You can’t question the toughness of new UFC welterweight champion Johny Hendricks.
Hendricks defeated Robbie Lawler in a gruelling, five-round main event at UFC 171 last weekend to win the vacant title and he revealed Wednesday that he did so with a serious arm injury.
“I tore my [right] biceps,” Hendricks told California radio station KROQ 106.7 Wednesday. “I tore it, like, 10 days before [UFC 171]. We tried to heal it. We tried to do everything we could to prevent me using it, but when the fight came, you had to use it or not.”
Hendricks explained that he is scheduled to undergo surgery Monday to repair his arm, but hopes the injury doesn’t sideline him long-term.
“[Doctors] told me six weeks I’ll be down,” said Hendricks. “Then, six weeks later, I’ll be able to start using my arm and it’ll be back to 100 percent.”
Ted Ehrhardt, Hendricks’s manager, told MMAFighting.com that in addition to the biceps injury, Hendricks fractured his left leg in the first round against Lawler.
Hendricks, who contemplated pulling out of the fight beforehand, also said the biceps injury prevented him from being more effective with his takedown attempts.
It’s unknown exactly how long “Bigg Rigg” will be sidelined, and the UFC has not named the next title challenger, but Canadian Rory MacDonald and fellow 170-pounders Tyron Woodley, Hector Lombard and Nick Diaz have all expressed interest in fighting Hendricks.
