Johny “Bigg Rigg” Hendricks overcame adversity en route to a hard-fought Unanimous Decision victory on March 15th at UFC 171 in Dallas, Texas. The hard-hitting wrestler narrowly outpointed 13-year veteran “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler to claim the vacant UFC Welterweight Championship.
Also at UFC 171, Jéssica “Bate Estaca” Andrade continued to climb the women’s bantamweight rankings with a razor-thin Split Decision win over TUF 18 semi-finalist Raquel “Rocky” Pennington. In Brazil, standouts Kalindra Faria and Hérica Tibúrcio both earned key strawweight victories.