Interestingly enough, Lawal is also apparently on the cusp of joining TNA Wrestling to test his skills as a professional wrestler. The 31-year old has never shied away from his love of the sports-entertainment industry, paying homage in the past by walking down to fights while wearing a crown, holding an umbrella, and being accompanied by a group of dancing girls.

Sherdog was first to report the ongoing negotiations, citing sources “close to the situation” and also mentioning he is expected to compete in both companies simultaneously. TNA is currently broadcast on Spike TV while, as chance would have it, Bellator will move to the network next year.

“King Mo” found himself a free agent a few months ago was released from his Strikeforce contract after labeling a NSAC official as a “racist bitch” in the wake of his nine-month suspension for steroid use. His punishment runs out in September although it remains unknown how healthy he’ll be after recently dealing with a life threatening infection.

If Lawal does indeed sign with Bellator he will add some much-needed credibility/depth to their light heavyweight division.

PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE

UFC President Dana White quickly cut Lawal from his contract after the remarks, but it appears the emotional executive has already envisioned the possibility of “King Mo” rejoining the organization.

“We’ll see how this whole thing goes down,” said White in an interview with MMAJunkie. “The fact that he called her and reached out to her, I mean, that’s what he should have done. It’s respectable. I respect that.”

The 8-1 Lawal’s personality and aggressive style of grappling made him a quick fan-favorite, positioning him among the group of fighters at the head of the Strikeforce pack. He will be eligible for reinstatement in September but is currently recovering from a serious staph infection with the process possibly keeping him out beyond the fall.

PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE

“I think that everything happens for a reason. I’ve been in a situation where I had to ride out a dark cloud a little bit in my career. I think Mo’s just going to have to ride the dark cloud in his career. I went about a 14-month period of not having a fight and just riding out some of the waves in my life, and that happens,” explained Evans in an interview with MMAFighting.

“Fighting is not just about fighting — it’s about life,” the 32-year old continued. “Sometimes you have those ups and downs in life, just like in your career. But as long as you keep your mind right and on what you really want, and you stay hungry, then you’ll prevail and make it through the storm.”

Evans will certainly be pulling for Lawal will come out on top in the end, growing from the experience rather than letting it diminish his drive.

“I feel bad for him. He’s a champion at heart, and I’m sure he’ll find a way to make it back to (Strikeforce) or find a way to make it in another organization as a top guy,” concluded Evans on the topic.

Lawal will be out until September based on his suspension though it is unknown when he will actually fight again after losing 30 pounds due to a serious staph infection that could’ve been fatal.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC/STRIKEFORCE

The brunt of Lawal’s outrage came after Sundvall asked him during a recent hearing if he could read and understand the English language. The former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion took that to heart, especially being a college graduate, and labeled her a “racist bitch”. However, it seems that Sundvall was trying to get to the root of why Lawal declared himself health if suffering from a knee injury.

After a few days to think about it, Lawal issued a formal apology in an interview with CSN Bay Area News, Lawal issued a formal apology for his remarks towards Sundvall.

“The thing is, when it comes down to it, I’m gonna be real; I was out of line for calling the woman the b-word,” Lawal said. “I was wrong for that. I was kinda mad by the comments, I was offended by the comments made towards me, and I was outta line. I was too emotional. But, you know, I apologize for that.”

Lawal’s comments are what likely lead to his release from Strikeforce shortly after making them. Despite the apology, Lawal still seems a little upset, adding, “I still feel I was offended, but I’m in the wrong for what I said.”

“King Mo” was handed a fine and a nine-month suspension, along with having a win over Lorenz Larkin changed to a No Contest, due to his positive hit for steroid use. It remains to be seen what is in store for Lawal going forward organization-wise though in the immediate future he will be recovering from a life-threatening staph infection in his knee.

PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE

Along with having the victory changed to a No Contest, Lawal was dealt a nine-month suspension and fined 30 percent of his salary for competing and his entire win bonus of $15,000 for a grand total of thirty-nine grand.

