Former UFC welterweight champ Hendricks announces retirement
The "Bigg Rigg" has come to a stop.
Former UFC welterweight champion Johny Hendricks announced his retirement on Wednesday.
"I'm done. I'm retiring. I'm getting out of the MMA world," Hendricks said on MMAjunkie Radio, per MMAjunkie.com's Matt Erickson.
Hendricks reached his peak in 2014 when, after losing a title shot versus Georges St-Pierre, he won the vacant welterweight belt over Robbie Lawler in a unanimous decision. He gave up the belt nine months later in a rematch with Lawler.
The 34-year-old has won just two fights in the UFC over the four years since reaching the mountaintop. He's also lost five of his last six bouts and most recently was KO'd by Paulo Costa at UFC 217 in November.
Hendricks alternated weight classes and had well-publicized bouts with the scale in recent years. Following his last fight, he took seven months to decide on his next move.
"I made this decision two weeks ago, but I prayed about it and wanted to make sure I was going to be OK with it," Hendricks said.
"I've been thinking about this long and hard for a while. I'm going to get back to my roots. I'm going to start coaching."