Muhmmed “King Mo” Lawal is one of many fighters who have assisted Lyoto Machida during his training camp to prepare for his upcoming title bout against Jon Jones at UFC 140.
Lawal, who displays some of the best wrestling in mixed martial arts, was brought to Brazil to help improve Machida’s grappling ability and emulate Jones’ wrestling style.
After working with the former UFC light heavyweight champion, Lawal believes Machida is ready.
“Yes, I think he’s ready. You know, if he wasn’t ready he wouldn’t be fighting. He’s always ready,”Lawal told TATAME.com. “I think when it comes down to it, it’s all about the game plan and he’s got a great game plan, so I think he’s gonna do it.”
Machida has undergone a complete transformation with his training regimen to prepare for Jones’ style. In addition to tweaking his wrestling skills with “King Mo”, Machida has added 22 pounds of muscle mass to his frame.
The 24-year-old Jones has yet to be tested during his young career thus far, previously dispatching two former UFC champions in Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Quinton “Ramapge” Jackson. He possesses outstanding wrestling skills—along with owning the longest reach in UFC history at 84″.
However, Machida’s style is just as difficult to adjust to, which only few fighters have attempted to solve, but Lawal said the Brazilian’s training camp will benefit him greatly come fight night.
“I think that if Lyoto does what he’s been doing, it’ll be hard to take him down,” he said. “It’s hard to take down a moving target. If you’re standing still, you get taken down, but it’s hard to take down a moving target.”
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