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Bellator 90 Recap: ‘King Mo’ Dethroned Via Spinning Backfist, Ben Saunders Adds Head Kick KO to Highlight Reel

(The Emanuel Newton vs. King Mo spinning-backfist falling-tree knockout, via RockOwnsPunk.)

When you’re watching a Bellator event, you can only hope that a memorable finish or two will make up for the general lack of star power compared to those other guys. And oh man, did last night’s Bellator 90 event in West Valley City, Utah, deliver the goods, with all four fights on the Spike TV main card ending within the first two rounds, and three more stoppages featured on the prelims.

But the card’s generous helping of violence was a mixed blessing, since the list of victims included Bellator’s light-heavyweight marquee attraction, and their marketable featherweight inspirational figure. If you didn’t tune in last night, here’s what you missed:

Season 8 Welterweight Semi-Finals: Ben Saunders faced Raul Amaya for the second time in his Bellator stint, and while Killa B completely dominated their first meeting en route to a unanimous decision win, he didn’t even let Amaya out of the first round this time. Amaya was aggressive from the opening bell, but wasn’t able to find his range against the lanky Saunders, who landed counter-punches and body-kicks at will, before putting Amaya’s lights out with a left high kick. (GIF here, via ZombieProphet/BloodyElbow)

The fight on the other side of the 170-bracket was just as quick and one-sided. Douglas Lima didn’t give Bryan Baker a chance to get in the fight, abusing Baker’s legs with low kicks for a couple minutes, then firing a devastating right hand that crumpled “The Beast” to the mat. Lima will now face Saunders in the Season 8 Welterweight Tournament Final at Bellator 93, in a rematch of their Season 5 Welterweight Tournament Final in November 2011, which Lima won by knockout.

(The Emanuel Newton vs. King Mo spinning-backfist falling-tree knockout, via RockOwnsPunk.)

Season 8 Light-Heavyweight Semi-Finals: The Spike card led off with a 205-pound match between Mikhail Zayats and Jacob Noe, who you may remember as the guys who beat Renato Sobral and Seth Petruzelli at Bellator 85. Zayats took control from the very beginning, flooring Noe with a right hand and establishing top position on the mat. After some ground-and-pound, Zayats established mount and methodically set up an armbar, cranking it for the tap.

You’d think that Zayats would now be set up for high-profile meeting with Muhammad Lawal in the tournament finals, but Emanuel Newton went and screwed those plans up later in the evening. Unlike Przemyslaw “The Inanimate Object” Mysiala, Newton wasn’t afraid to stand toe-to-toe with Mo; Lawal’s shots might have been cleaner during their striking exchanges, but Newton was getting his licks in and making it a battle. But that battle didn’t last long. Halfway through the opening round, Newton whiffed so hard on an overhand right that he found himself with his back turned to Mo. So he figured, hey, why not throw a completely-blind spinning backfist? And because the MMA Gods have a sadistic sense of humor when it comes to fight promotions putting all their eggs into a single fighter’s basket, that spinning backfist landed across Lawal’s jaw, sending the King into a slow-motion tailspin. And so, it’ll be Newton vs. Zayats for all the marbles. How do you like that.

Season 7 Featherweight Tournament Final: The fight between Rad Martinez and Shahbulat Shamhalaev was originally supposed to go down in December, but Shamhalaev had to bow out at the last minute due to food poisoning. Shamhalaev was in fine form last night, punching Martinez to the mat in the first round, and nailing him with leg kicks. Martinez’s best moment came as he scored a takedown to stifle Shamhalaev’s momentum near the end of the round. Once the fighters were re-started for round two, it was all Shamhalaev, who dinged Martinez with unanswered power punches that staggered the Utah native, then smashed him with an overhand right that effectively ended the match — GIF here, via ZombieProphet/BloodyElbow — punching his ticket to a future title shot against Pat Curran.

Full Bellator 90 results are below.

