King Mo interested in Fedor & Carwin fights, expects to walk Ishii down and ‘beat him up’

King Mo headlines this week’s Bellator event against Satoshi Ishii in Dublin, Ireland. But he’s got his eyes on a few other possible bouts for his Bellator future.

American Top Teams’ ‘King Mo’ Lawal is getting set to fight again this Friday on a card that’s flying a bit under the radar. The former Strikeforce champion entered Bellator as an expected top star for the promotion, and while he’s definitely found a lot of success, his run has come with its ups and downs.

Perhaps the most notable hot streak Mo has had in the past few years came not under the Bellator banner, but for RIZIN. Mo entered into the 2015 100kg (220 lb) Grand Prix and won the whole thing, beating Brett McDermott and Teodoras Aukstuolis on his way to knocking out Jiri Prochazka. He followed that run with return to Bellator and a loss to Phil Davis back in May, and is now poised to bounce back against Satoshi Ishii.

Mo spoke to Sub Radio about his upcoming bout and, more notably, about a few other fights he’s looking for in the near future (interview starts at about the hour mark):

“Yeah I’ll fight Shane Carwin,” Mo said of the recent RIZIN signing. “Why not, man? A fight’s a fight and I’ll fight Shane Carwin”

“He hit hard (laughs),” Mo continued, when asked about their past as training partners. “We only sparred once briefly. He hit hard, had good balance, deceptively quick. His power is like fuckin’ like Bruce Lee’s three-inch power. Like, he could punch with just three inches and like he hit me pretty hard. Like, he hit me solid, you know what I’m saying? I made him miss, I tried to land some shots on him. It’s weird, like he’s deceptively quick, he’s big and his reach is further than what you expect and he’s a pretty good solid fighter.”

And while Mo readily admits that Carwin has a ton of natural power, he has a strategy in mind for how he’d beat the bigger man.

“Man, first of all, I’d be too quick for him,” said Mo. “Let’s see how his cardio is. I can wrestle with him, believe it or not. He might be bigger and stronger, but technique stifles all that. I’ve sparred with better boxers than him – Luis Ortiz, the heavyweight champion, fought Bryant Jennings, a Heavyweight contender. I fought with Trevor Bryan, and undefeated boxer and granted they work with me, but I kind of hold my (own) – but they don’t try and kill me. They could if they want to – but I’m in there working, sending my shots, making them miss. I’m working. They actually respect me as a sparring partner, somewhat. So he can talk all the trash, like oh he’s big, bad, big. Okay, whatever. He’s big. Yeah, okay. So? Whatever. It doesn’t matter. A fight’s a fight. He thinks he can beat me. Kill me then. Good luck.”

Of course, the other recent big signing in the Bellator/RIZIN sphere is Fedor Emelianenko. Fedor reportedly has a multi-fight deal with Bellator and is set to face UFC vet Matt Mitrione at Bellator 172 in February. King Mo talked about Fedor’s controversial recent win over Fabio Maldonado, as well as saying wouldn’t turn down a fight with ‘the Last Emperor’.

“How is it over for Fedor because he got clipped by a good boxer?” Mo responded when asked about Fedor’s fight with Fabio Maldonado. “Here’s the thing, right – when Werdum fought Fedor, I told people Werdum is going to submit Fedor by triangle arm bar, one or two. Everyone is like, no, you’re crazy. And I’m like, no, because Fedor gets reckless. When Fedor sees blood, he goes for it. But against someone like Werdum, his guard is so dangerous you don’t go for it. You sit back and let him stand back up.

“Well, Maldonado is the same way. Maldonado has a solid chin and if you see him covering up, he’s looking to counter you, and Maldonado is a professional boxer. Guess what he did? He sat up against the cage and threw a short check hook and clipped Fedor. Fedor never saw it coming because Fedor’s trying to stop Maldonado and he didn’t see it coming. And when it landed, it landed clean and it landed fast and short. But people don’t understand that because that could happen to anybody. If you’re focusing on stopping somebody and you think that person’s hurt and that person’s not hurt, that person played you and countered you with something that you don’t see coming and could possibly knock you out, and that’s what happened in that fight.”

And as for the fight in front of him. To hear Lawal tell it, his plan for Satoshi Ishii sounds pretty straight forward. “I’m just gonna walk him down and beat him up and make him stop. That’s all I can do. That’s what I’m gonna try and do – and actually, that’s what I’m gonna do, not try. That’s what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna go out there and beat him down and break him down.”

Bellator 169 in set to go down this Friday, December 16th in Dublin, Ireland. The event will be shown on tape delay, via Spike TV in the US.

