Johny Hendricks: “I want to fight everybody.”

UFC welterweight Johny Hendricks could have sat on the sidelines for six months, waited for champion Georges St-Pierre to settle his personal differences with Nick Diaz, and then called for the title-shot he rightfully deserves. However, Hendricks isn’t interested in twiddling his thumbs so much as proving he’s the best the division has to offer, and as a result he accepted a bout with Jake Ellenberger.

Now facing Carlos Condit at UFC 158 after an injury forced the change, Hendricks recently told the UFC’s website he feels he’s in a “win-win situation” and is happy to have an opportunity to further solidify his standing as one of MMA’s elite.

“Anybody in the Top 10 (was) good. Like I said, if I was still fighting Jake, if I beat him, I don’t have to fight him for a while, and that’s something – that’s my goal: I want to fight everybody. If I get that belt, I want to fight everybody who is the rightful challenger, and I’ll try as hard as I can to get my hand raised.”

“He held the interim belt for eight months, and he just fought GSP. If I can go out there and compete with Carlos Condit – compete; I’m not saying I have to knock him out, but I have to get my hand raised. That’s the most important thing, and it doesn’t matter how I do it.

“If I can do that, and then that’s still fresh on everybody’s mind from the GSP fight. If I do good against Carlos Condit, then they’re going to be like, `Well, (Condit) was just in there with GSP. He’s gotta go next.’ That was my main thought whenever I found out I was going to fight him. I was like, `Sweet! This is awesome!’

“If you lose, guess what? You say, `Why did I lose? How did I lose?’ and we pick ourselves up. Sometimes if you lose to the champ, it takes you a year-and-a-half to get back there, but if I lose here, it might only take me two fights. I’m still going to be in the Top 10 and all that kind of stuff, so I think it’s a very win-win situation.”

SOURCE: UFC.com
PHOTO CREDIT: UFC