(Never go up against a thespian when death is on the line.)
According to new reports, Strikeforce middleweight champ Luke Rockhold will defend his belt at Strikeforce’s July 14th event in Portland, where he’ll face off against former title contender/video-parodistTim Kennedy.
Luke Rockhold has won his last eight fights, most recently beating the crap out of Keith Jardine in a somewhat farcical title defense in January. Kennedy has won his last two bouts under the Strikeforce banner, but hasn’t competed since a unanimous decision win over Robbie Lawler in July 2011. Rockhold and Kennedy were briefly scheduled to face each other last year before Rockhold pulled out of the matchup, and were matched up again earlier this year before Tim had to withdraw due to injury, so this one’s been a long time coming. Can the Special Forces sniper shock Rockhold and take that belt?
Also on the card…
(Never go up against a thespian when death is on the line.)
According to new reports, Strikeforce middleweight champ Luke Rockhold will defend his belt at Strikeforce’s July 14th event in Portland, where he’ll face off against former title contender/video-parodistTim Kennedy.
Luke Rockhold has won his last eight fights, most recently beating the crap out of Keith Jardine in a somewhat farcical title defense in January. Kennedy has won his last two bouts under the Strikeforce banner, but hasn’t competed since a unanimous decision win over Robbie Lawler in July 2011. Rockhold and Kennedy were briefly scheduled to face each other last year before Rockhold pulled out of the matchup, and were matched up again earlier this year before Tim had to withdraw due to injury, so this one’s been a long time coming. Can the Special Forces sniper shock Rockhold and take that belt?
King Mo appeared before the Nevada State Athletic Commission yesterday to receive his punishment, which was rather standard — a 9 month suspension, a 30% fine of his $80,000 purse, the surrendering of his win bonus, and his bout with Larkin being overturned to a no-contest. However, things took a weird turn after chairperson Pat Lundvall, when referring to the information Lawal knowingly falsified on his pre-fight medical documents, called into question that of Lawal’s ability to read and understand English. Needless to say, Mo was rather insulted by such an accusation, and took to Twitter, where he promptly screwed himself royally.
Follow us after the jump for the full story.
(Now Mo, you’re going to have to be more original than that if you expect to get paid on the streets.)
King Mo appeared before the Nevada State Athletic Commission yesterday to receive his punishment, which was rather standard — a 9 month suspension, a 30% fine of his $80,000 purse, the surrendering of his win bonus, and his bout with Larkin being overturned to a no-contest. However, things took a weird turn after chairperson Pat Lundvall, when referring to the information Lawal knowingly falsified on his pre-fight medical documents, called into question that of Lawal’s ability to read and understand English. Needless to say, Mo was rather insulted by such an accusation, and took to Twitter, where he promptly screwed himself royally.
But first, let’s take a step back for a moment. Here is what King Mo had to say moments after receiving his sentence from the NSAC.
Sounds pretty level headed right? Mo clearly understood that he broke the rules, before promising to make it up to his fans. Sure, he also stated that he didn’t feel he was a cheater for using steroids, but for the sake of argument, we’re going to let that one slide for the time being.
But leave it to the Internet, a place so filled with hate and conflict that it would make Israel blush with envy, to bring out the worst in people. Mere hours later, Mo tweeted:
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. I honestly feel like Lundvall was a racist bitch asking me if I can read or speak english. Go on somewhere with that bullshit bitch!!! That one commissioner was bogus. The rest were coo and they were white and latino.
Now, where one would be understandably upset when their literacy is made a mockery of, it was perhaps not the best move to respond by calling a member of an overseeing body a “bitch” on a public forum. Then again, King Mo has never been one to think things out before acting upon them. Though Lawal deleted the tweet moments later, it was already too late to mend the wounds, as he was released from his Strikeforce contract earlier this morning.
It is what it is. Of course, I want to fight for Strikeforce and fight for Zuffa, but if they want to cut me for what I said, then I can’t take it back because it already happened. I have never been asked in such a condescending way if I could read or speak English like that. I did something wrong, so I can’t really say I’m being treated unfairly. I don’t know if it was excessive to cut me.
