Hendricks vs. Magny

This is the official discussion thread for Hendricks vs. Magny. Let's see what you've got.

"I have decided to retire early. Thanks for the cheeseburgers. I'll catch y'all later."


-Johny Bigg Rigg Hendricks

He was champ at 170 already so yes, that is where it is more realistic than 185.  He would be a short 185er.

It seems like Hendricks is stuck between ww and mw. He's not going to get offered another fight at ww, and depending on his performance tomorrow, he may be done fighting. What a run he had though. One of the toughest streaks ever. Straight killers Fitch through to Gastelum. That's about as tough of a run as anyone has had.

Hendricks won't be champ again. He prefers whining and screwing up weight cuts now to trying to improve or even regain his best form. No way he should get another fight at 170 and he's too small for 185. If he loses this fight he should honestly retire like he said.

I think he could be champ again if he gets the weight under control.  He has all of the tools to do so.

It will be the end for Hendricks 

Tonight will be the end?

@rappin

Idk. If he loses, all bets are off. That would be 3 times in his last four fights he missed weight. Plus that's three losses in a row. Kelvin and wonderboy are elite, but magny is a guy who Hendricks would have blitzed just two years ago. Hopefully Johny can put it back together, because you're right, he is talented enough to be champion. 

Fair enough.  This is part of the reason that I think there should be weight classes every 10 pounds.

One or two guys who are consistently unprofessional enough to make weight isn't good enough a reason. If Brandon Thatch can make 170 so can Jonny Hendricks and Kelvin Gastelum.

That said, I do agree with you that the sport could benefit from reorganizing the 155-195 range so that there's another weight class or two within it. I just disagree that Johny's situation is good reasoning for it. He used to make weight all the time and he has a welterweight's frame (heck some of the 155ers are bigger than him, he's not even a huge welterweight, so no one can sell him to me as "stuck between 170 and 185"). Johny's doesn't make weight because he's doing it wrong and trying to come in bigger to the fights and if he keeps doing that to make 170 he's going to do himself some serious damage.

* Edited at 12.30.2016, 12:53 PM ET *

205+, 205, 195 185, 175, 165, 155, 145, 135,125

Not sure if that is too many classes but I think that is what they should do.  However, for 205+, no one is even close to that.  I don't really see anyone below 230 so maybe make another class at 215. 

Too many weight class mean more match that we never see!

More weight class= better for the fighter
less weight class= better for the fans

I prefer

205+, 205, 185, 170, 155, 140, 130

I would really like to see 10 lb increments now that they have enough fighters for it.It would be easier for guys to fight near their natural weight etc. etc. but it would be a mess for a while and hard to get used to,just a giant change,but I think it would be good overall.WIth that said though,we'd still see big WW's killing themselves to make 165 (for an example) and there would still be drastic cuts and all that,but with more options in theory would be safer overall weight cut wise,but the fighters mentality that drop in weight would be more tempting since "it's only 10 more pounds" so could kinda backfire in many cases.

More champ vs champ fights too,even though I personally prefer Champs to stay in their own weight classes until a super fight is really needed.The way UFC is now they'd probably spam champ vs champ fights for ratings and be kind of stupid imo,but it is what it is.I don't think it's totally necessary at this moment,but as the sport grows (if it continues to like it has) I think it would be pretty necessary,especially if the roster grew a lot.In just a matter of years i'm sure the number of pro fighters has doubled and will continue to grow.

I agree about the too many part, I'm talking about adding one weight class where it most counts.

I think the 15lbs difference between 155 and 170 is the harshest on some guys (fighters like Tibau, Thiago Alves for instance are perfect fits for 165lbs, Sage Northcutt too I believe would fit best at 165), and since those are the most populated divisions I don't think you'd get a drop in either division's quality nor miss out on a ton of fan favourite fights. So maybe just do 155 (Lightweight), 165 (Junior Welterweight) and 175 (Welterweight) or something of the sort.

That way you're keeping the 10lbs diff. all the way up to 185 (where it actually matters) and covering the only range where you'll find a lot of "tweeners" (which I believe is right in that 15lbs gap between 155 and 170).

If you start breaking up the lower and higher weight classes into more divisions you'd most likely just have a bunch of VERY bad divisions.


EDIT:: Also, I'm calling it now ... if 165 ever happens, Gunnar Nelson will be the inagural champ ;)

* Edited at 12.30.2016, 4:31 PM ET *

That's pretty much what I meant was 10 lb increments up to 185 (or even 175/190/205/HW),over that it's not super necessary to change anything.I don't actually care if they made any changes,but I could see some benefits especially if there was a 155/165/175 where like you said it's needed most.So many LW's would be perfect for 165 and so many WW's would be such better fits at 175.A lot of small WW's too like for example a Sean Spencer type size,would be perfect at 165.

Hendricks seemed to be in a bad place mentally at the prefight scrum. Pulling for Magny now.

Agree on the weight classes. I wouldn't mind seeing every 10 pounds up to 205. Then a 206-225 weight class. Then heavyweight.

Johny looked near death at the media scrum, but he did look better at the ceremonial weigh-ins yesterday. I'm just wondering how much trying to make weight this time around has hurt him.

How many takedowns did Johnny het in the fight?