Exclusive: King Mo Talks Injury, EA MMA, Rampage Jackson, and More!

We recently caught up with "King" Mo Lawal on his visit to Michigan for a seminar and MMA expo in the Detroit area. Mo talked to us about his recent, and only, loss to Feijao and how his injury is coming along. We also touched base on the new EA MMA game scheduled for release in October as well as one of Mo's favorite people Quinton "Rampage" Jackson.

Strikeforce: King Mo Dethroned By Feijao

The Brazilian fighters in Strikeforce had a good night in the main and co-main events. 

King Mo lost his 205lb title last night to the Brazilian Bomber Rafael Cavalcante via TKO. It was a tough first defense of his title and he was stopped by Feijao. Mo was winning the first two rounds even though the Brazilian was able to avoid the majority of the takedowns due to his superb TD Defense. While having his hands low and goading Rafael into an exchange Mo was caught with a right that led to the barrage on the ground that ended the fight. Feijao is an excellent fighter and I am looking forward to both a remathc with Mo and a fight with Mousasi. the rest of the results are below.

MAIN CARD
Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante def. Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal via TKO (strikes) - Round 3, 1:14
Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza def. Tim Kennedy via unanimous decision (49-46, 48-47, 48-47) - for vacant Strikeforce middleweight title
K.J. Noons def. Jorge Gurgel via KO (punches) - Round 2, 0:19
Chad Griggs def. Bobby Lashley via TKO (strikes) - Round 2, 5:00
PRELIMINARY CARD
Daniel Cormier def. Jason Riley via submission (strikes) - Round 1, 1:02
Andre Galvao def. Jorge Patino via TKO (strikes) - Round 3, 2:45
Vinicius Magalhaes def. Rocky Long via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Adam Schindler def. Keir Gooch via submission (rear-naked choke) - Round 1, 1:58
Reynaldo Trujillo def. Jose Santibanez via TKO (strikes) - Round 1, 0:28
Chad Robichaux def. Humberto DeLeon via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Artenas Young def. Chad Cook via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27)

King Mo Draws Feijao In First Title Defense

Newly minted Light Heavyweight Champion King Mo will put his belt on the line for the first time against dangerous Brazilian Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante. King Mo Lawal has been on a tear since starting his MMA career in Sengoku overseas after a hugely sucessful wrestling career where Mo competed internationally. Some fans and writers critized Mo's fighting style in the fight against Gegard Mousasi in which he used his wrestling to dominate Gegard on the mat. The fight was a departure from Mo's previous contest where he had knocked out several opponents. 

Feijao looked to be the next star at 205 before a surprising knockout loss to Mike Kyle put him out of the running for a title shot at 205lbs. Now that Feijao has put together a string of victories and looks like the blue chip prospect he started out as, he makes his way from prospect to challenger to face his toughest test to date. Feijao trains with Team Black House so he has a great camp surrounding him for the training and he will need it to try to dethrone the power punching wrestler from Texas. 

The fight is expected to take place on August 21st in Dallas Texas. 

