The injury curse of 2012/13 has continued well in to 2014. Heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez is still sidelined, Dominick Cruz had to vacate the bantamweight belt, Anthony Pettis will not fight this year, Anderson Silva snapped his leg late 2013 and now Johny Hendricks reveals he has a torn bicep in the wake of his UFC 171 scrap against Robbie Lawler.
The newly crowned champ at 170 pounds confirmed that he was injured in training for ‘Ruthless’, but now Ariel Helwani has confirmed that ‘Bigg Rigg’ will undergo corrective surgery for the injury. Check out what he said via Twitter:
Johny Hendricks was just on KROQ in LA. Torn bicep. Surgery on Monday.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) March 19, 2014
More on Hendricks. Rehab 4 wks after surgery, 4 wks of rehab (if all goes well) and hopefully start traning again in 2+ months.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) March 19, 2014
This news could not have come at a worse time. The welterweight division is a mess right now, and just as Georges St-Pierre’s vacation of the title was setting in the new boss is sidelined. The reality is that the UFC is going to have to put on some contender bouts now.
One positive to come from the situation is that the division my become less congested with a few of the top guys eliminating each other from the race. That being said, three of the top six (Lombard, Lawler and Woodley) train together, and we are yet to hear whether they would actually be willing to fight one another.
With the UFC 170-pound weight class once again looking very top heavy, which key fights will be put together in the coming months? Bare in mind that two months out of training is a best case scenario for Hendricks, but would also mean he will not fight for at least six months.