Main Card
– Shahbulat Shamhalaev def. Rad Martinez via KO, 2:12 of round 2 *
– Emanuel Newton def. Muhammed Lawal via KO (spinning backfist), 2:35 of round 1 **
– Douglas Lima def. Bryan Baker via KO, 2:34 of round 1 ***
– Mikhail Zayats def. Jacob Noe via submission (armbar), 3:38 of round 1 **

Preliminary Card
– Ben Saunders def. Raul Amaya via KO (head kick), 2:56 of round 1 ***
– Travis Marx def. Chase Beebe via unanimous decision (30-27 x 3)
– Jesse Juarez def. Jordan Smith via split-decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)
– Sean Powers def. David Allred via submission (rear-naked choke), 2:10 of round 3
– Lionel Lanham def. Joe Rodriguez via KO, 0:49 of round 1

* Season 7 Featherweight Tournament Final
** Season 8 Light-Heavyweight Tournament Semi-Final
*** Season 8 Welterweight Tournament Semi-Final

Bellator 90 Pre-Fight Interview: King Mo Discusses His Successful Return to the Cage, Tonight’s LHW Semi-Final Against Emanuel Newton

(Lawal and Newton square off at yesterday’s weigh-ins. Photo via Sherdog)

By Elias Cepeda

After a year marked by a steroid suspension, a life-threatening staph infection, a firing from Zuffa, and then a quick hire by Bellator, Muhammad “King Mo” Lawal finally got back in the ring in January. The former amateur collegiate and international wrestler fought and beat the aggressive (and consonant-heavy) Przemyslaw Mysiala at Bellator 86, ending the match by first-round KO.

Lawal is back in action tonight at Bellator 90, where he and Emanuel Newton will meet in the semi-finals of the promotion’s Season 8 light-heavyweight tournament. We caught up with Mo recently to discuss getting back in the ring and his training for the peculiar tournament structure. Check out our conversation below, and be sure to tune in to the Spike TV broadcast of Bellator 90 at 10 p.m. ET, which will also feature the Season 8 welterweight tournament finals, and the delayed featherweight tournament final between Shahbulat Shamhalaev and Rad Martinez.

CagePotato: What was it like getting back in the cage last month after such a long layoff?

Muhammed Lawal: The weird thing is. It didn’t feel any different. I had [agent] Mike Kogan, my brother Bull who is fighting in Legacy Fighting Championships in April and Jeff Mayweather with me like usual. I had all my friends and family and coaches around me, so it felt normal.

But I also felt relieved and I felt rejuvenated to see blood and sweat on you, to step into the cage. Seeing my opponent on the other side made me realize what I really missed. It’s like when you are dating a girl. When she’s gone you think, ‘damn, I really miss this or that about her.’

I wanted to get a feel for things in the cage when I got in there but the dude [Mysiala] came forward with haymakers and I knew this might happen, so luckily Jeff Mayweahter trained me well. He trained me to slip, slip, catch, block and roll, and that’s what I tried to do. I hit him with a check hook while he was trying to land a big shot.

CP: Your semi-final fight is just four weeks after the last one. Do you have any injuries left over that you’ll have to fight with?

(Lawal and Newton square off at yesterday’s weigh-ins. Photo via Sherdog)

By Elias Cepeda

CagePotato: What was it like getting back in the cage last month after such a long layoff?

CP: Your semi-final fight is just four weeks after the last one. Do you have any injuries left over that you’ll have to fight with?

Lawal: I’ve got a scratch on my cauliflower ear, that’s it. So I’ve had to keep that clean to prevent staph infection but other than that I’m fine.

CP: I’m always interested in asking fighters how they try to condition themselves. As a camp winds down, you’ve got to maintain your conditioning but also taper down a bit so as not to tire out your muscles. Being a part of this Bellator tournament, though, it seems you’ve got a much different task than most high-level fighters in other organization. How have you been approaching conditioning for this tournament? Do you take each three-to-four week period as its own camp or are you trying to build on things between fights?

