Johny Hendricks Robbed On UFC 107 Undercard

UFC 107 takes place in Memphis Saturday headlined by Fighters.com and UFC Lightweight Champion “Prodigy” BJ Penn (12-4-1) versus tenth-ranked “Nightmare” Diego Sanchez (19-2-0).  A fight we are not scheduled to see is undefeated Johny Hendricks (6-0) versus UFC newcomer Ricardo Funch (7-0) as it is slated for the prelims. This is robbery at it’s finest.

Johny Hendricks was brought into the UFC after the WEC eliminated the welterweight division. His first fight was the coming out party for The Ultimate Fighter 7 winner Amir Sadollah (2-1). Amir had dropped out of two previously scheduled fights due to a leg infection and a broken clavicle respectively. So at UFC 101 in Philadelphia August 8, Amir was set to make his post-TUF debut.

Enter Hendricks, who has been on my personal radar for some time now. He was a two-time NCAA Division 1 national champion wrestler at Oklahoma State University as well as being a two-time All American and three-time Big 12 Conference champion. His amazing wrestling worked for him when he worked to get a D’Arce choke against Richard Gamble (2-3) at Extreme Fighting League on HDNet.

Against Amir, wrestling would not play a part. It would be the hands of Johny that would spoil the return to the Octagon for Amir Sadollah. The fight would end in 29 seconds as Dan Miragliotta stopped the fight due to strikes. Many criticized the stoppage as you can see Amir start to get back up in the replay, but his words to Dan were the telltale sign. He asked Dan what happened and only a fighter that was rocked would ask that question.

Whether you believe the stoppage was correct or not, Hendricks came away with the win and in outstanding fashion. Amir lost and yet his next fight was on the main card of UFC 106 against “New York Badass” Phil Baroni (13-12).While Phil may not be an elite fighter, he has fought the best in the business and always puts on a show, even if it only lasts for one round. Yet, Hendricks, the man who crushed Amir, is stuck on the prelims against a UFC newcomer. Shouldn’t beating the TUF winner so decisively warrant a spot on the main card?

With that TKO of Amir, the UFC has all the ammunition it needs to promote Hendricks as a star in the welterweight division. This is a time when the UFC finds itself in a situation with marketable stars at a premium with fighters such as second-ranked, UFC heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar (3-1) out with illness indefinitely.

Some may wonder how he can be marketed with such a small body of work. His wrestling background is a start. We have seen the UFC market many fighters simply by touting their wrestling pedigree. Hendricks has proved to not be the prototypical wrestler though. Wrestlers take time to develop a striking game and yet Johny currently has four stoppages via (T)KO in 6 fights. All of this by a wrestler who most seem to expect to work for a take down and work ground and pound. He is becoming a complete fighter in short order and an exciting one at that. WEC footage of his “Fight of the Night”, the fast slaughter of a TUF champ and his wrestling background would make it easy to push him up the ranks. He is more than marketable and this fight makes no sense when they are looking to build new stars to fill what has recently been lackluster pay per views.

UFC President Dana White and UFC Matchmaker Joe Silva have done a fantastic job thus far when it comes to building stars. Usually I have no issues whatsoever with who they bring up through the ranks, but I see this as a misstep of epic proportions. A victory over Funch really adds nothing to his resume other than another “W”, while a loss cripples his chances at getting on the televised portion of a pay-per-view in the future. This is all risk and zero reward for the UFC as well as for Hendricks.

One must strike while the iron is hot so to speak and right now, Johny Hendricks is as hot as War Machine is wanted by the police.

Maybe I am not seeing the entire picture and somehow I have missed where Hendricks deserves to be on an under card against a fighter that is not equal to an Amir Sadollah in name recognition. Then again maybe I am right and Johny Henricks has been robbed of stardom thanks to Joe Silva and the UFC.