Hendricks: Practice Gear Key to Smart Training

Welterweight Johny Hendricks (Pictured) has spent the last few months preparing for his showdown with Mike Pierce at UFC 133 “Evans vs. Ortiz 2” on Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. As he tells it in a recent interview with Sherdog.com, practice involves more than just refining technique and pulling punches. Training smarter, he says, involves fitting himself and his training partners with the best equipment available:

“People think that I have better gear than my training partners because of sponsors. I’m protecting my partners, but now I need to make sure that they are protecting me, so I try to make sure that my partners have [equipment] as good or almost as good as I do. I make sure they have soft gloves like I do, so they can throw as hard as they want and not [injure me]. Good shin guards, good headgear and a good mouthpiece -- these are things that are very important for me to stay healthy, so I expect my training partners to do the same thing.”