Lawal: I don’t really do training camps. In college I learned how to do periodization training to try and find the right time to peak. We break training and fights into phases, with the idea of peaking for the finals. My first phase, for the first fight in the tournament didn’t have a lot of strength work in it. I did a lot of rounds and technique. Then, for the next phase, this fight, I worked with my strength coach on exploding and recovering. So, I’d do a circuit and then take a thirty-second break so that if I have to explode three times in a fight, for example, I will be able to. For the finals we will be going all-out with a full-out training camp that is power-focused. We’ve been slowly adding things.

CP: Is the Bellator tournament structure similar to what you experienced during your amateur wrestling career, because of all the meets and tournaments you have to do throughout a year?

Lawal: College was similar, yeah. In college you have to peak for two things — conference championships and nationals. You have to be in peak shape but not over-train. In international wrestling, you’ve got U.S. nationals, the trials and then the world tournament. I had great coaching from Kevin Jackson. Josh Smith was my college coach. Even in high school, I had great coaching on how to do this.

CP: You’ve fought all over during your MMA career, already. You’ve fought in Japan, in the states for Strikeforce, and now for Bellator. How was the specific experience fighting for this new organization?

Lawal: It is the same because they are all professional. Things start on time. There is a set schedule. The only thing that is different is the platform.

CP: Speaking of the platform, Bellator is now a part of Viacom and your fights are perhaps on a larger platform than they have been before; it’s certainly Bellator’s largest platform. The ratings have been promising for Bellator on Spike. Are you excited about being a centerpiece to Bellator’s strategy to grow larger and become a major MMA player?

Lawal: My goal is to help bring to it to the forefront. Right now, it won’t be what it will be. But if I can help it get there and the kids now are reaping the benefits of it later, I’ll be happy.

CP: Have you studied Emanuel Newton much? When you look at him, what do you see in an opponent?

Lawal: I’ve studied him. I know him. I like him. He’s a good guy. He’s got an awkward Tae Kwon Do style of kicking and he is able to pace himself real well. He fights. I know it’s going to be a fight in there.

Exclusive: ‘King Mo’ Looks to Regain His Crown After Year-Long Exile

By Elias Cepeda

With how often former Strikeforce light-heavyweight champion Muhammed Lawal talks about money, one might think it is his only motivation. He can go on and on about how cash motivates him during fights and how he invests wisely so as not to have to depend solely on professional fighting for income.

Lawal’s financial focus fits in well with the namesake of the Mayweather Boxing Club in Las Vegas, where Lawal does much of his training these days. (San Jose, CA, the home of the American Kickboxing Academy where he has previously trained during fight camps, got “too expensive,” according to Mo.) But just as with Floyd Mayweather Jr., there is a lot more substance behind the former wrestler’s style and talk.

The fighter known as “King Mo” has not been able to fight professionally for over a year because of a suspension stemming from a positive steroid test after his last fight against Lorenz Larkin. So, for the past year Mo has not gotten paid a red cent to fight — yet he says his motivation to train hard never waned.

“I never had a problem [staying motivated]. Never,” he tells CagePotato. “I love being in the gym, I love working out. My mind is always on fighting of some sort.”

By Elias Cepeda

“I never had a problem [staying motivated]. Never,” he tells CagePotato. “I love being in the gym, I love working out. My mind is always on fighting of some sort.”

Take, for example, a month-long training trip that Lawal took to Holland. “I just wanted to test myself,” he remembers.

“It was tough, man. I was up every day at 5:30, training by 7. We did that until 11:30 every morning and then came back at 6. We did pads, partner drills, sparring, ground and pound drills, conditioning,” Mo details.

The former collegiate and international wrestling standout says that because grappling comes more easily to him, he wanted to do intensive striking work. He chose Holland over Thailand to train Muay Thai kickboxing because, for one, the Dutch style is considered better for larger fighters, and also because he had friends like Melvin Manhoef who could ensure he’d get quality instruction.

“In Thailand they’ve just got a guy holding pads yelling at you, ‘Harder! More! Faster!’ You don’t get no technical training out there. They just want to get paid.”

In Holland, Mo found himself being taught and pushed each day during strenuous training. To underscore the rigor, he remembers the day Japanese heavyweight prospect and former Olympic champion Satoshi Ishii walked into the gym.

