of striking. He has been striking since Hendricks was wrestling. On his striking alone wonderboy steamrolled people. Matt Brown showed that he had holes in his game and now Wonderboy is tightening those holes up and looking phenomenal and that's what we've been seeing lately. Unfortunately I think he's going to run head first into Damien Maia who is going to get a takedown and finish wonderboy but IMO Wonderboy beats everybody else in the division, his three hardest fights being Lawler, Condit, and Rory

to me wonderboy is in another level striking, I agree with you, thats why I was expecting Hendricks to exploit his weakness. And he did try ONE takedown?

I can understand Thompson outclassing Hendricks in the striking, but Johnny looked like he wasnt even trying to take Thompson down !!!!!!!!!!

HIS WHOLE TRAINING CAMP SHOULD HAVE BEEN WHO TO TAKEDOWN THOMPSON. AND HE TRIED TO DO ONCE !

 

[Calivornia]

Accuracy is a bitch

Yeah Thompson has those long limbs and Hendrix probably got caught early and was fighting dazed. Because he looked like he was just walking into the punches.

Thompson also had very sneaky kicks which I'm not sure there was any counter for. He was able to throw them from inside and land on Hendrix neck and shoulders. But they were doing damage.

 

[johnyboy]

people are going to get mad but Wonderboy is on another level of striking. He has been striking since Hendricks was wrestling. On his striking alone wonderboy steamrolled people. Matt Brown showed that he had holes in his game and now Wonderboy is tightening those holes up and looking phenomenal and that's what we've been seeing lately. Unfortunately I think he's going to run head first into Damien Maia who is going to get a takedown and finish wonderboy but IMO Wonderboy beats everybody else in the division, his three hardest fights being Lawler, Condit, and Rory

I think Lawler would also take it

 

[Drofrah]

He looked bored before the fight

Hendricks used to be a happy dude before his fights. Now he looks like he doesn't care

I thought this as he came in. My mate who doesn't watch MMA once showed me a video of him called happy beard dude. No more

I think Wonderboy is on a tear and a bad match up. Combination of those two

 

[Cat Biscuits]

Honestly, his gameplan sucked for a fight like this. He needed to clinch, pressure to the cage, takedown and grind. Of course it wasnt that easy, since Thompson has great kicks and movement, but it almost seemed as if Hendricks thought he could catch him on the feet, or was just defeated he couldn't secure the takedown.

Thompson fought his fight 100% the entire way.

 

[lakersfan45]

He looked smaller, but I don't think Hendricks has been prepared for a guy like Wonderboy.

He started getting all flowy and Hendricks looked slow and predictable. Like he was stuck fighting in a video game engine from 2 generations ago, and Wonderboy was whipping out new movements and attacks he never saw before.

I understand

 

[Electabuzz]

Don't make excuses for him he's got enough of his own, plus him blaming his training partners is low he should've spoke up during training camp and said these guys are useless bring me someone else his loss thru and thru, also shows wonderboys dedication to his development Hendricks not so much

 

[Sgt Smith]

Johny was not ready for what he saw in Stephen and this is not surprising in the least. He looked utterly shocked the first exchange in which Stephen tagged him with several shots after the failed TD attempt. A couple exchanges after that he looked frustrated and deflated. The end result was Stephen being too much for Johny to handle. It happens.

 

[Kahran]

Started huffing and puffing in frustration after chasing Wonderboy for two minutes like Ronda did against Holly. He didn't seem very well prepared and it showed.

 

[McBlaze]

all it was, was perfect range and distance from wonderboy, hendricks didnt throw his left bomb or attempt a power double because wonderboy was never in range for him to do, quite simple

Huge hendricks fan here, if anything he looked lighter on his feet and in better shape then usual, just poor gameplan like he said

 

[Roids]

Tonight a plodding one dimensional slugger was exposed by someone properly trained in the art of striking, ie kicks, punches, distance movement.

 

[aus101]

Lol at Hendricks drinking some water as the results are announced. Like "yep, that went pretty much as planned. Pretty thirsty.."

 

[in the liver]

this shit depresses me. johny has always looked invincible, just like cigano used to...fucking sucks to see guys get used up.

as a human being i dont think i can watch mma indefinitely, am gonna get jaded at some point.

...maybe after jones dc 2 ;p

 

[Scythe]

A lot of things changed for him in his life for this fight and he also faced an opponent unlike anything he'd ever dealt with.

He's been in there and beaten many but Thompson's skillset is incredibly unique. Thompson and his team scouted Hendricks as well, Stephen never backed straight up from exchanges which is when all of Johny's left hand KOs happen. He was left lunging forward into counters or hanging back and being devoured.

What was odd to me, and apparently many others, is that Johny didn't try to go to the well after the one failed takedown. He very clearly ran Stephen into the wall at one point following his earlier takedown attempt and didn't even look to clinch whatsoever.

It's true that we've never seen Johny have to deal with anything near that kind of adversity in the cage previously. Maybe he believed nobody could handle him in the striking until now.

 

[AlteredStates]

There were a few exchanges where Thompson hit him with a few good shots and you could see that he was doing that whole "hm, impressive" look but in fact it looked more like realization that he was about to get completely fucked.

 

[Jin Akutsu]

A lot of things changed for him in his life for this fight and he also faced an opponent unlike anything he'd ever dealt with.

He's been in there and beaten many but Thompson's skillset is incredibly unique. Thompson and his team scouted Hendricks as well, Stephen never backed straight up from exchanges which is when all of Johny's left hand KOs happen. He was left lunging forward into counters or hanging back and being devoured.

What was odd to me, and apparently many others, is that Johny didn't try to go to the well after the one failed takedown. He very clearly ran Stephen into the wall at one point following his earlier takedown attempt and didn't even look to clinch whatsoever.

It's true that we've never seen Johny have to deal with anything near that kind of adversity in the cage previously. Maybe he believed nobody could handle him in the striking until now.

Solid post, and even through his wars with Lawler, he seemed to hold the mindset of the classic Muay Thai conundrum of: "I'll hit him, he'll hit me." Johny is is at least a generation behind. He needs a solid camp with training partners who will push him beyond his mental limits. He was not physically, or mentally prepared for this fight. As a result, he paid the ultimate price. A 1st round loss.

 

[FightsFTW]

Normal Hendricks, Thompson just had the perfect formula to give Hendricks a bad night.

Hendricks could not close the distance and get inside to land punches, thus kept eating Thompson's punches and kicks from the outside.

Hendricks could not hold him down.

Hendricks could not cut off the cage to limit the movement.