Thursday 4 February 2016 21:54, UK
Johny Hendricks believes he packs the biggest punch but the competition to regain the UFC championship has never been fiercer.
The former welterweight title-holder and his lethal left fist are in the heat of the battle for the 170lbs crown - but danger lies immediately around the corner.
Sky Sports exclusively asked Hendricks to assess his biggest rivals...
Hendricks beat Lawler by decision for the title in 2014 but a rematch was scored the other way. Hendricks isn't impressed by the current champ's method of impressing judges.
Hendricks said: "I started dissecting his game and Lawler isn't doing anything except for in the last minute or 30 seconds of each round.
"I was tagging him, he barely hit me compared to the amount of times I hit him. The way I moved and threw my combinations, he couldn't get an understanding of what was going on.
They said 'new champion' - ouch, what did one judge see in Robbie to win all those rounds?
"In our first fight he gave me some trouble but in the second I felt good. Don't get me wrong I was tired in the third, fourth, fifth rounds because of a bad weight cut. But the only way he could win was to knock me out, so why get in that battle? I stayed my ground and parried punches - maybe four or five out of 20 hit me. I knew I beat him again, one judge said 49-46 and I knew I'd beaten him again. But they said 'new champion' - ouch, what did one judge see in Robbie to win all those rounds?
"Robbie is also now finding out that there are guys who, however hard you hit them, are not going down so you need to hope the judges saw the fight in the same way that you did."
Hendricks has previously beaten Condit, who then lost a controversial decision in his title fight to Lawler. Again, Hendricks wonders why Lawler was favoured.
Hendricks said: "I understand the decision because you have to beat the champion to become the champion - but that didn't happen with me and Lawler, he didn't clearly beat me.
"At the end of the fourth round against Condit even [Lawler's] coaches said 'Robbie we need a knockout to win this fight'. He went out and, if Carlos stayed away from him, maybe he would have won.
"The numbers speak for themselves - I out-struck Lawler two-to-one but somehow he won, Condit out-struck Lawler three-to-one but somehow he won. What are the judges looking at?"
Hendricks withdrew from fighting Woodley at one day's notice after a botched weight cut but won't make the same mistake again if they reschedule.
Hendricks said: "I can't forget about the past, I use it as motivation. I was expecting a guy that would try to explode and try to finish me quickly because that's the only way he could win that fight.
"But no, it's not a dangerous first round for me, because guess what? As hard as he hits, I might hit harder! That's the beauty of it. Some of these fighters do this, some of them do that. But in my back pocket, I always have the ability to hit harder. I am the hardest hitter in the welterweight division.
"My new strength and conditioning coach is a strongman ranked eighth in the world and I'm building up my muscles to hit hard again. That's the confidence I need. I have focused so much on being slick - out-striking my opponent, out-damaging them - but somehow I still lost. So guess what? I'm going to step back, throw as hard as I can, hit you in the face and see if you can take it. That's what I'm getting back to doing."
Hendricks is fighting the up-and-comer this weekend in Las Vegas and has a plan to deal with Thompson's unique style of kicking.
Hendricks said: "I want three fights this year. I signed this bout agreement and haven't looked back since. Stephen is a guy who is going to keep his distance, like Carlos. He's a tall, lanky guy who will want to fight at distance to keep me at bay.
"But what people don't understand is how quickly I can close the distance, or how fast I can hit somebody then be out of their distance. That's something that I have. That's all from my wrestling, we're taught to explode in then explode out, so I have those things. But I also have something that a lot of wrestlers don't - I have really good kickboxing and boxing. So when I add my explosions in and out, and my ability to see punches and parry them, it really helps me out.
"Stephen's kicks are very different, he likes to fling them. Whenever you fight somebody like that you have to make sure you prepare in the right way. My training partner can do all those things so I'm using people who can throw spinning and quick kicks. I now know what I have to do to win in Vegas."