“Ishii showed up one day. We sparred for an hour,” Lawal recounts. “He never showed up again after that. It’s hard training. Melvin [Manhoef] and I did 15-20 rounds out there. The guys are very good out there.”

In earlier years of MMA, it seemed that top practitioners from different styles, like wrestling or Brazilian jiu Jitsu, were reluctant to put in time to learn other styles. Lawal says he loves to stay in the gym year-round and also loves to turn his weaknesses into his strengths.

“I always enjoy other disciplines because I like to learn and I like to improve,” he says. “I like doing everything because you never know who you will have to face.”

The next man Lawal will face is Przemyslaw Mysiala at tonight’s Bellator 86: Askren vs. Amoussou card on Spike, and his attitude should serve him well in his new promotional home. Mo’s fight against Mysiala is part of this season’s light-heavyweight tournament, and if he is to advance through and win, he’ll have to fight about once a month.

The pace is breakneck for MMA, and pretty much un-matched outside of Bellator. Mo says that his wrestling experience, where he’d have to compete in tournaments on a weekly basis at times, prepares him well for this new fighting challenge.

“I guess so,” he chuckles. “It’s going to have to. I plan to go out there, get the knockouts and come out as healthy as possible. If I get injured, I’ll keep on fighting, because that’s how I am.”

His extensive, high-level, amateur wrestling experience has also helped Lawal deal with the pressure of fighting in a cage. The psychological and physical grind of professional MMA is nothing compared to amateur wrestling, according to Mo.

“I started wrestling when I was sixteen. The goal from that point on was to be an Olympic champion,” he explains.

The pressure he put on himself to succeed in wrestling far surpasses any that he places on his shoulders now as a fighter. Plus, the guaranteed pay is much better now than it was as an international amateur wrestler.

In terms of the physical toll competition takes, don’t let the punches and kicks of MMA fool you, Lawal says. Wrestling in a tournament is its own formidable meat grinder.
“Compared to amateur wrestling, MMA is a lot easier,” he maintains.

“These punches don’t hurt. These knees don’t hurt. Leg kicks hurt the next day. You go out there and do a wrestling tournament you’ll feel like you just went through a fight. That’s how it feels. You’ve got an Iranian in the first round, a Cuban the next round. Then you’ve got a guy from Azerbaijan after that and a Russians in the final. You are out there scrapping.”

CagePotato Ban: Blaming a Failed Drug Test on an Over-the-Counter Supplement

Sheesh, Randy and Chuck have really been hitting the Centrum Silver since they retired, huh?

Ever since the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act was passed in 1994, athletes have been aware that there may be more than just protein in the tubs of powder and bottles of pills found in their local grocery stores. The supplement industry isn’t exactly known for its history of ethical practices, and the deregulation of it has unsurprisingly caused manufacturers to push the limits of what can be snuck into their products. It’s widely been accepted that any supplement one purchases — be it the pre-workout stimulant that a personal trainer recommended or the “hardcore” testosterone booster that the local meathead swears is responsible for his 300+ pound frame — can result in a failed drug test, and that any athlete who uses supplements does so at his or her own risk.

Yet if you’ve followed this sport — or any sport, for that matter — for at least one week, you’re already sick of what’s been dubbed The Tainted Supplements Defense. You know the story by heart, and can recite it word-for-word before the athlete even issues a statement on the failed test: An athlete gets busted with a banned substance in his or her system, claims that an over-the-counter product is responsible for the failed drug test, swears that he or she would never resort to taking steroids, wishes that he or she never took the supplements before the fight and promises that it will never happen again. It’s just likely enough to be true, yet just unfalsifiable enough for a reasonable fan to reject.

Which is just one of many reasons why I am cordially inviting anyone blaming a failed drug test on an over-the-counter supplement to fucking stop doing so from this point forward. No matter what variation of the excuse you’re using, your excuse is bad, and you should feel bad. Let’s start off with the most popular variation:

Sheesh, Randy and Chuck have really been hitting the Centrum Silver since they retired, huh?