Right now, I just want people to understand that I went in there respectfully and that I’m not playing the race card. I’m too old to play the race card. I’m established on the West Coast now and since I’ve been out here, I haven’t experienced much racism. I’ve experienced some stereotypes and small prejudices here and there, but other than that, no, I haven’t experienced too much, compared to when I was in the South. The woman’s comments reminded me of times when I experienced racial insensitivity from other people.
Zuffa made a decision just off what was said on Twitter. I don’t know if they care about what happened. I’m pretty sure they didn’t hear any of the audio. They just made a decision off what went down on Twitter. I’m pretty sure Keith Kizer and certain people at the commission are mad and I didn’t mean any disrespect to Keith or the rest of the people in the commission. I just felt disrespected by that one person that asked if I could speak or read English.
You can listen to Mo’s hearing with the NSAC here, with the “racist” remark coming somewhere around the 6:45 mark.
So what say you, Potato Nation? Was Mo’s Twitter tirade the final straw, or was his firing a rather hypocritical move by the Zuffa brass? Then again, if Lawal makes a couple donations and sincerely apologizes, we imagine we’ll be seeing him under the Strikeforce banner in the near future.
Filed under: Strikeforce, MMA Fighting Exclusive, NewsFollowing his first professional loss — a decision likely to be changed to a no contest due to a positive drug test by his opponent — Strikeforce’s Lorenz Larkin will move down a division to compe…
Following his first professional loss — a decision likely to be changed to a no contest due to a positive drug test by his opponent — Strikeforce‘s Lorenz Larkin will move down a division to compete as a middleweight.
Larkin’s manager Arnold DeWitt told MMA Fighting on Thursday that the decision has been made by Larkin’s team and approved by Strikeforce officials.
“Eventually we were looking at 185, but we wanted to test the waters at 205 first,” DeWitt said. “He came into Strikeforce at 205 and we got a chance to see how things played out. If he had beat ‘King’ Mo [Lawal], there would have been no point talking about it. But we think Lorenz is going to be a monster at 185, and there are a lot of fighters there who should be concerned.”
The 25-year-old Larkin had won his first 12 pro fights, including a 3-0 start in Strikeforce before running into Lawal at the promotion’s January 7 event. In that fight, the former light-heavyweight champion Lawal controlled the action with takedowns and eventually finished Larkin via second-round TKO due to ground strikes.
Afterward, however, the Nevada state athletic commission revealed that Lawal had failed a drug screening, testing positive for the steroid Drostanalone. Since then, Lawal has said he would not appeal the positive result, making it a lock that the fight’s outcome will be changed to a no contest.
Still, Larkin learned enough from the bout to decide that a downward move to 185 would be the best course for his career.
“Even with the fact that we got the fight on four weeks’ notice and with the positive steroid test, Lorenz never came out and made excuses,” DeWitt said. “The thing was, at the end of the day, this is simply the best move, the right move. Lorenz feels comfortable doing it. He’s the one who has to cut weight and get in the cage. So it came down to his comfort level with it.”
In order to help the transition, DeWitt says the 5-foot-11 Larkin is aiming to lower his walk-around weight from about 220-225 pounds to 200-205. The creative striker who has won eight of his fight by way of knockout hopes to be back in the cage in his new division as early as April.
“At 205, he had a great speed advantage, but at 185, we think he’s going to have huge power to go with his speed,” DeWitt said. “You have to understand, he was knocking out 250-pounders in amateurs with either hand. Now that he’s coming down to a smaller weight class, that’s not going to abandon him. His power and speed aren’t going to go away.”
(“Don’t look yet, but tell me if she’s looking at me.”)
It looks like Muhammed Lawal’s positive steroid test may have netted him a much bigger punishment than the fine and one-year timeout levied on him by the Nevada State Athletic Commission; he may also have missed out on a chance at redemption against the only fighter to beat him as well as a chance to regain the Strikeforce light heavyweight title.
