Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal is coming out of retirement to make his official bareknuckle boxing debut later this year as the former Strikeforce champion has signed a one-fight deal with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC).
“King Mo” is expected to meet current light heavyweight standout Dave Mundell at BKFC 66 on Sept. 13 in Hollywood, Florida. BKFC released the official event poster on Friday. Check it out below:
Lawal, 43, retired from combat sports back in 2019 after suffering four-straight losses in mixed martial arts (MMA). This included knockout losses to Jiri Prochazka and Ryan Bader. At the time it made sense for “King Mo” to step away from fighting to focus more on his health and coaching up-and-coming talent at American Top Team in Florida.
“It’s been on my mind for a while,” Lawal told MMA Fighting back in 2019 about his retirement. “I just put it in the back of my head. It was the pain from the injuries that was messing me up and my lack of range of motion from my hip and my knee. I’ve been fighting most of my career with no legs, a messed up knee or a messed up hip, and after I had that hip surgery where they put titanium metal in my hip, it kind of made me think — I’m going to need a knee replacement, I’m going to need an elbow replacement, I’m going to need a hip replacement.
“I was like, I’m getting old, I’m 38, I’ve got kids. I can’t even run right now. I can’t even jog, really. I’m that bad. It’s to the point where if I can’t jog or sprint or be explosive, then I’ve got to stop.”
While “King Mo” is coming into BKFC on a one-fight deal there’s a good chance he sticks around if successful in his debut. Lawal doesn’t have any bareknuckle boxing experience under his belt, but he has finished 13 out of his 21 professional MMA wins by way of knockout or TKO. He has some serious power and could do some exciting things inside of the ring.