“My supplements must have been tainted!” – The tried-and-true tainted supplements defense is by far the most unfalsifiable, yet least improbable option of the group. With roughly eighteen percent of bodybuilding supplements estimated to be tainted, it makes sense that a fighter might unknowingly purchase tainted supplements that cause them to piss hot for the steroids that MMA fighters are known to take. You know what also makes sense? That maybe, just maybe, the guy found with Winstrol in his system has been using Winstrol.

It’s like Slate recently published: “If I were a doper, I’d be sure to have a medicine cabinet full of supplements — ones that claim to produce the same results as my drugs. Then, if I ever tested positive for doping, I’d have a plausible excuse.” The MMA community is a pretty cynical group of people who won’t believe anyone using such a convenient defense. With all of the trainers, nutritionists, fellow fighters, doctors; etc. that professional fighters interact with on a daily basis, are you really expecting us to believe that not one of them warned you about what you’re putting into your body, or what supplements have caused innocent fighters to fail drug tests before?

Besides, you aren’t exactly in good company when you blame tainted supplements…

“I had no idea this over-the counter-product could cause me to fail a drug test!” – Really? Because pretty much every busted athlete fucking ever has only been using over-the-counter products, so I imagine that you’ve at least heard that this could happen. But I digress.

It’s funny that whenever someone blames an over-the-counter supplement for a failed drug test, you almost never hear what supplement is being blamed. The only exception I can think of off the top of my head is King Mo’s admission to taking S-Mass — a supplement that was pulled from the shelves five years before he got caught taking it due to an FDA ban. On one hand, I applaud King Mo for actually telling us what he took instead of completely dodging the question. On the other hand, bro, you can’t possibly be serious.

The thing about designer steroids is that pretty much all of them say right on the fucking bottle that they’ll cause you to fail a drug test. So that whole ”being responsible for what goes into your body” thing? Yeah, it’s about ten-times more applicable when all you have to do is know how to read in order to avoid taking a banned substance.

And for the supplements that don’t explicitly warn you that they contain banned ingredients? Allow me to introduce a 20-Word Checklist for Knowing if You Should Take a Supplement: Read the ingredients. Do you feel you need a chemistry degree to understand them? Google the ingredients before purchasing it.

Yeah, I know: It’s totally unfair that the person making a living off of his or her athleticism is expected to know about what goes into his or her body. Just like how it’s totally unfair that I’m expected to write in complete sentences and spell words correctly. Deal with it.

“I had no idea what I was taking!” – This one is usually heard in combination with one of the above defenses, but it’s preposterous enough to merit its own ban. For starters, taking pills without knowing what they do is a serious sign that you have a drug problem, so, you know, there’s that. Also, your own boss has called bullshit on this excuse, so there’s absolutely no reason for anyone else to buy it.

The bottom line is that no matter what variation of the over-the-counter supplement excuse you use, it’s extremely weak at best and downright bullshit at worst. Save everyone the time, admit you screwed up and let’s move on. Who knows, fans might even forgive you for doing so.

@SethFalvo

Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal Gets an Opponent for Bellator Debut and It’s Some Guy

(Yeah, we’re not really stoked for this one either, Mo.)

Not too long ago, Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal signed a — I guess you’d call it groundbreaking — deal with both Bellator and TNA Wrestling after being released from Strikeforce following a positive test for steroids and an epic Twitter meltdown, a decision he is probably patting himself on the back for in light of recent events. Ever since, we have been quietly waiting to see which one of Bellator’s remaining light heavyweights Mo would square off against first, whether it was…what’s his face, or, uhh…*snaps fingers*…uh…God, I know this…

…

…Turns out, Bellator is going the Josh Barnett route for King Mo’s big debut, bringing in a complete outsider named *checks glasses* Przemyslaw Mysiala to conveniently get squashed just before confetti falls from the ceiling and Mo is declared the next challenger to whomever emerges victorious from the Christian M’Pumbu/Attila Veigh fight. And you better believe that some form of energy drink will be used to hose bitches down at some point in this ceremony, because it sooo will.