Lawal tested positive for an over-the-counter supplement he purchased at a nutrition/fitness store. However, the NSAC did not feel like that was a good enough reason to let Lawal slide, informing him he needed to be more careful of what he puts in his body.

While the suspension will run out in September, it remains unknown when Lawal will be anywhere near healthy enough to return to training and active competition inside the cage. He was likely set to compete for the vacant divisional title prior to the situation, but that will not happen anytime soon, especially in light of his sudden release.

After one of the NSAC members asked him if he understood English after failing to disclose his full medical condition on a pre-fight questionnaire which prompted Lawal to call her a “racist bitch” on Twitter. Clearly the reaction struck a chord with his employers at Zuffa who severed professional ties with him shortly thereafter (as confirmed by MMAJunkie).

Currently, Lawal is battling his way back from a nasty staph infection nearly taking his leg and ultimately life. Lawal has been in and out of the hospital following knee surgery as a result and lost thirty pounds.

(Brendhan Conlan Contributed to This Report)

PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE

Lawal recently peeled back a layer to reveal how low he’d sunk during his painful, extended treatment for a staph infection inside his knee occurring after he’d had surgery to repair ligament damage inside it. The situation got so serious he nearly had his leg amputated, had a catheter inserted into his heart, and has lost more than 30 pounds since first going under the knife.

“I got to the point where I was like, f*ck it. I just felt like, hey, I’m going to quit taking this medicine, and if I die then I die. I’m tired of this stuff,” said Lawal of the circumstances in an interview with CNNSI, adding it really hit him how bad were things when it looked in the mirror and could see his hip-bone.

Fortunately, as individuals like Lawal often do, the 31-year old fought through the adversity and came out on top. While he’s still not completely out of the woods yet health-wise, things appear to be progressing in a positive direction including Lawal’s state of mind.

“I feel like I looked death in the face, and I survived. I’m talking death of my career, and death in life. I faced that. It was tough. It really did make me appreciate my life, just my everyday life,” Lawal explained. “I used to think, not that I hated working out, but that I hated feeling tired. Now, I miss feeling tired. I miss getting punched, kicked, kneed, elbowed. I miss all that.”

It is still unknown when Lawal will be fit enough to get back to training at 100%, but, it appears he’ll do so as a new man who takes nothing for granted, and one thing that can be said with certainty is a motivated “King Mo” should make for an especially dangerous individual.

PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE

Specifically, Santos said she had taken a substance she wasn’t completely familiar with as a means of helping her cut weight, while Lawal explained the drug in his system was part of a supplement he’d bought over the counter at a fitness supply chain.

UFC President Dana White addressed the topic in an interview with MMAFighting where he showed little sympathy for either disgraced athlete, especially in terms of how they’d handled the post-test fallout.

“If you get caught doing something, admit you did it,” said White. “The whole ‘Somebody put something in my system that I didn’t know about?’ I mean, who here lets someone put sh*t inside them that you don’t know what it is?”

“Anybody that’s ever said that they didn’t know what’s being put in their body is full of sh*t,” the outspoken executive concluded while saying he’d rather see fighters own up to their mistake instead of tap-dance around it.

Lawal is not planning to appeal his failed test, hoping instead the NSAC will be lenient based on his admission of guilt, while Santos is fighting the CSAC’s sentence of a yearlong suspension.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Though Strikeforce was never able to enact their plan due to Lawal’s licensing limbo, Cavalcante recently revealed how things were playing out behind the scenes while also expressing disappointment in his adversary’s actions.

“I was surprised that an athlete at his level was caught doing steroids,” the 11-3 Brazilian explained while speaking to TATAME.

“It wasn’t official yet, but that was the talk, but he was caught using steroids and things got complicated…Now he was caught and I don’t know what happens next,” concluded Cavalcante while voicing some frustration about the complication Lawal’s drug test created.

Lawal has denied knowingly using steroids but admitted to taking an over-the-counter supplement that has since been taken off the market based on the presence of Drostanolone in it (the very drug Lawal tested positive for).

