After being in the fight game for almost 12 years, Johny Hendricks called time on his MMA career this past week and said he leaves the sport with no regrets.
"Realistically, I'm over it. I'm over the sport," Hendricks said on 'The Ariel Helwani MMA Show' on Monday. "I did my part and I can say I'm out of the MMA world and I don't have to worry about something else happening."
Hendricks (18-8) climbed to the top of the mountain in the UFC and become the welterweight champion when he defeated Robbie Lawler at UFC 171. Now 34, he is happy to ride off into the sunset, content with his contribution to the sport.
The former champion expanded on his decision to retire during Monday's podcast. He will coach wrestling at Episcopal School in Fort Worth, Texas.
"I've been thinking about it...should I give it another shot, should I not?" Hendricks said. "And with that big question being taken away now I felt a lot of relief and I'm feeling really good about my decision. I still get to wake up, I train once a day, I'm still training wrestling, I'm still working out with guys. The only difference is, I don't have somebody sitting here saying, 'Oh, you're walking around at 208 right now, you're fat, you need to lose weight.'"
Not even the controversial loss to Georges St-Pierre at UFC 167 leaves him with any bitterness, although he does feel as though things need to change with regards to officiating in the sport. Hendricks said he would like to see the adoption of technology in the sport to help get more accurate decisions.
"You're looking at these judges, what do they want?" Hendricks explained. "What are these refs looking for? Why do we have boxing judges doing MMA? They don't understand jiu-jitsu and why are they in the same arena? We have technology nowadays.
"If I'm sitting here and I'm fighting somebody, and I hit him hard and the crowd goes 'oooh' but it really wasn't that hard of a hit, the judges are going to count that as something better. They hear 'oooh,' look at their monitor 15 seconds later and then mark it down. I just wish there was better regulation for these fights and upcoming fighters. I would like better organization of the referees."