After struggling to make the welterweight division’s 171-pound limit on several occasions, former UFC welterweight champion Johny Hendricks elected to head north to the UFC middleweight division, where his weight cut would be less severe. Though he successfully made weight in his first fight in this new division, he failed to do so in his second, coming in two pounds over for a recent bout with Tim Boetsch.

Heading into his next fight, a UFC 217 scrap with the undefeated Paulo Borrachinha, Hendricks will once again have to prove he’s capable of undertaking a successful weight cut. While he’s currently still over 200 pounds, and “eating a lot,” he has a plan in place to successfully make weight for this fight. He broke it down in a chat with Submission Radio (h/t MMAMania).

“I’ve been working the UFC nutritionist. So I’m working with people, I’m working with them. My weight, I’m gonna try to hit under 200 (lbs.) this week and then I’ll be three weeks out from weigh-ins. By the time I get there my goal is to be right around 195 so [the nutritionist] has an easy time with me. And those are all easy things to do. I’ve been eating a lot, I’ve doing a lot of things differently, been running more, you know, things that I’m not relying on other people about. Even though I’m working with the UFC on the nutrition side, I’m really on my own in a theory because I’m making sure that I do it. I’ve relied on other people and it’s time for me to say, ‘hey, now if I miss weight it’s because of me.’ And that’s what sucks too, you know, these people, you get sick, you don’t lose weight when you get sick. Your body holds onto everything. And not only that, but I was in good shape going into that fight [with Boetsch] and it looked like I didn’t train at all.”

Do you think Johny Hendricks will return to the win column at UFC 217?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 10/11/2017.