Why is Johny Hendricks not being hyped up?

[rjmbrd]

But I wasn't talking about MMA. I was talking about wrestling.


To say that Hendricks is only a "good wrestler" is a massive understatement. He is a world class wrestler.

"MMA wrestling" on the other hand isn't really wrestling at all. The other elements of MMA that have nothing to do with wrestling can affect things such as takedowns and takedown defense greatly.

So when Hendricks throws a wild punch and then gets taken down because of it, some would say that Hendricks' wrestling has failed him. But that's not the case at all. What failed him is that he wasn't actually wrestling at all.

So then what was your point?

It's widely known that some of the absolute best credentialed amateur wrestlers didn't adapt to great MMA grapplers. Then you have many average or worse (read: no prior experience) wrestlers who became incredible good MMA grapplers.

Hendricks appears to be a reasonably good MMA adapted wrestler, certainly not elite compared to his peers in the division. His big career wins are anchored on punching power, and his close gritty split decisions and loss were the grappling heavy fights.

So saying Johny is a great amateur wrestler, just to say it, seems kind of apropos.

 

[TeamTanner]

So then what was your point?

You'd have to read the initial post I responded to which referred to the respective wrestling abilities of Weidman and Hendricks. There was no reference to "MMA wrestling" which I maintain is a misnomer in any case.

 

[rjmbrd]

You'd have to read the post I responded to which referred to the respective wrestling abilities of Weidman and Hendricks. There was no reference to "MMA wrestling" which I maintain is a misnomer in any case.

Of course there is MMA adapted wrestling. It's employed differently by different guys, but the best MMA adapted wrestlers are able to blend the various other disciplines of MMA with their wrestling.

Georges does this by covering incredible distance and great footwork. Sonnen throws straight punches and uses pressure to explode into his TD. Jon Fitch used relentless chain wrestling against the cage.

Some amateur wrestlers learn to adapt their skills to blend with the new disciplines they learn and put it all together in the cage. Others don't and fall anywhere on a granulated scale of adaption.

Weidman is a great example of someone who's learned to adapt wrestling to work with his submission game. He's using specific setups and finishes to put guys in a position of losing the fight. That is quite literally why he is a better MMA adapted wrestler than Hendricks, who still seems to switch between modes as opposed to making those skills sing together.

I can't think of any one thing more obvious and required in modern MMA.

 

[xupacabra]

Heh.. This fight will be over before GSP's fans say WHOOOAAA !

 

[FootstompShonie]

Biggest difference is Weidman was undefeated and had never been in trouble, dropped, etc. Also we knew Anderson's weakness after Chael and Weidman fit the exact style match-up to beat him.

Hendricks has had trouble with all wrestlers he faced, Story decisioned him. And the Mike Pierce as well as Josh Koscheck fight could have gone either way. The guy is worthy of a title-shot but his past performances compared to Weidman's near perfect resume leading up to the Silva fight is why he isn't as hyped as he is.

 

[TeamTanner]

Hendricks has had trouble with all wrestlers he faced

I don't see how you could say Hendricks had trouble with Brenneman or Fitch.

 

[SirDiddymus]

Jonnie is in hiding from the steroid testers. hard to hype someone who is busy ducking testers and lying about his opponent.

 

[UJustGotChaeld]

GSP's weakness has always been bodyblows. Matt Serra exploited this.

Who put GSP's body behind his ear? I guess it was smart thinking, how could anyone hit GSP's body if it was behind his ears .. well Serra saw that coming and had a plan!

 

[UJustGotChaeld]

Hendricks is a better wrestler than Weidman by far. He may not use it as effectively or as consistently as Weidman does in MMA largely because he loves throwing his powerful hands, but in terms of straight wrestling ability and skill, Hendricks has it over just about anyone in the UFC. His collegiate career could be very well be compared to Askren's.

Agreed. Difference being Weidman seems to have adapted his skills better for MMA, and Silva has shown to be horrible vs strong wrestlers. GSP has eaten every wrestler he has faced.

 

[Jawth]

Johny Hendricks is a collegiate wrestler, coming in at 200 pounds, with quick unorthodox striking with ridiculous power.

