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Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal understands the game that is MMA.
That’s why Lawal is more than happy to take on random challenges such as Friday’s Bellator 169 main event bout with Satoshi Is…
Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal understands the game that is MMA.
That’s why Lawal is more than happy to take on random challenges such as Friday’s Bellator 169 main event bout with Satoshi Ishii.
The two meet from Dublin, Ireland on Spike in a “throwback” of sorts.
Lawal, a former Strikeforce champion and standout wrestler, meets Ishii, who won Olympic gold in judo.
Here, Jimmy Smith breaks down the key aspects to the fight for both men.
According to information released by Spike TV, the recent Bellator 154 event was watched by 1.3 million viewers during its peak.
That number came at 10:11 p.m. ET during the main event between Phil Davis and Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal. The card went u…
According to information released by Spike TV, the recent Bellator 154 event was watched by 1.3 million viewers during its peak.
That number came at 10:11 p.m. ET during the main event between Phil Davis and Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal. The card went up against UFC 198 prelims and the beginning of the pay-per-view.
During the main event, 1.2 million viewers tuned in on average. In a span of eight minutes, the number grew from 887,000 to 1.3 million.
Bellator 155 takes place this Friday night on Spike TV with Rafael Carvalho defending his middleweight title against Melvin Manhoef in the main event.
Bellator 154 went down Saturday night, and if you stuck to UFC 198, you might have missed it.
So, we are here with highlights from the event, courtesy Bellator.
The card featured Phil Davis besting Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal in the main event.
…
Bellator 154 went down Saturday night, and if you stuck to UFC 198, you might have missed it.
So, we are here with highlights from the event, courtesy Bellator.
The card featured Phil Davis besting Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal in the main event.
Jimmy Smith breaks down the Bellator 154 main event between Phil Davis and Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal in the video below.
The two meet next Saturday night on Spike TV in a No. 1 contender match.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYr6Z3gHlW0[…
Jimmy Smith breaks down the Bellator 154 main event between Phil Davis and Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal in the video below.
The two meet next Saturday night on Spike TV in a No. 1 contender match.
(Because Getty had no images from last night. / Photo via Getty)
By Matt Saccaro
Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney didn’t give out the gate numbers at the post-fight presser, even when asked (which probably means they were bad). And it’s still too early to know how Bellator 120 performed at the box office. So, financially, Bellator’s first PPV can’t definitively be called a success or a failure.
Regarding entertainment value, however, Bellator 120 was a success. There were some pacing issues, yes, but overall the card delivered.
In the first fight, Michael Page did his best Anderson Silva impression, knocking out Ricky Rainey (who’s name was hilariously spelled wrong at the post-fight presser) after taunting him mercilessly. In the next bout, former Bellator heavyweight champ Alexander Volkov scored an upset submission win over Blagoi Ivanov.
Then came Tito Ortiz vs. Alexander Shlemenko. Ortiz was the laughing stock of this card, without a doubt. He was a relic from a bygone era who hadn’t won a fight in three years. His ridiculous pre-fight promos (he promised to make Shlemenko “literally shit himself”) only made him look worse. Shlemenko, on the other hand, was Bellator’s middleweight champ and a stern Russian killer. He’d have no problem with Ortiz despite the considerable size difference, or so the world thought. But Ortiz won the fight. He submitted Shlemenko with an arm-triangle choke in the very first round. Then he gave the worst post-fight interview of all time; he pretended to be Hulk Hogan.
As crazy as Ortiz-Shlemenko was, it wasn’t the emotional high point of the PPV, nor was Michael Chandler vs. Will Brooks. Chandler-Brooks was not a particularly anticipated match. In fact, the entire Bellator PPV was centered around the rubber match between Chandler and Eddie Alvarez. When Alvarez withdrew due to a concussion, many thought it meant death for Bellator 120. Will Brooks was thrown in against Chandler, but it was a squash match—or at least that’s what conventional wisdom held. But Brooks upended fans and pundits, beating Chandler via split decision. He was made of sterner stuff than we all gave him credit for.
Then we had the main event, Rampage Jackson vs. King Mo. The fight itself was banal. Mo dominated Rampage with wrestling while Rampage landed a couple of decent shots throughout the fight. It seemed like a pretty easy decision win for King Mo, but the judges didn’t see it that way; they awarded Rampage with a unanimous decision. What happened after the fight was the real draw though. King Mo and Rampage started jaw-jacking. During the Spike TV portion of the broadcast, King Mo accused Bjorn Rebney of “dick riding” Rampage. He didn’t hold in such feelings in his post-fight speech, nor did he silence himself at the post-fight presser. Him and Rampage yelled at each other while the presser stream intermittently died possibly due to the sheer volume of viewers.
So what’s the fallout?
(Because Getty had no images from last night. / Photo via Getty)
By Matt Saccaro
Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney didn’t give out the gate numbers at the post-fight presser, even when asked (which probably means they were bad). And it’s still too early to know how Bellator 120 performed at the box office. So, financially, Bellator’s first PPV can’t definitively be called a success or a failure.