Interestingly, Strikeforce did announce a fight between top 205ers Gegard Mousasi and Mike Kyle for the very event Cavalcante stated he was supposed to fight at. However, their bout is not for the championship as Cavalcante implies his match-up with Lawal would have been.

PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE

Lawal and his manager, Mike Kogan, spoke about the subject while appearing as guests on The MMA Hour where they explained their side of the situation including what they believed to be the culprit of all the controversy.

According to Lawal’s camp he used a supplement he purchased at Max Muscle called S-Mass Lean Gainer. However, as it turns out, the substance featured the very steroid – Drostanolone – found in Lawal’s system and is no longer carried by the chain of fitness stores.

“To the best of my research, this product was taken off the shelves some time in mid-2011, for exactly the same reason that we’re facing right now,” said Kogan. “Its primary and only relevant ingredient of that particular product is a substance known as Methyldrostanolone, which is basically just a pill format of Drostanolone.”

“When I went to Max Muscle, I figured you can’t buy steroids at a Max Muscle,” Lawal added. “It’s a chain store. That’s like going to a grocery store and buying something illegal there.”

Because Lawal is acknowledging he did take the drug he was popped for he is not appealing the NSAC’s finding.

“What we will file is an answer, and an answer would involve affirming their test results and providing our findings and our explanation,” relayed Kogan who remained hopeful their honesty and the context of the use would be taken into account in terms of punishment from the regulatory board.

PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE

“I’m very surprised about this,” said Lawal in a conversation with ESPN. “I am very careful about what I put into my body. I’ve never tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug. I’ve gone through, and still welcome, Olympic-style testing.”

Lawal’s next fight will apparently take place behind the scenes rather than in the center of a cage as he plans to investigate the matter and hopefully figure out what happened.

“I will do whatever is necessary to get to the bottom of this,” Lawal continued. “I’m not a cheater. I might cheat at video games, but I never cheat at fighting.”

As is customary procedure, “King Mo” reserves the right to appeal his pending suspension/fine and will clearly do so as implied by his statements to ESPN. If he fails he will likely be looking at 9-12 months on the sidelines as well as losing a significant chunk of his paycheck from the win over Larkin.

PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE

According to NSAC executive Keith Kizer, while a specific sentence has not been imposed yet, it’s likely Lawal will face a 9-12 month suspension and be fined 30-50% of his purse (possibly more). It’s also probable his win over Larkin will be overturned and labeled as a “No Contest”.

Lawal is the second athlete on the roster to test positive for recent PED use with Cristiane Santos being the other. Santos was suspended for a year, fined $2500, and stripped of her featherweight title.

Particularly tricky for Lawal is the fact he will be a free agent in February as the bout against Larkin was the last on his Strikeforce contract. The fight was his second appearance in the ring since suffering a serious knee injury in 2010 that kept him out of action for a year.

No official comment on the situation has surfaced from Lawal, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker, or UFC President Dana White as of this report.

PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE

“I’ve been everywhere. I’ve seen everything you can see,” Lawal explained. “I’ve been hit in wrestling. I’ve been hit in MMA…I think my overall experience as far as competition kicked in and you could see he was tentative. He was scared.”

In addition to multiple national title wins as collegiate wrestler, Lawal also started his career out waist-deep in the divisional pool with bouts against well-travelled adversaries like Travis Wiuff, Mike Whitehead, and Gegard Mousasi.

Check out the entire interview below where Lawal also talks about the referee’s late stoppage:

PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE

Now, not only does it appear Jackson is definitely the object of the 30 year old’s in-ring desire, but he’s even willing to spend the fight striking with him if need be to facilitate the match-up

Lawal’s statements came in a recent conversation with Full Contact Fighter where he also offered up a bit of trash-talk on top of the proposed challenge.

Though Lawal is currently a member of Strikeforce, that doesn’t seem to be a huge issue as UFC President Dana White has been gobbling up talent from the promotion for major bouts in his company.

