Johny Hendricks next fight will take place at middleweight against Hector Lombard at UFC Fight Night 105 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada on February 19th.
This will be the former welterweight champion Hendricks first test at 185lbs after having been forced to move up a division following a series of disastrous weight cuts in recent times.
In 2015 Hendricks withdrew from a fight with Tyron Woodley a day prior to weigh-ins after being hospitalized due to a botched weight-cut, and things haven’t improved since, having also missed the welterweight limit for his last two fights.
His performances inside the Octagon haven’t been any better, suffering defeat in his last three fights against Stephen Thompson, Kelvin Gastelum and Neil Magny.
In Lombard he faces a fighter who’s also struggling to find his form at the moment, going without a win in his last three Octagon outings.
Lombard did actually beat Josh Burkman back in 2015, but the result was later amended to a no-contest ruling after he tested positive for steroids, and since his return from suspension a year later he’s suffered stoppage losses due to strikes against both Neil Magny and Dan Henderson.
Hendricks Vs Lombard joins a UFC Fight Night 105 card that’s currently in search of a new headliner after a fight between former heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos and Stefan Struve fell through due to the ‘Skyscraper’ suffering an injury.
That being said, the word at the moment is that this newly announced match-up will not take the top spot on the card, so it may be that the UFC is still hoping to find a new opponent to keep JDS in the headline spot.