Regarding entertainment value, however, Bellator 120 was a success. There were some pacing issues, yes, but overall the card delivered.
In the first fight, Michael Page did his best Anderson Silva impression, knocking out Ricky Rainey (who’s name was hilariously spelled wrong at the post-fight presser) after taunting him mercilessly. In the next bout, former Bellator heavyweight champ Alexander Volkov scored an upset submission win over Blagoi Ivanov.
Then came Tito Ortiz vs. Alexander Shlemenko. Ortiz was the laughing stock of this card, without a doubt. He was a relic from a bygone era who hadn’t won a fight in three years. His ridiculous pre-fight promos (he promised to make Shlemenko “literally shit himself”) only made him look worse. Shlemenko, on the other hand, was Bellator’s middleweight champ and a stern Russian killer. He’d have no problem with Ortiz despite the considerable size difference, or so the world thought. But Ortiz won the fight. He submitted Shlemenko with an arm-triangle choke in the very first round. Then he gave the worst post-fight interview of all time; he pretended to be Hulk Hogan.
As crazy as Ortiz-Shlemenko was, it wasn’t the emotional high point of the PPV, nor was Michael Chandler vs. Will Brooks. Chandler-Brooks was not a particularly anticipated match. In fact, the entire Bellator PPV was centered around the rubber match between Chandler and Eddie Alvarez. When Alvarez withdrew due to a concussion, many thought it meant death for Bellator 120. Will Brooks was thrown in against Chandler, but it was a squash match—or at least that’s what conventional wisdom held. But Brooks upended fans and pundits, beating Chandler via split decision. He was made of sterner stuff than we all gave him credit for.
Then we had the main event, Rampage Jackson vs. King Mo. The fight itself was banal. Mo dominated Rampage with wrestling while Rampage landed a couple of decent shots throughout the fight. It seemed like a pretty easy decision win for King Mo, but the judges didn’t see it that way; they awarded Rampage with a unanimous decision. What happened after the fight was the real draw though. King Mo and Rampage started jaw-jacking. During the Spike TV portion of the broadcast, King Mo accused Bjorn Rebney of “dick riding” Rampage. He didn’t hold in such feelings in his post-fight speech, nor did he silence himself at the post-fight presser. Him and Rampage yelled at each other while the presser stream intermittently died possibly due to the sheer volume of viewers.
So what’s the fallout?
It’s tough to parse this one out, Potato Nation.
Michael Page looked great, which is obviously a good thing for Bellator. And there’s not much to say about Ivanov vs. Volkov. It was a good fight. Volkov will get a title shot at Vitaly Minakov, and Ivanov will likely get placed into another heavyweight tournament sometime soon.
Ortiz-Shlemenko is tough to pass judgement on. Bellator obviously has more invested in Ortiz, so him winning his first fight under their banner is a positive thing. Now he can be featured in other fight cards. How much Ortiz’s presence will increase viewership remains to be seen. Still, it’s better than him losing, which would’ve damaged whatever remaining value his name had beyond repair. However, no good can come from your middleweight champion losing to an ancient UFC washout and has been—and looking like a total scrub while doing it.
At first, it seemed like Will Brooks defeating Michael Chandler destroyed the Bellator lightweight division. But apparently Eddie Alvarez can demand to fight Chandler anyway, meaning Brooks’ victory didn’t wreck the much-anticipated rubber match between Alvarez and Chandler. Brooks beating Chandler helps get him over as a legitimate talent. Brooks winning, while maybe not optimal, isn’t the disaster people made it out to be.
Last night’s crown jewel was Rampage vs. King Mo, and not because of what happened in the cage. It was all about the post-fight hysterics. The questionable decision and (now seemingly legitimate) beef between the two makes a rematch enticing from a promotional standpoint, something that couldn’t have been said if either man decisively finished the other.
The PPV could’ve gone much worse. Could it have been better? Maybe. There have been worse UFC PPVs that we paid more money for. Bellator 120 didn’t go bad enough to destroy Bellator, but it certainly didn’t go good enough to bring the Viacom-owned promotion to new heights of excellence. If nothing else, Bellator 120 was a perfect example of the inherent insanity that makes MMA special.
(Uh-oh, looks like someone fell off the Rockstar wagon. GET OUT OF THE STREETS!!)
We don’t know why this is coming as a surprise to some people, but allegedly, Rampage Jackson and King Mo‘s scuffle at Bellator 110 *might* have been pre-planned. And by “might have,” we of course mean without the slightest hint of doubt whatsoever.
In the main event of what was a pretty decent night of fights at Bellator 110 last Friday, Jackson defeated former Bellator light heavyweight champion Christian M’Pumbu by first round knockout, then proceeded to chug 14 cases of Red Bull off camera (again, allegedly) before conducting his post-fight interview. Old habits die hard, indeed. By the time Jimmy Smith got to Jackson, the electrolytes had already amplified Page’s inherent rage tenfold, causing the former UFC champ to once again blackout and lose his goddamned mind.
