Johny Hendricks to leave Team Takedown, still wants to fight Tyron Woodley

Johny Hendricks

Former UFC welterweight champ Johny Hendricks is leaving his longtime management firm, Team Takedown, and is still pushing for a welterweight fight with Tyron Woodleyafter their UFC 192 booking was scrapped.

“(Team Takedown) has done a great job with me for the last eight years,” Hendricks today told MMAjunkie Radio. “We just couldn’t come to an agreement on certain things, and it was time for me to pull away.”

Hendricks broke the news while talking about his intention to remain at 170 pounds despite a recent botched weight cut. It led Hendricks (17-3 MMA, 12-3 UFC) to withdraw from his UFC 192 bout with Woodley(15-3 MMA, 5-2 UFC) on the eve of the Oct. 3 pay-per-view event.

Hendricks has hired a nutrition coach, Louis Giordano, after UFC officials told him he could continue at welterweight as long as he did so with guidance. Although he previously worked with well-known nutritition coach Mike Dolce, he said he wanted to “try something different.”

The ex-champ said he originally targeted onetime welterweight title challenger Rory MacDonald for his next fight. However, MacDonald is expected to meet fellow contender Hector Lombard sometime next year.

“I would like to do Feb. 6,” said Hendricks, referencing UFC 196 in Las Vegas. “I don’t know if they’ve got a main event yet, but as of right now, that’s where my head’s at.”

Johny Hendricks

Woodley’s rep said he’s currently filming a movie in India and unavailable for comment. The veteran welterweight is penciled in to meet the winner of an upcoming title bout between champ Robbie Lawler and former interim champ Carlos Condit next month at UFC 194, though the UFC has not made it official.

Hendricks said right now, he’s sitting out the remainder of his Team Takedown contract – which ends in February 2016 – before he seeks out his next fight.

“I’ve got to wait until I get cleared out of my management,” he said. “As soon as we break clean, that’s whenever it will give me a better understanding. As of right now, that’s what I’m shooting for. But if they say no, we want to keep you until February, I’ll probably have to fight early March.”

Team Takedown founder Ted Erhardt declined comment when contacted by MMAjunkie.

Hendricks said he’ll “probably” lose his coaching staff in the wake of his departure, though he added two unnamed coaches reached out to him, and longtime boxing coach Tony Cabello will remain.

It’s unclear whether MMA-coaching veteran Marc Laimon, who served as Hendricks’ head coach at Team Takedown and oversaw many of his signature wins, will survive the split.

“The ones who have contacted me, if they want to work with me and be the best we can be, then that’s what it is,” Hendricks said. “But at that point, they’ll probably have to choose if they want to stay with Team Takedown or follow me, and I don’t like putting those kind of stipulations on people. I want them to be happy and do the best thing for them.”

“I still have (Oklahoma State University),” added Hendricks, a multi-time NCAA Division I national champion at the collegiate wrestling powerhouse. “As long as I can still go to OSU and (work with) my boxing coach … now all I have to do is find a place where I can roll and do some ground work.”

The tumult in Hendricks’ camp didn’t necessarily slow down his career. He said he was approached to replace an injured Matt Brown in the headliner of this past Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 78 event. As a concession, the bout was offered at 185 pounds. But he declined the fight because he was on vacation and would only have 10 days to train for the bout in Monterrey, Mexico.

Hendricks also said he was cleared to train on Oct. 20 and was still feeling off from complications he suffered from his weight cut.

“You give me six weeks, I’d take that fight in a heartbeat,” he said.

Hendricks said while he awaits a resolution with Team Takedown, he’s taking a step back to refocus his efforts to make a comeback at 170 pounds.

“Let’s pull back, move forward, and get it done,” he said. “We’re going to have a great future, and we’re going to get back to where we want to be.”

For more on UFC 196, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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