Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal set to return at Sengoku 7
Former NCAA Division II wrestling champion Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal is set to return to action during World Victory Road’s “Sengoku no Ran 2009” event on January 4 in Japan.
According to the promotion’s website, Lawal is set to face Yukiya Naito, a veteran of K-1, DEEP, and Pancrase who also sports a record of 15-4-2.
Lawal, who had been an Olympic hopeful in freestyle wrestling for the 2008 Beijing games before being upset during the U.S. trials, made his MMA debut in spectacular fashion at Sengoku 5 in September. Facing UFC and PRIDE veteran Travis Wiuff, Lawal was victorious following a first round TKO.
The former Team Quest trained fighter then returned at Sengoku 6 in November, where he recorded a third round TKO over Fabio Silva, improving his pro MMA record to 2-0.
As of now, “Sengoku no Ran 2009″ is set to be an 11-bout show with the following matchups scheduled:
- Takanori Gomi vs. Satoru Kitaoka for the vacant Sengoku lightweight title
- Kazuo Misaki vs. Jorge Santiago for the vacant Sengoku middleweight title
- Yoshihiro Nakao vs. Antonio Silva
- Sanae Kikuta vs. Hidehiko Yoshida
- Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal vs. Yukiya Naito
- Sergey Golyaev vs. Eiji Mitsuoka
- Mu Bae Choi vs. Dave Herman
- Maximo Blanco vs. Seigo Inoue
- Hidetada Irie vs. Minoru Kato
- James Thompson vs. TBA
- Roger Gracie vs. TBA
Sam Caplan is the President of Combat Sports Media, LLC, the parent company of FiveOuncesOfPain.com. CSM is a B-2-B outsource solution in the MMA industry and provides PR, web management, and other consulting services to MMA companies. Clients of CSM include the Combat Sports Championships and Showtime.
| All posts by Sam Caplan
This event is shaping up to be the best Sengoku card yet. I am interested in seeing Gomi respond with a good performance after his decision loss ( in which he was robbed) and I’m always up for a James Thompson appearance.
I’m really excited about this card! Several heavyweights that the UFC doesn’t seem to want but I think have tons of potential. Also excited to see Gomi in action again and I’m excited to see if King Mo will look as good against younger and stronger opponents.