The 5 greatest UFC Welterweights of the decade (2010-2019)

#4 Johny Hendricks

Johny Hendricks carried brutal knockout power in his punches

At the start of the decade, there were few 170lbers who were considered as talented as Johny Hendricks. A former NCAA Division I national champion in freestyle wrestling, ‘Bigg Rigg’ transferred to the UFC from the WEC in 2009 and won his first two fights before the turn of the decade. Once 2010 began, he put together a run of 8 wins with just one defeat – a controversial decision loss to Rick Story – to cement a title shot against champion Georges St-Pierre.

During that time, Hendricks became renowned for his ridiculous knockout power, particularly in his left hand. He used that weapon to take out top ranked contenders like Jon Fitch and Martin Kampmann, knocking both men unconscious with literally one punch.

Hendricks came up short in his challenge against ‘GSP’, but many fans felt he deserved the nod from the judges after leaving the Canadian legend battered and bruised with his heavy punches and elbows. GSP would vacate his title following the fight, going into a temporary retirement, and so Hendricks fought – and defeated – Robbie Lawler for the vacant title in March 2014.

A rematch between the two saw Lawler overcome ‘Bigg Rigg’, and from there Hendricks saw his career go into freefall; wins over Matt Brown and Hector Lombard were offset by defeats to Stephen Thompson, Kelvin Gastelum, Neil Magny, Tim Boetsch and Paulo Costa – the latter two at 185lbs after Hendricks continually failed to make 170lbs – but for the blistering start he made to the decade, the former wrestling standout deserves his place in this countdown.