He has 4 top 10 wins over Fitch, Koscheck (Many people complain about the Kos fight, but many seem to forget Kos poking Hendricks in the eye during the first exchange in the first round), Kampmann, and Condit with an overall record of 15-1 (better wins than GSP's previous opponents). After his first 3 top 10 wins, people were proclaiming he wasn't good enough to fight GSP for the title.


Weidman had 2 top 10 wins over Munoz and Maia with an overall record of 9-0 yet he received a ridiculous amount of hype, with many proclaiming how deserving he is of a title shot.

Watch their interviews and the things they say, they are so identical it's a bit creepy, yet Hendricks gets no hype behind him while Weidman was touted as "the one to beat Silva"

Silva beat Sonnen, took time off, filled in for a short notice event against Bonnar, took him off, and then fought Weidman.

GSP beat Condit and then handpicked Nick Diaz, who was retired, coming off a loss, and had been suspended for his last fight (after Hendricks had racked up his 3rd top 10 win), and is now fighting Hendricks after Hendricks' 4th top 10 win (something previous contenders didn't do)

Yet, MMA media accused Anderson of ducking Weidman and hyped it to hell.

People were saying Anderson would lose due to Weidman's wrestling abilities and his past fights with Sonnen, with Sonnen nearly grinding him to a decision loss.

GSP was nearly finished by a head kick against Condit and was TKO'd by a fighter with a similar reach to Hendricks in his last loss, yet no one says Hendricks is the one to beat GSP even though he packs more power than anyone in the division and GSP has been susceptible to being clipped.

So, why isn't Hendricks getting much hype?

You seriously don't remember 99% of people being furious that Diaz got the shot over Hendricks?

 

[UJustGotChaeld]

He got hit because his hands were low in reaction to the bodyblows landed earlier.

No, there were no good shots earlier. He got caught trading blows with Serra.

 

[UJustGotChaeld]

If Kos had gotten the takedown in the third, he would have won. So yes.

Kos had 1 takedown and landed 14 strikes the entire fight ... GSP won 30-27 I believe. So 1 more takedown could not win a fight.

 

[MusterX]

Absolutely agreed. It's pretty strange to me that people think Hendricks has any sort of striking game whatsoever beyond the left hand just because Fitch and Kampmann weren't smart enough to merely take a step to their left :icon_lol:

People are gonna bring up the fact that he managed to drop that hand on Condit a good few times, but Condit's hands are easily the worst part of his game (he leaves himself open after combos too much) and Hendricks very deliberately waited for Condit to expose his chin after punching before lunging in (good strategy, except he gassed out then literally only won that fight because of takedown spam + Condit's poor TDD).

I'm not a fan of either fighter, but for me, I just don't really see how Hendricks isn't anything more than a southpaw Koscheck minus the seeming inability to make a fist with his lead hand. Power =/= skill, tactics, technique, etc. Personally, I give Hendricks a 10% chance for victory-- 5% for a puncher's chance and 5% for the Serra Factor

 

[TeamTanner]

Kos had 1 takedown and landed 14 strikes the entire fight ... GSP won 30-27 I believe. So 1 more takedown could not win a fight.

Not true. Two of the three cards were 29-28.


Koscheck won round 1.

 

[PAPERCLIP30]

Because Condit almost ko'd GSP doesn't mean Hendricks will. He didn't see the headkick coming. Do you expect him not to see the left?


That being said, he's gsp's biggest threat. He's still going down though

 

[TeamTanner]

Because Condit almost ko'd GSP doesn't mean Hendricks will. He didn't see the headkick coming. Do you expect him not to see the left?

Well, Fitch and Kampmann seemed not to. You can't tell me that they didn't know Hendricks possessed severe power in his hands while they were preparing for those fights. Kampmann had actually trained with the guy before.

Obviously GSP is a lot better and more fundamentally sound than Fitch and Kampmann, but knowing that's something coming and being able to get out of its way are 2 different things.

I'd agree that the longer this fight goes the more it will likely swing over to GSP's favor, but it's also not that difficult to imagine Hendricks clipping GSP and finishing him in the first round. Hendricks' wrestling base will allow him to be more offensive with his hands as long as he doesn't get completely reckless. I know the comparisons to Koscheck will then be made, but Koscheck really doesn't compare favorably to Hendricks in terms of his power or his ability to even land what power he does have against elite competition.