After screaming about being “a monster” — although given his history, I think “demigod” would have been more appropriate (*ducks beer bottle*) — Jackson told King Mo, who I believe had been brought into the cage with the Honest-to-God intention of complimenting Jackson on his performance and possibly washing his feet, that he “was next.” For whatever reason, King Mo took offense to Jackson’s correct understanding of a tournament format and engaged Jackson in a sort-of shoving match that was quickly separated by no less than 20 people.
A Nashville brawl it was not, and honestly, the funniest part of the entire incident was watching Jimmy Smith smirk and half-heartedly attempt to hold back Rampage. Unfortunately, like Sonnen vs. Wandy on the TUF set before it, it appears that Page and Mo’s scuffle was all but rehearsed.
(Uh-oh, looks like someone fell off the Rockstar wagon. GET OUT OF THE STREETS!!)
We don’t know why this is coming as a surprise to some people, but allegedly, Rampage Jackson and King Mo‘s scuffle at Bellator 110 *might* have been pre-planned. And by “might have,” we of course mean without the slightest hint of doubt whatsoever.
In the main event of what was a pretty decent night of fights at Bellator 110 last Friday, Jackson defeated former Bellator light heavyweight champion Christian M’Pumbu by first round knockout, then proceeded to chug 14 cases of Red Bull off camera (again, allegedly) before conducting his post-fight interview. Old habits die hard, indeed. By the time Jimmy Smith got to Jackson, the electrolytes had already amplified Page’s inherent rage tenfold, causing the former UFC champ to once again blackout and lose his goddamned mind.
After screaming about being “a monster” — although given his history, I think “demigod” would have been more appropriate (*ducks beer bottle*) — Jackson told King Mo, who I believe had been brought into the cage with the Honest-to-God intention of complimenting Jackson on his performance and possibly washing his feet, that he “was next.” For whatever reason, King Mo took offense to Jackson’s correct understanding of a tournament format and engaged Jackson in a sort-of shoving match that was quickly separated by no less than 20 people.
A Nashville brawl it was not, and honestly, the funniest part of the entire incident was watching Jimmy Smith smirk and half-heartedly attempt to hold back Rampage. Unfortunately, like Sonnen vs. Wandy on the TUF set before it, it appears that Page and Mo’s scuffle was all but rehearsed.
Shortly after the event had ended, Sherdog.com’s Jack Encarnacao asked Mohegan Sun regulator Mike Mazzulli whether or not there would be any sanctions placed on either fighter for the scuffle. His answer perhaps revealed a little too much (via Encarnacao’s twitter):
Mazzulli: You saw me get up there, and I did look at it, and I’ll review the tape later. But I know for a fact, you know, no one got hurt. It was Rampage is Rampage, and King Mo is King Mo, and the bottom line is, tickets got to be sold. And you know what? I’ll review it. Highly unlikely I will fine anybody. No one got hurt. It was just a push.
Me: As a regulator, is it important for you to know from Bellator or Spike that that was pre-planned in any way? That must be germaine to your looking into it, right?
Mazzulli: Oh, absolutely. You hit the nail on the head. I was told about it, I was told about it yesterday at the weigh-in, and that’s why there would be no cause and effect to it.
Me: So you had an idea?
Mazzulli: I absolutely had a, yeah. And it’s something I don’t like speaking about. But, you know, you ask me the question, I’m going to tell you the truth. It’s going to be an interesting fight between the two.
“Tickets got to be sold” needs to become the “World Fucking Domination” of Bellator by the end of the year. (*starts Facebook group*)
While it is true that Jackson and Mo go way back like spinal cords and car seats, as Tracy Jordan would put it, they have long since squashed their beef, which makes it very plausible that they would agree to an (allegedly) fabricated post-fight confrontation. Then again, maybe Page and Mo are just two guys who generally hate each other and were a little too fired up following their fights. That’s how Mazzulli made it seem when pressed further on the issue, at least:
What did they Bellator you to expect? (Ed note: I’m guessing he meant to write “What did Bellator tell you to expect?”)
Mazzulli: Basically what they stated, they said, as you know, both fighters get very excited after the fight, and words may be said. Nothing was discussed about a fake fight and being ready to stop it, that was absolutely not the case. The case was that the two fighters get very excited, and if something occurs, we’re going to stop it, but I just wanted to give you a heads up that they’re very emotional after each win. There was nothing about a setup or any of that, absolutely not.
I regulate combative sports. When it comes to the production of the TV and everything, that’s not for me to say unless there’s a safety issue with the fighters. And if something did occur to the point where I felt it was excessive, a sanction would definitely have happened. But I was not told they were going to yell at each other, any of that. I was just informed that both fighters get very – I guess you want to say, “pumped up” – and are very verbal, and everyone knows that they are.
I don’t know about you guys, but not since Tito Ortiz hit Rampage with a hammer have I felt so betrayed. What? THIS MMA THING IS STILL REAL TO ME, DAMMIT!
