Recent MMA Retirees Johny Hendricks, Brennan Ward to Meet in Bare-Knuckle Boxing Match

A couple of recently retired welterweights from the two largest MMA promotions in the world are going to take their talents to the bare knuckle boxing realm.

Former UFC welterweight champion Johny Hendricks and ex-Bellator MMA talent Brennan Ward are slated to meet under the World Bare Knuckle Fighting Federation banner later this year. The organization confirmed the pairing following a report from ESPN.com on Monday.

Hendricks announced his retirement in June. His last Octagon appearance came at UFC 217, where he suffered a second-round TKO defeat to Paulo Henrique Costa. “Bigg Rigg” had last five of his last six bouts dating back to February 2016. The former 170-pound king initially stated that he was retiring to focus on coaching high school wrestling. The opportunity to stay in combat sports without training for all the facets of MMA was too much to pass up, however.

"This sounds fun, not worrying about knees, kicks, elbows, being taken down," Hendricks said. "All you have to do is hit somebody. I still like fighting, it just got to a point in MMA where it was just another day. Everything felt like just another day, but I've always wanted to box. I shocked the world before with my striking in MMA. We'll see if I can do it again.”

Ward, meanwhile, was slated to face Andre Fialho at Bellator 207 before pulling out of the fight. Shortly thereafter, Ward informed promotion officials of his intention to retire. Ward is in the process of trying to secure a full release from his Bellator contract, according to ESPN.

WBKFF has made waves recently by signing the likes of Chris Leben, Phil Baroni and former NFL star Shawne Merriman.