Strikeforce Evoution Results: Smith Ends Le's Undefeated Streak

King Mo Shines in Strikeforce Debut
Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal improved his record to a perfect 6-0 with a first round Knockout of the tough veteran Mike Whitehead at Strikeforce Evolution. Mo had a significant weight disadvantage coming in to the heavyweight contest, but in the end it made no difference in the outcome. Lawal was asked if he was going to stay at heavyweight and Mo answered that he is a "Moneyweight" and that he fights where the money is at. This is the same kind of sentiment that Mo shared with us in our interview earlier this year which you can view here. Now that another exciting heavy/lightheavyweight is in the Strikeforce ranks, we look forward to the possible match ups in store for this exciting prospect.
Jacare Submits Lindland
Another Strikeforce newcomer in Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza made a triumphant debut with a dominating win over "The Law" Matt Lindland. Jacare was faster and crisper with his strikes and once Lindland decided to take the contest to the ground it was one submission attempt after another, finally getting the vet into a fight ending arm triangle. Jacare is an exciting competitor and could be a problem for current middleweight champ Jake shields.
Redemption for Melendez Against Thomson
In a barn-burner of a 5 round championship fight, Gilbert Melendez took back the belt that Josh Thomson took from him last year. Melendez stuck to his game-plan and countered Thomson and landed heavy kicks to the leg consistently. Thompson was the faster, more technical striker but Melendez had the power advantage and a granite chin to match. In the many of the rock-em sock-em exchanges throughout the fight, Melendez landed the harder shots and dropped Thompson on several occasions. This could easily be Fight of the year as both fighters left it all in the cage in the Strikeforce Lightweight Title unification bout. Melendez walks away with a hard earned unanimous decision victory.
Smith KO's Le
After playing the role of human heavy-bag for Cung Le for the major part of three rounds, Smith came back in the third round to land some hard punches on a Cung Le to drop him and then finish him with punches on the ground. Le was impressive throughout the fight, but Smith did as he always does and that is to get beat on for the majority of the fight just to come back and end the contest via KO. Smith hands Cung le his first professional loss of his combat sports career. 
OFFICIAL RESULTS
Scott Smith def. Cung Le via KO (strikes) - Round 3, 3:25
Gilbert Melendez def. Josh Thomson via unanimous decision (49-47, 49-46, 49-46)
Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza def. Matt Linland via submission (arm-triangle choke) - Round 1, 4:18
Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal def. Mike Whitehead via KO (strikes) - Round 1, 3:08
Antwain Britt def. Scott Lighty via TKO (cuts) - Round 1, 5:00
Justin Wilcox def. Daisuke Nakamura via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Alex Crispim def. A.J. Fonseca via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) 

King Mo Looks to Impress on The Biggest U.S. Stage of His Career

King- noun. a male ruler of a nation or state usually called a kingdom; male sovereign, limited or absolute; the official ruler of a monarch.

"King" Muhammed Lawal burst onto the MMA scene in 2008 with a win over the tough veteran Travis Wiuff, finishing his opponent in just over two minutes. Sengoku was the promotion that gave him his start and they immediately knew they had a star on their hands in Lawal. With a ring entrance fit for a king complete with women and a king's crown, Lawal was a perfect fit for the personality loving Japanese MMA fans. Muhammed didn't just come out of nowhere however, he had been training with one of the best camps in the game in Team Quest. Along with training with some of MMA's elite, Lawal has a wrestling pedigree that is unmatched by many in the fight world today. Lawal is a former three-time U.S. Senior National Wrestling Champion,and former NCAA National collegiate wrestling Champion with Central Oklahoma as well as a Texas State Wrestling Champion. He was also the first and only champion of the now defunct Real Pro Wrestling league. Mo makes his much anticipated Strikeforce debut against the always tough Mike Whitehead at Strikeforce Evolution on Saturday December 19th from San Jose, California live on Showtime. For King Mo, it is his chance to shine on the biggest stage thus far in his U.S. career, and only his second appearance in MMA in the States. In his last fight Muhammed smashed "The Smashing Machine" Mark Kerr via vicious KO in the first round. Look out Heavy and Light Heavyweights King Mo is here to lay claim to his territory.  

M A I N  C A R D
Cung Le vs. Scott Smith
Champ Josh Thomson vs. interim champ Gilbert Melendez (lightweight unification title bout)
Matt Lindland vs. Ronald Souza
Muhammed Lawal vs. Mike Whitehead
PRELIMINARY CARD
Antwain Britt vs. Scott Lighty
Daisuke Nakamura vs. Justin Wilcox
Juan Nunez vs. Luis Mendoza
Bobby Stack vs. Alex Trevino
Alex Crispim vs. A.J. Fonseca

King Mo Signs With Strikeforce

Congrats go out to our boy Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal for siging to Strikeforce's 205lb division.  Mo adds some much needed depth to the Light Heavyweight class headed by Champion Gegard Mousasi. Mo signed a deal that will allow him to still compete oversees in the Sengoku promotion he got his carreer off to an explosive start with.

Exclusive: A Conversation with Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal

(Team Thirsty, Get Dat Paper!)

Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal is one of the game's most exciting prospects to come along in some time. King Mo is coming off of a win over veteran Mark Kerr, whom he thoroughly smashed, at the last M-1 Global event in Kansas City. Mo talked to us about his favorite strip joints in our hometown of Detroit, what G.D.P. is all about, and his boy Daniel Cormier's debut win on Strikeforce challengers. What we were wondering, as you probably were as well, is what promotion we'll see Mo in next. Unfortunately he has no idea just as the rest of us, so promoters out there a message for you: Sign Mo immediately so we can get to see him do the damn thing!