Muhammed ‘King Mo’ Lawal News

Tom Taylor - May 9, 2018

This weekend, in the main event of Bellator 199, current Bellator light heavyweight champ Ryan Bader will battle former Strikeforce champ Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal in the final first-round matchup of the promotion’s exciting Heavyweight Grand Prix. The winner will then collide with Matt Mitrione, who defeated Roy Nelson to advance to the second round, later this year. Speaking to MMAjunkie this week, Mitrione discussed this Bader vs. King Mo matchup. Apparently, he’s got nothing but respect for Bader. King Mo, meanwhile, isn’t exactly his favorite person.

Drake Riggs - January 5, 2018

If you have Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal as one of your training partners…it will be hard for you to not find at least some success in MMA or wrestling. Mo is one of Bellator’s staple big name fighters and is next taking on their Light Heavyweight champion, Ryan Bader as part of the Heavyweight title Grand Prix. Recently, the former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight champion, King Mo caught up with the In This Corner Podcast and shed some light on how much potential that the NFL football star turned MMA fighter, Greg Hardy really has: “I sparred with him five or six times and the last time we sparred, it was a battle. It was a battle and he gave me work and took me down. He’s a 285-pound guy and he just picked me up and just threw me. I remember the first day that he came last year, I saw him and gave him a pair of my gloves,” Lawal said. “I said, ‘Alright man let’s work on this.’ He was on the bag and he went from hitting the bag with his right hand and hook to uppercuts, learning kicks, to learning takedown defense and jiu jitsu. He’s a fast learner and he loves it.

Tom Taylor - August 21, 2017

This Saturday, UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor will step into the boxing ring to battle undefeated boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. The fight is tracking to be one of the biggest in combat sports history, and one that could smash all previous pay-per-view records. Former Strikeforce champ and current Bellator star Muhammed ‘King Mo’ Lawal, however, will not be buying. The light heavyweight and occasional heavyweight explained why on a recent episode of MMAJunkie Radio. In his opinion, it’s too much of a mismatch in Mayweather’s favor to even warrant consideration. He’ll simply watch the highlights later.

bjpenndotcom - April 5, 2017

This past weekend, MMA veteran Muhammed ‘King Mo’ Lawal stepped into the Bellator MMA cage with MMA legend Rampage Jackson in Rosemont, IL. The fight was a rather dominant one for King Mo, who stated before the fight that he planned to use his wrestling to dominate Jackson, who weighed in nearly 50 pounds heavier than King Mo. With that being said, a time came in the second round when Jackson was landing strikes, and it appeared as though he may be on his way to a stoppage win over Lawal. ‘King Mo’ rallied between rounds however, and ultimately secured the win, avenging his loss to Jackson two years ago.

Russell Ess - March 31, 2017

Last year, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour that he was diagnosed with an underactive thyroid, which causes him to gain weight at a more rapid pace. With spending nearly his entire career fighting at light heavyweight, Jackson said that going back to 205 may only be possible if he changes his lifestyle and diet. Even with dieting, Jackson told Helwani that he will likely be on medication for the hypothyroidism condition for the rest of his life.

Tom Taylor - March 30, 2017

Back in May of 2014, in the main event of Bellator’s first-ever pay-per-view, former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson scored a controversial – and admittedly lackluster – defeat of Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal. Tomorrow night in the main event of Bellator 175, the two Bellator stars will go at it again. The key difference between this Bellator 175 rematch and the pair’s original fight is that it will occur at heavyweight, rather than light heavyweight. That means neither man was forced to endure a weight cut.

Tom Taylor - January 25, 2017

Back in May of 2014, light heavyweight legend Quinton “Rampage” Jackson defeated Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal with a contentious unanimous decision. Last weekend, during the Bellator 170 broadcast, it announced that the two fan favorites will rematch at heavyweight in the main event of Bellator 175 on March 31. Rampage and King Mo’s trash talk began almost immediately after this rematch was announced. During the Bellator 170 post fight press conference, King Mo tore into Rampage for his weight, saying he looked pregnant, and criticizing his recent training.

Russell Ess - January 23, 2017

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal are set to meet once again in the Bellator cage at Bellator 175 on March 31.

Tom Taylor - December 19, 2016

Later this month, Japan’s Rizin Fighting Federation will close out 2016 with an epic openweight grand Prix. The quarterfinal round of this tournament will occur on December 29, while the semifinals and finals will occur on December 31. To the elation of fans everywhere, Rizin stacked this tournament with big names, as Pride legends Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic and Wanderlei Silva and even retired former UFC interim heavyweight champion Shane Carwin were pencilled into the brackets. Unfortunately, several of these names have been forced to withdraw from the rapidly approaching tournament.

Tom Taylor - December 16, 2016

Later tonight, in the main event of Bellator’s debut in Ireland, light heavyweight veteran Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal will take on Satoshi Ishii in a heavyweight bout. If he emerges the victor in this bout, he’ll reestablish himself as one of the very best heavyweights on the Bellator roster. This, of course, would put him neck-and-neck with the winner of January’s Chael Sonnen vs. Tito Ortiz bout. If Sonnen wins that fight, however, don’t ask King Mo to fight him. As he explained in a recent interview with MMAFighting.com, that’s something he’ll never do. King Mo’s reluctance to fight Sonnen comes down to a staph infection that he suffered in 2012. When he was dealing with his infection, King Mo says that Sonnen approached him, out of nowhere, and offered him financial help if he found himself needing it.