King Mo headlines this week’s Bellator event against Satoshi Ishii in Dublin, Ireland. But he’s got his eyes on a few other possible bouts for his Bellator future.

American Top Teams’ ‘King Mo’ Lawal is getting set to fight again this Friday on a card that’s flying a bit under the radar. The former Strikeforce champion entered Bellator as an expected top star for the promotion, and while he’s definitely found a lot of success, his run has come with its ups and downs.

Perhaps the most notable hot streak Mo has had in the past few years came not under the Bellator banner, but for RIZIN. Mo entered into the 2015 100kg (220 lb) Grand Prix and won the whole thing, beating Brett McDermott and Teodoras Aukstuolis on his way to knocking out Jiri Prochazka. He followed that run with return to Bellator and a loss to Phil Davis back in May, and is now poised to bounce back against Satoshi Ishii.

Mo spoke to Sub Radio about his upcoming bout and, more notably, about a few other fights he’s looking for in the near future (interview starts at about the hour mark):

“Yeah I’ll fight Shane Carwin,” Mo said of the recent RIZIN signing. “Why not, man? A fight’s a fight and I’ll fight Shane Carwin”

“He hit hard (laughs),” Mo continued, when asked about their past as training partners. “We only sparred once briefly. He hit hard, had good balance, deceptively quick. His power is like fuckin’ like Bruce Lee’s three-inch power. Like, he could punch with just three inches and like he hit me pretty hard. Like, he hit me solid, you know what I’m saying? I made him miss, I tried to land some shots on him. It’s weird, like he’s deceptively quick, he’s big and his reach is further than what you expect and he’s a pretty good solid fighter.”

And while Mo readily admits that Carwin has a ton of natural power, he has a strategy in mind for how he’d beat the bigger man.

“Man, first of all, I’d be too quick for him,” said Mo. “Let’s see how his cardio is. I can wrestle with him, believe it or not. He might be bigger and stronger, but technique stifles all that. I’ve sparred with better boxers than him – Luis Ortiz, the heavyweight champion, fought Bryant Jennings, a Heavyweight contender. I fought with Trevor Bryan, and undefeated boxer and granted they work with me, but I kind of hold my (own) – but they don’t try and kill me. They could if they want to – but I’m in there working, sending my shots, making them miss. I’m working. They actually respect me as a sparring partner, somewhat. So he can talk all the trash, like oh he’s big, bad, big. Okay, whatever. He’s big. Yeah, okay. So? Whatever. It doesn’t matter. A fight’s a fight. He thinks he can beat me. Kill me then. Good luck.”

Of course, the other recent big signing in the Bellator/RIZIN sphere is Fedor Emelianenko. Fedor reportedly has a multi-fight deal with Bellator and is set to face UFC vet Matt Mitrione at Bellator 172 in February. King Mo talked about Fedor’s controversial recent win over Fabio Maldonado, as well as saying wouldn’t turn down a fight with ‘the Last Emperor’.

“How is it over for Fedor because he got clipped by a good boxer?” Mo responded when asked about Fedor’s fight with Fabio Maldonado. “Here’s the thing, right – when Werdum fought Fedor, I told people Werdum is going to submit Fedor by triangle arm bar, one or two. Everyone is like, no, you’re crazy. And I’m like, no, because Fedor gets reckless. When Fedor sees blood, he goes for it. But against someone like Werdum, his guard is so dangerous you don’t go for it. You sit back and let him stand back up.

“Well, Maldonado is the same way. Maldonado has a solid chin and if you see him covering up, he’s looking to counter you, and Maldonado is a professional boxer. Guess what he did? He sat up against the cage and threw a short check hook and clipped Fedor. Fedor never saw it coming because Fedor’s trying to stop Maldonado and he didn’t see it coming. And when it landed, it landed clean and it landed fast and short. But people don’t understand that because that could happen to anybody. If you’re focusing on stopping somebody and you think that person’s hurt and that person’s not hurt, that person played you and countered you with something that you don’t see coming and could possibly knock you out, and that’s what happened in that fight.”

And as for the fight in front of him. To hear Lawal tell it, his plan for Satoshi Ishii sounds pretty straight forward. “I’m just gonna walk him down and beat him up and make him stop. That’s all I can do. That’s what I’m gonna try and do – and actually, that’s what I’m gonna do, not try. That’s what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna go out there and beat him down and break him down.”

Bellator 169 in set to go down this Friday, December 16th in Dublin, Ireland. The event will be shown on tape delay, via Spike TV in the US.