“Enough of the talk, let’s do the action. Let’s bang then, dawg. You’re talkin’ about you wanna box, you can box me! I won’t take you down, you know what I’m sayin’,” Lawal animatedly explained in the interview. “Or you can holla at my boy James Toney and be a sparring partner for him. Pick your poison. You can getcha ass whipped in boxing by James Toney, or you can getcha ass whipped by me in MMA. I’ll stand and box with you.”

Lawal and Jackson have made quite the verbal warfare, tossing jabs at one another for over 15 years, according to “King Mo.” Jackson has said a number of times in the past he is looking for a fight at the UFC’s show in Japan this upcoming February, and Lawal has said he would be fine with taking on “Rampage” in the Land of the Rising Sun if need be.

Lawal, a college wrestling standout, rebounded from his first professional loss and an extended layoff from injury to come back and defeat previously undefeated grappler Roger Gracie earlier this year via knockout. Jackson, a former 205-pound champ, was defeated by Jon Jones in a bout for the light heavyweight belt last month at UFC 135.

PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE/UFC

Tim Kennedy Talks About Life as a Former Green Beret (MMAFighting.com)

UFC Lightweight Champ Frank Edgar Opens Up About his UFC 118 Rematch Against BJ PEnn (FIGHT! Magazine)

Ricardo Almeida Participates in Autism Benefit (MiddleEasy.com)

Mac Danzig Out of Fight Night 22 with Injury (CagePotato.com)

Bibiano Fernandes Still Waiting for DREAM Paycheck (MMAConvert.com)

Ten Jaw-Dropping Taekwondo Knockouts (MMAScraps.com)

“King Mo” Lawal Speaks About his Start in MMA (Heavy.com)

An In-Depth Look at the Shane Carwin Steroids Scandal (WatchKalibRun.com)

Mike Brown Back in Action at WEC 51 (Versus.com)

In attendance were Strikeforce fighters “King Mo” Lawal, Bobby Lashley,KJ Noons, and Tim Kennedy (a former Army Special Forces sniper and Green Beret). Also attending and talking to patients was MMA fighter Jason “Mayhem” Miller, who is in town this week with Lawal’s camp.

Saturday’s fights will take place from the Toyota Center in Houston LIVE on Showtime at 10 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast).

In the main event of a World Championship Doubleheader, undefeated Strikeforce World Light Heavyweight Champion “King Mo’’ (7-0) will make the first defense of his crown against highly touted Brazilian Rafael “Feijao’’ Cavalcante (9-2). In the co-feature, Kennedy (12-2) and world-class submission specialist Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (12-2-1) will battle for the vacant Strikeforce Middleweight (185 pounds) title. Kennedy has served six tours of duty in the Middle East and is one of MMA’s fastest rising stars.

Unbeaten heavyweight Lashley will take on MMA veteran and Tucson , Ariz. , firefighter Chad Griggs in a featured bout. In another televised fight on Showtime, Noons (9-2) will face BJJ blackbelt Jorge Gurgel (13-6) in a lightweight (155 pounds) match.

Photo Credit – Esther Lin / Strikeforce

Similar to Silva and Nogueira, Cavalcante displayed a general sense of humility during the conversation and took a business-like approach to his upcoming August 21st bout against current Strikeforce 205-pound champ “King Mo” Lawal rather than opting for trash-talk or self-adulation.

Regarding his development since first embarking on a MMA career, the 9-2 BJJ blackbelt responded, “When you have a job like a fighter you have to learn to be a full-time fighter. That’s what I’ve learned. You eat healthy food and work at maintaining your weight. I have been working hard for not just this fight, but for my dream, every day for six years.”

The native of Sao Paulo also expressed his desire to become completely fluent in English as a means of honoring American fans and avoiding the possibility of misinterpretation. “I think it’s important. It shows respect and I think more of the Americans are learning who I am. (Speaking English) shows what we really feel,” explained Cavalcante. “When you use a translator they never say the same thing you want them to say. It’s just different. When I’m thinking something I can say it exactly the way I want so I think it’s important.”