(Yeah, we’re not really stoked for this one either, Mo.)

…

To be fair, Mysiala holds a decent 16-7 record to his credit, so counting him out right from the start seems a bit foolish. On the other hand, he is just 2-2 in his past 4 fights and suffered both those losses by (T)KO, and if Mo is good at one thing, it’s the TKO. I’m not sure where Bellator’s matchmaking department finds these people, but we’ll give them credit for keeping things underground and not selling out to those conformist corporate pigs *puts on skinny jeans and cranks up 8-track player*.

The fight is scheduled for Bellator 86 on January 24th, which goes down in Thackerville, Oklahoma and will also feature Ben Askren vs. Karl Amoussou for the promotion’s welterweight title. It will be Bellator’s second event of season eight and will be broadcast live on SpikeTV.

King Mo has not fought since his win over Lorenz Larkin at Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine (Author’s note: Man, never gets any easier writing that.) was overturned to a no contest, but can any of you even picture the sick, twisted future in which Mo does not win this?

I hear if Mo takes a header in the locker room on fight night, the bookies will pay you out. Just sayin’.

–J. Jones

TNA Wrestler King Mo Crosses Over to the Dark Side, Calls MMA a ‘Joke’

(“I don’t give a damn about some Bellator fighter that goes by the name of King Mo.” Well, that makes two of you. Video via TNAWrestling)

When Muhammad “King Mo” Lawal signed a dual-contract with Bellator and TNA Wrestling earlier this year, fans wondered how he’d be able to straddle the often-opposing worlds of real fighting and show fighting — a rare trick to pull off outside of Japan. But Lawal’s one-year suspension for steroids has allowed him to focus the majority of his energies on learning the pro wrestling game, and we’re starting to get the feeling that we might lose him altogether. Call it hunch, based on the fact that Mo thinks MMA is a fad, and can’t stand you people. Here’s what he told BleacherReport in an interview published yesterday:

“It starts with the way the fans don’t think for themselves,” Lawal stated. “They have to look to certain people for approval on how they think. They bash the fighters and think fighting is easier than it really is. A lot of people didn’t grow up fighting. They grew up playing football and basketball. So they can relate to missing a pass, a layup, free throws and dropping a pass, an interception or kicking a field goal.

“MMA fans never grew up fighting. They just put on their Affliction or Tapout shirts and say, ‘Hey I’m a fighter or hey I’m going to a fight.’ To me, its a joke. It is a certain demographic that’s involved and I’m not with that.“

(“I don’t give a damn about some Bellator fighter that goes by the name of King Mo.” Well, that makes two of you. Video via TNAWrestling)

Part of me wonders if Lawal is intentionally playing a sort of MMA-traitor heel here, dissing MMA fans so that they’ll tune in to TNA Wrestling on Spike and watch him compete out of…hostility, I guess? I don’t know. It’s kind of a stretch. Let’s just assume that this is really how Lawal feels, and that he’s under the impression that pro-wrestling fans are a well-informed, well-dressed, and respectful bunch, who have all spent time gaining hands-on training in the Dungeon. Let’s see how Mo feels in six months, after being mobbed by dudes like this after every show.

Lawal, who made his introductory TNA appearance on October 4th (see the video at the top of this post), has spent all month studying his new trade at Ohio Valley Wrestling in Louisville, Kentucky, under the guidance of Nick “Eugene” Dinsmore. And it’s kicking his ass, to hear him tell it:

“I thought it was going to be hard, but this (pro wrestling training) is harder than I expected,” Lawal stated. “I’m going to tell you this. Pro wrestling training is three times harder than MMA. It’s harder because of the psychology, the positioning, the bumps, hitting the ropes and cutting promos…That s**t is hard. People don’t understand this s**t. People think wrestling is all fake. If you think it is fake, come try it out and you will see how real it really is.”

On the other hand, you get to do as many steroids as you want and nobody bothers you about it. (Boom. Score another one for us asshole MMA fans.)