They say bad news comes in threes. But if that’s the case, King Mo Lawal must be terrified right now.
Truthfully it would be hard to top what just took place. Literally weeks after a prolonged, intensely life-threatening bout with staph, Lawal appeared in front of the Nevada State Athletic Commission on Tuesday, hoping to plead his case in the positive steroid test that derailed his career. Of course, not only did his words fall on deaf ears — Mo received a nine month suspension, was fined 30-percent of his $80,000 fight purse and forced to surrender his $15,000 win bonus — he was also incredulously asked if he had the ability to read or understand English by commission official Pat Lundvall. (Check out the audio of the meeting.)
Now, regardless of whether or not you think there were racist undertones in Lundvall’s sentiment, you have to admit it’s an outrageously condescending remark for an official to make. So Lawal, who, again, just nearly died less than a month ago, snapped a bit and posted the exchange on Twitter, unfortunately referring to Lundvall as “a racist b***h.” And yeah, he was fired. Brutal day.
5 MUST-READ STORIES
King Mo suspended by NSAC, cut by Strikeforce. Former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal was suspended for nine months and fined $39,000 by the NSAC on Tuesday afternoon. After which, a seething Lawal took to Twitter, calling commission member Pat Lundvall “a racist b****” for asking if he was able to “read or speak english.” Lawal was then promptly cut from Strikeforce, according to a press release issued by promotion CEO Scott Coker.
Alistair Overeem sentenced after battery charge in Las Vegas. UFC heavyweight contender Alistair Overeem was sentenced to 50 hours of community service and anger-management counseling, stemming from a battery charge at a Las Vegas nightclub on New Year’s weekend. Overeem will be forced to undergo a mandatory 90-day jail sentence if he fails to complete the terms of his sentencing.
UFC 146 combatants face surprise drug tests. All six fighters who appeared at Tuesday’s UFC 146 press conference — Junior dos Santos, Alistair Overeem, Cain Velasquez, Frank Mir, Antonio Silva and Roy Nelson — were issued surprise drug tests following the proceedings, courtesy of the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
UFC drawing strong ratings for TUF Brazil, dealing with alleged leak. The debut episode of The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil drew an astounding 8 millions viewers on Globo TV, despite allegations of Brazilian news outlet R7 leaking the names of the four finalists.
For retired fighters, health care can be a tricky, costly issue. Ben Fowlkes sat down with a slew of former and current fighters to discuss the precarious issue of health insurance in mixed martial arts.
MEDIA STEW
After everything he just went through, it would be heartless to keep piling on King Mo. So instead, check out Lawal destroying Mark Kerr in an M-1 Global heavyweight bout back in 2009.
Legendary trainer Freddie Roach offered up his top five boxers in MMA yesterday, so today he flipped the switch, listing off the top five guys in boxing history who would have thrived inside the cage. Notice a certain Pretty Boy is conspicuously absent.
Is there ever a bad time to see a spinning back kick KO? Dennis Siver says no.
Our own Ariel Helwani finally got his grudge match against Kenny Florian in another edition of FUEL’s ‘Fighter vs. Writer’ segment. Who takes it on your scorecards?
CALM BEFORE THE STORM
I shoulda stayed home! Lol. NSAC had they mind made up b4 we got there! Lol. All the research we did and disclosed to em! They ignored! LOL
— King Mo (@KingMoFH) March 27, 2012
MIESHA TATE VS. THE INTERNET
Why is it ppl are so fake they feel good about talkin sh** 2 me behind a computer when they don’t have 1/100th of the balls 2 do what I do?
— Miesha Tate (@MieshaTate) March 28, 2012
I swear I just don’t get it, I go out I fight hard & I let my arm snap in half in my best effort to win a fight, I came up short but……
— Miesha Tate (@MieshaTate) March 28, 2012
…. I guarantee I’m tougher than ALL you keyboard warriors! Go ahead talk SH** Id like to see YOU do it better
— Miesha Tate (@MieshaTate) March 28, 2012
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Announced yesterday (Tuesday, March 27, 2012):
– UFC 149: Court McGee (13-2) vs. Nick Ring (12-1)
– UFC on FX 3: Seth Baczynski (15-6) vs. Lance Benoist (6-0)
– Bellator 63: Marianna Kheyfets (5-0) vs. Munah Holland (3-1)
– Bellator 63: Dan Cramer (7-3) vs. Jeff Nader (5-4)
– Bellator 63: Andrey Koreshkov (8-0) vs. Taiwan Howard (9-8)
– Bellator 63: Saul Almeida (12-1) vs. Matt Bessette (7-3)
– Bellator 63: Parker Porter (5-3) vs. Randy Smith (14-10)
– Bellator 63: Ryan Quinn (6-3-1) vs. Marc Stevens (14-6)
– Bellator 63: Pete Rogers (0-0) vs. Brandon Fleming (0-0)
FANPOST OF THE DAY
Today’s Fanpost of the Day is a set of criteria to determine the merits of an American wrestler, via Bloody Elbow’s VirginiaRaider: What makes a wrestler “world class”
Some time ago, there was an article posted on BE discussing Pat Barry’s oft touted “K-1 level” striking abilities and what this really entailed when put into proper perspective. The same ought to be done for “world class wrestling” a term tossed about liberally by certain Mixed Martial Arts commentators. It is important to define the term “world class” (WC for the purposes of this post) in a way which excludes the vast majority of wrestlers, otherwise the term becomes totally impotent. Unfortunately, defining WC is difficult but I believe that this post establishes reasonable parameters for the WC label as it applies to American wrestlers.
The first step in defining WC is limiting the number of wrestling styles in consideration. First to be excluded are any styles that involve submissions or the use of clothing. This is a matter of the conventional use of “wrestling” by the previously mentioned commentators. This then removes Judo and all forms of gi or no-gi grappling/submission wrestling. Second, World Class status can only be reasonably be conferred on a practitioner of a style which is contested throughout most of the world. Applying this restriction excludes all “folk-style” forms of wrestling, including American scholastic or folk-style.
The only styles of wrestling which are non-clothed, non-submission, and experience truly world-wide participation are Freestyle and Greco-Roman, the Olympic wrestling disciplines. For this reason the WC tag should only be hung on a wrestler based on his achievements in the Olympic wrestling styles.
Found something perfect for the Morning Report? Just hit me on Twitter @shaunalshatti and we’ll include it in tomorrow’s post.