Former UFC welterweight champion Johny Hendricks is retired from the octagon. That being said, the former title holder has since signed with bare-knuckle boxing promotion WBKFF.
Hendricks is set to fight Brennan Ward within the promotion’s inaugural ‘Rise of the Titans’ event. The event will take place Nov. 9 and will be available live on pay-per-view via FITE TV. Speaking on MMA Junkie Radio, Johny Hendricks has since come forward to detail why he signed with the promotion.
“I’ll tell you the God’s honest truth: I was done. I didn’t want to do it, but (my manager) Jason (House), he called me and said these guys are interested.”
“I’ve always wanted to try boxing. It just one of those things that sounds like so much fun. All I have to do is work on my hands. And if I ever get back to the MMA world, just think how much better my hands are going to be.”
“I don’t want to fight just to fight. I like to win. I want to win, let’s be honest. And you train so hard, and half of it is because you don’t rehydrate as good as you could, and you can’t cut weight as good as you used to. That’s why I think having a nutritionist will elevate my game back to where it should be.”
“It’s actually been pretty easy. Don’t get me wrong – boxing isn’t easy. But the fact that all I have to do is focus on one thing instead of five, it’s made life a little easier.
“One thing about bare-knuckle is that people are going, ‘Man, all it takes is just one punch, and they’re going out there and swinging for the fences, instead of using technique, using head movement, hands, to create a knockout, (and to get out injury free).’”
“This body has a lot of miles left in it after a 10-month break.”
