![\"\"](\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/HENDRICKS.png\" "\\"png_HENDRICKS\\"")
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Three weeks from now the welterweight division could go in one of two different directions. It may witness another title defense from its dominant champion or it could be shaken up by the KO power of the challenger. Georges St-Pierre squares off with number one contender Johny Hendricks for the welterweight championship on Sat. November 16th in Las Vegas. There are a lot of questions going into the fight. Both fighters have strong wrestling skills, will GSP try to take Hendricks down? Can Hendricks defend the takedowns? Or will Hendricks land a shot that will forever put his name in history?<\/p>\n
BJPENN.COM\u2019s Sean McClure brought up some of these questions along with a few others when he spoke with Hendricks.<\/p>\n
When asked if he thought GSP would attempt any takedowns, Hendricks referred to one of Pierre\u2019s fights from the past to answer,<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah I do, I really do. You know a really good example is what he did to Matt Serra. Matt Serra has knock out power, he knew it and he went in there and he pretty much bull rushed him to get him to the cage, take him down, and try to start wearing him down. And that was his whole game plan. So I\u2019m sort of going in there, I have a couple of ideas as the way this fights going to start out. And I\u2019m excited to see which one<\/em> [it is]\u201d.<\/p>\n It\u2019s interesting that Hendricks choose to use the second Serra fight as an example. Everyone knows how the first fight ended and a lot of people predict Hendricks could shock the world in a similar fashion.<\/p>\n He fought Carlos Condit in a title elimination fight back in March, a fight that ended with Hendricks\u2019 hand being raised via unanimous decision. Hendricks has been waiting for his shot at the champ for a while,<\/p>\n \u201cThere are two things, one I am super excited I got the fight, ok,\u00a0but what I do know is that I can\u2019t let that affect anything. You know what I\u2019m saying? I have to stay focused on what I need to do \u2026 like right now I have three more weeks and in those three weeks I can get a lot done<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n Hendricks\u2019 training camp for GSP has been his longest to date. He\u2019s not letting the extra time go to waste. Three weeks out from the fight and he\u2019s still looking to improve and fine tune things before he faces off with the welterweight champ.<\/p>\n St-Pierre made news a while back when made comments suggesting he might retire after his fight with Hendricks. That notion was then quickly put down by GSP\u2019s camp. Hendricks took those comments as a sign of healthy respect. He thinks GSP knows exactly what kind of fight he\u2019s got himself into,<\/p>\n \u201cThis was a fight that he knew, and I think that\u2019s why he took that fight before I got my title shot, I mean I think that\u2019s why he took that other fight, because he wanted to make sure he came back 100 percent, you know what I mean? And that\u2019s what I wanted too. I wanted to make sure that I fight the best GSP and I don\u2019t want any excuses, you know what I mean? I want to make sure that this guy comes in here 100 percent and ready to fight for 25 minutes. That is what I want from GSP<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n It\u2019s interesting to follow the lead up to this championship fight, given that there has been little to no trash talk between the two fighters. In a world where one man (*cough* McGregor) has been in back and forth name calling fights with two different fighters in the span of a few days, it\u2019s refreshing to see two top-level competitors let their skills do the talking,<\/p>\n \u201cYou know what, he\u2019s a nice guy, he is, and it might be the wrestler in me, but man there\u2019s just no reason to [trash talk]. You know everybody\u00a0I’ve\u00a0fought with, pretty much I would say 95 percent of the people, I could go have a beer with after the fight, you know what I mean? And that might be the wrestler in me, win or lose, win or lose; you know if I lose, man I\u2019ll be pissed, yeah of course, but if he came up to me and said \u2018hey want to have a beer together\u2019, I\u2019d be like yeah, you know it sucks but you\u2019re buying since you won. You know what I mean? And that\u2019s sort of the way my mentality is and I think that\u2019s been bred through wrestling<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n So we\u2019ll just have to wait and see who buys who the beer. UFC 167 takes place Saturday November 16th.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Three weeks from now the welterweight division could go in one of two different directions. It may witness another title defense from its dominant champion or it could be shaken up by the KO power of the challenger. Georges St-Pierre squares off with number one contender Johny Hendricks for the welterweight championship on Sat. November […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":72571,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[2674,2681],"tags":[381,480,590,11,649,5452,16],"yoast_head":"\n