Talk expectedly turned to his mindset entering the title-fight against Lawal, a former All-American, NCAA Champion wrestler who expressed his supreme confidence at defending against Cavalcante’s high-level jiujitsu during the same phone call.

“I don’t think King Mo is going to want to stay on the ground with me,” responded “Feijao” (who actually has eight of his nine wins by TKO). “I will be ready for whatever style he wants. If he wants to stand up, I will stand up. If he wants to go to the ground, we will go to the ground. I think this fight is going to be a war and the crowd is going to love it.”

In addition to Cavalcante’s attempt at winning the light heavyweight championship and handing Lawal his first professional loss, “Strikeforce – Houston” also features Tim Kennedy vs. Renaldo “Jacare” Souza in a clash for the middleweight title, Bobby Lashley making his return to the Strikeforce cage, and striker KJ Noons testing his hands against jiujitsu blackbelt Jorge Gurgel.

Who better to welcome the flamboyant fast rising prospect to the United States than the American bad ass himself, UFC and PRIDE vet Don Frye.

The two are set to meet in a heavyweight contest during “M-1 Global Presents Breakthrough“.

The event is scheduled for August 28 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

News of the bout was first reported by MMAJunkie.com earlier today citing sources close to negotiations.

Lawal stunned the MMA community in September of 2008 at Sengoku 5 when he ran through a veteran of over sixty fights in Travis Wiuff in his professional debut. He fought every two months after that fight, winning his next three in Japan before a knee injury forced him to the sidelines over the last few months.

Frye has gone 4-2 in his last six bouts. He recently bounce back from a first round submission at the hands of Ikuhisa Minowa by catching Rich Moss in a rear-naked choke in May of 2009.

Sometimes fate has different plans, and King Mo’s fate will be sitting on the sidelines while he rehabs his injured knee and salivates at the opportunity to get back in the ring to erase any doubts that his most recent win over the dangerous Ryo Kawamura at Sengoku 7, may have raised in the eyes of his critics and detractors.

I’ve asked the question before, but I’m going to ask it again. Who makes their MMA debut after less than a month of formal training against a veteran of over sixty battles that is currently riding a nine fight win streak? Only one name pops into my mind.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com recently had the opportunity to catch up with the flamboyant Sengoku superstar where he revealed that, sure, he knew about the injury before the fight. Was he going to back out of the bout at the last minute? Well you can guess the answer to that question?

“Oh hell no!,” exclaimed Lawal. “Hell No! I wanted to know the extent of the injury after the bout. That’s why I didn’t have the MRI done until after the fight”

The injury came during a routine work out with UFC veteran Dean Lister. What may have not seemed so serious initially, quickly took a turn for the worse and led to a week of inactivity leading up to the bout for King Mo.

“I realized that I was having trouble with my knee a week before my fight,” confessed Lawal. “I was working with Dean Lister and he went for a takedown and I sprawled. When I sprawled, I landed on my toe and my knee popped. After that happened, I finished training and I wasn’t able to do anything for the next five or six days. I didn’t work out at all since a week before the fight.”

Needless to say, some serious strategic adjustments to the gameplan had to be made at the last second for Lawal.

“The injury ended up changing my game plan a lot,” said King Mo. “I don’t think my coach really knew the extent of my injury. He wanted me to press forward and move forward but I couldn’t move forward because of my knee. I couldn’t throw a hook, and I remember one time I went to throw a cross and I felt my knee start to give out. I felt off balance every time I started moving forward, so I made him chase me, and that made my takedowns come a little easier.”

The doctor had some good news and some bad news for Lawal after he had a chance to closely examine the extent of the knee injury. The good news: Mo will make a full recovery. The bad news: Mo will be forced to the sidelines for some time while he rehabilitates the injury.

