Muhammad “King Mo” Lawal may have tested positive for steroids after his fight with Lorenz Larkin, but he isn’t admitting to it.
In an article with ESPN Lawal states that he was surprised to find out he had a prohibited substance in his system. Most fans take cheating in MMA very seriously and many are skeptics when it comes to those who try and clear their names.
It is hard to believe a grown man of 31 didn’t know what he was putting into his body for the upcoming fight. This is Lawal’s job and he is paid to be a professional.
There are plenty of other professionals who fall short in other fields as well, but when they do, they rarely get a serious assignment or part of their career stricken from the record and their pay taken away.
Most don’t get banned from their field of work for a certain time either. That isn’t to say such punishments don’t happen, but it is something that is special to sports.
Lawal promised to get to the bottom of what happened, but there is a better chance that he is trying to save face.
Fighters are under immense pressure to always perform well and King Mo is a central draw in the depleted Strikeforce roster.
No one is perfect and this is Lawal’s first offense, so hopefully the commission won’t punish him too hard.
Lawal made a mistake. Even if he did somehow miss a substance being introduced into his regimen the fault falls on his shoulders. As long as he steps up and admits it he should be able to turn his career around and repair the damage to his name.
Matthew Hemphill writes for the boxing, MMA, and professional wrestling portion of Bleacher Report. He also hosts a blog elbaexiled.blogspot.com which focuses on books, music, comic books, video games, film, and generally anything that could be related to the realms of nerdom.
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