The Weekly Wrap: March 27 - April 2

Johnson returns to "Challengers"

In one of the most remarkable comeback stories MMA has seen, Fresno-based heavyweight Lavar Johnson returned from surgery required after taking gunshots to his abdomen to hand Lolohea Mahe, of Hawaii, his first defeat to cap the latest, and to date highest-rated, Strikeforce Challengers event on March 26.

A July 2009 shooting outside a family member's house killed Johnson's cousin and left him with a hole in his stomach and on death's door. Johnson, 32, required major surgery to splice his intestines in six different spots; his colon was damaged and his appendix was removed. Three people, including a 15-year-old girl, have been charged in the shooting and will stand trial later this year. Johnson now sports a thick scar above his naval.

With both Johnson and Mahe running out of gas in the second frame, Johnson called upon his trademark punching power to stop Mahe via TKO, who it was said cut from 320 pounds to 267 for the fight. Announcer Mauro Ranallo declared Johnson, who took home an event-high $16,000 for the win, "MMA's Lazarus."

Strikeforce Challengers VII took place before 4,963 fans at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, Calif., and aired on Showtime. Likely due to being offered on a free Showtime preview weekend, which expanded the network’s reach from about 18 to 54 million homes, the card drew a 1.0 rating and an average of 316,000 viewers, MMAJunkie.com reported. That broke the Challengers record of 172,000 for the November fight between Kerry Vera and Kim Couture. Strikeforce collected $109,222 at the gate for the event, on the higher end for the secondary “Challengers” cards. The next event in the series will emanate from Portland, Ore., and feature Kerry Vera and Tyron Woodley, Sherdog.com reported.

Elsewhere on the card, Miesha Tate solidified herself as the likely first challenger for Strikeforce 135-pound women's champion Sarah Kaufman by handing muay Thai stylist Zoila Frausto her first professional defeat. Frausto, a local who enjoyed vocal crowd support, made Tate work hard for takedowns and submissions, but a second-round takedown led to an extended arm-triangle attempt, which opened the mount and a fight-ending armbar for Tate.

Also picking wins were multi-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion Andre Galvao (split decision over Luke Stewart); Ron Humphrey (first-round guillotine submission over George Bush III); Justin Wilcox (unanimous decision over Shamar Bailey); and Olympic wrestler Daniel Cormier (first-round right hook knockout over John Devine).