“Man, the doc took one look at my knee and he told me my shit was gone,” said Lawal. “My ACL was blown, but the good thing is that he was surprised that there wasn’t that much swelling and I still have a full range of motion. He said that with good rest and rehab, I’ll be back.”

“You know how the doctors are, they say six months, but you know me, I heal faster than the average man. I don’t think it’s going to take longer than three months. I’m not an average man.”

“I have the surgery this week and then I’m going to go on how I feel. If I still have my full range of motion and the swelling’s down, I’ll take it easy but I’ll do light mitts or something like that.”

Without a doubt the injury is not what Lawal had planned for his future, but everything happens for a reason in this life, and you can be sure that the limitless up and comer will be back and better than ever in no time.

“I just feel like this is a setback for me,” explained King Mo. “I’m going to be behind on my fifth fight. I wanted to fight on every single Sengoku event.”

“I want to thank CageFighter, Fortune Gym, Allelbows.com, and Mayhem Miller. Everyone needs to watch that Bully Beatdown.”

It looks as if Mo’s previous suspicions about his knee were correct. The fast rising fighter confirmed to MMAjunkie.com Radio earlier this week that he recently returned from a visit with the doctor, and the verdict is in. He has completely torn his ACL.

Lawal has just confirmed to FiveOuncesOfPain.com that he is scheduled to enter surgery for the injury next week, and is expected to make a full recovery. He expects to be out for about three months while he rehabs from the surgery.

Lawal expressed extreme disappointment at not being able to fight during that time.

Stay tuned to FiveOuncesOfPain.com, as we will have an exclusive interview with one of the games fastest rising stars about his injury and his future in the coming days.

The man popularly referred to as “King Mo” exploded onto the scene back in September when he stunned the heavy favorite Travis Wiuff with a superman punch in the very first round and pounced on him to secure the upset victory. In just his very first fight Lawal set a precedent of what was to come when he faced off with a man over 60 fights his elder. In only his third bout, Lawal will have faced opponents that have been in a combined total of over a hundred fights.

The rising star told FiveOuncesOfPain.com in an exclusive interview that he has never been one to give another man’s record much thought. Every fight is a new fight.

Lawal’s larger than life personality and flamboyant ring entrances have all the ingredients that Japanese mixed martial arts have come to love over the years and it seems as if King Mo has found his home for now. Already being embraced by the Japanese fans on a wide scale, it will be interesting to see what the future holds for this athlete/entertainer in the “Land of the Rising Sun.”

Cory Brady: It doesn’t seem like you’re the type of guy that like to ease into things. Your debut was against a guy that had about 60 fights, then in your second fight you went up against a guy with 15 fights and now this guy has about twenty fights. Do records not impress you?

Mo Lawal: Nope. Here’s the thing, each fight is a new fight. Each fight against a new guy is kind of like a debut. I’ve never fought anyone like him and he’s never fought anyone like me so coming into it we’re both 0-0. That’s how I see it. Every fight is a new fight.

Cory Brady: What do you know about your opponent Yukiya Naito?

Mo Lawal: Well, just from my intuition from being an athlete, I looked at his last six opponents and only two of them have had more than ten fights. The rest of them just weren’t that experienced. There was a Brazilian dude that was 1-1 and a dude from Mongolia that was 0-1. So I don’t know who he’s been fighting. I think he’s been fighting people that are lower level than who I’ve been fighting.

Cory Brady: Have you been able to study any tape on him?

Mo Lawal: I haven’t seen any recent footage on him but he only has two fights to study on me. Those two fights will show him a few things but I have a lot more in my arsenal then what he would be able to see in just those two fights.

Cory Brady: How are you feeling physically going into your fight with Naito?

Mo Lawal: I feel great. I feel like I possess the skills that are necessary to beat this dude.

Cory Brady: Who are some of the key guys that have helped you prepare for this fight?

Mo Lawal: All kinds of different people. I gym hop. I’m a gym hopper. You can find me at different gym’s here and there. I worked with Benji Radach, Mayhem Miller, Dean Lister, and Ryan Parsons. The list just goes on and on. I was down in Brazil training for a couple of weeks. That was really cool.

Cory Brady: Who did you train with in Brazil?

Mo Lawal: Vitor Belfort has been helping me. I’ve also been training a lot with Antonio “Minotauro” Nogueira and Junior dos Santos.

Cory Brady: How do you visualize this fight ending?

Mo Lawal: With me getting my hand raised. I just want to go out there and give it all I got because anything can happen. In my first fight with Travis Wiuff, I didn’t know I was going to knock him out. I just figured I would go out there and bang with him and take him down a bit to keep him guessing but I ended up hitting him with the superman punch. In the fight with Fabio Silva I didn’t know I would end up ground and pounding him just like that. It just happened. I figured I was going to stop him in the first round with the way I was hitting him. You never know. I’ve spent a lot of time and effort to make sure that I come out of this fight with the W. I’m predicting a win and that’s all I can predict.

Cory Brady: What made you decide on a career in mixed martial arts?

Mo Lawal: I’m just a fighter. I’ve always had to fight for everything. I love the competition and the combat. It definitely beats working at a normal job. When I was young and I saw the UFC it was always my dream to become a professional fighter. I used to love to fight when I was young and I saw the UFC pop up and I was hoping that the sport would stick around.

Cory Brady: Do you feel like top level wrestlers coming into the sport have a certain advantage?

Mo Lawal: I think that the top level athletes are the future of mixed martial arts. Guys like Damian Maia, who’s a world class jiu-jitsu athlete or my boy Kenny Florian, “Pimpin’ Ken.” Kenny was a soccer player and turned into a world class fighter. The guy’s that have a world class background in something and build onto it with all of the stuff they have to learn in MMA, those are the guys that will be successful. If you were just a world class wrestler but didn’t bother to learn anything about footwork or checking kicks or submission defense, you’re still getting tapped out or knocked out. One thing about mixed martial arts is that you have to learn the whole game but you have to stay true to your original discipline. The fighter’s that are just really good at one thing have nothing to fall back on when they get hurt. With me, I’m going to keep my strong wrestling base but I’m going to work on my stand up and I’m going to keep everything growing strong. My wrestling will always be better than my stand up or my jiu-jitsu. My wrestling will always be my base that I can fall back on.

Cory Brady: Would you like to fight in the United States at some point?

Mo Lawal: I would love to fight in the states but right now Japan is my home. I love Japan. I’m good where I’m at for right now. I’ll take things as things as they come but Japan is my home for right now.

Cory Brady: I know you rock the robe and crown into the ring. Where did the “King Mo” persona come from?

Mo Lawal: I like to have fun and I’m always the king of the party. I like the females and I like extravagant things. I like to live lavish. I like to show my personality. I’m not trying to be some square that just walks to the ring. I’m not saying that Fedor is a square but I’m not Fedor. In America if you do something that makes you stand out they can look at you kind of different, they don’t like that. They can kind of look at you as just stupid or as someone that just wants attention. They like the Fedor type stuff but that’s not me. Not everybody can be a role model. It might work for Fedor but it doesn’t work for me.

Cory Brady: Do you have a weight class?

Mo Lawal: I have three weight classes. Eventually, if I can get big enough I would love to fight at heavyweight and if not that then 205 and if not that then 185. I just love challenges. I love to prove the nay sayers wrong. That’s what I love to do. I love being the underdog because I’ve been the underdog my whole life.

Cory Brady: What does the future hold for “King Mo?”

Mo Lawal: You can just expect me to be “King Mo” and just go out there and give it all I’ve got in the ring. Expect to see me dancing. that’s one thing for sure. You will see me dancing. If you don’t see me dancing it’s probably because my foot’s broke or I’m dead.

Cory Brady: Is there anyone you would like to thank?

Mo Lawal: I just want to thank anyone that knows me. I want to tell everyone to go see that movie ‘Mall Cop’ with Kevin James and I would like to tell Jason Ellis, in Mall Cop, to get these balls.