(“Don’t look yet, but tell me if she’s looking at me.”)
It looks like Muhammed Lawal’s positive steroid test may have netted him a much bigger punishment than the fine and one-year timeout levied on him by the Nevada State Athletic Commission; he may also have missed out on a chance at redemption against the only fighter to beat him as well as a chance to regain the Strikeforce light heavyweight title.
According to a report by Tatame, Rafael Cavalcante was in discussions with Strikeforce to again face Lawal before “King Mo” was caught pissing dirty following his win over Lorenz Larkin earlier this month at Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine in Las Vegas. “Feijao” says the bout would have been for the light heavyweight title he lost to Dan Henderson, since Hendo relinquished the belt when he signed with Strikeforce’s sister company, the Ultimate Fighting Championship late last year. So what he’s saying is that basically the belt signifies who is in second place in the Strikeforce 205-pound division.
It’s unlikely that Mo will still be in contention when he returns from his suspension next January — that is if the Zuffa decides to keep him around if Strikeforce hasn’t dissolved by then, so this may have been the 31-year-old’s only shot at the belt.
Filed under: Strikeforce, MMA Fighting Exclusive, NewsFormer Strikeforce light heavyweight champ “King” Mo Lawal likely won’t appeal a positive steroid test following his win over Lorenz Larkin at a Strikeforce event in Las Vegas earlier this month, th…
Former Strikeforce light heavyweight champ “King” Mo Lawal likely won’t appeal a positive steroid test following his win over Lorenz Larkin at a Strikeforce event in Las Vegas earlier this month, the fighter and his manager, Mike Kogan, told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. Neither will they admit that Lawal knowingly or willfully ingested the steroid Drostanolone, however.
Instead of pleading innocent or guilty to the charges, it appears the Lawal camp will plead ignorance, blaming an over-the-counter supplement.
“Since we’re not contesting the findings of the commission test, we’re not challenging the chain of custody, we’re not pointing fingers at anybody and we’re not calling for conspiracy theories, I don’t believe we’ll actually file an appeal per se,” Kogan told Helwani. “What we will file is an answer, and an answer would involve affirming their test results and providing our findings and our explanation.”
The guilty party, according to Kogan and Lawal, is a supplement called S-Mass Lean Gainer by Rock Solid, which Lawal said he bought at a Max Muscle store in California and used only sporadically for “rehab stuff,” the fighter explained. It was recommended to him by a Max Muscle employee some time in April of 2010, he said, though it’s since been removed from the market, according to Kogan, who admitted he had no knowledge that Lawal was taking any supplements at all prior to his positive drug screening.
“To the best of my research, this product was taken off the shelves some time in mid-2011, for exactly the same reason that we’re facing right now. Its primary and only relevant ingredient of that particular product is a substance known as Methyldrostanolone, which is basically just a pill format of Drostanolone,” Kogan said.
Lawal insisted he’d “never even heard of [Drostanolone],” and was first alerted that he’d tested positive for it when reporters began calling him with the news handed down by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Lawal insisted he’d never knowingly taken any illegal performance-enhancing substances at any point in his athletic career, and touted his long history of clean tests in collegiate and international wrestling competitions.
“For me, the best way to get an advantage over your opponent is through hard work, preparation, and your skills,” Lawal said. “That’s the best way to get an advantage over anybody. Game-planning. That’s the best way to beat your opponent.”
At the same time, Lawal admitted that he didn’t research the supplement before taking it, even though he was well aware of instances where over-the-counter workout aids had resulted in positive drug tests for other athletes.
“When I went to Max Muscle, I figured you can’t buy steroids at a Max Muscle. It’s a chain store,” he said. “That’s like going to a grocery store and buying something illegal there. …I guess that’s the mistake I made. When I looked at the bottle, it just had a bunch of numbers on it. It had the ingredients. I didn’t see anything that looked illegal on the bottle, to be honest with you.”
And yet, as athletic commissions love to remind fighters — and as Kogan and Lawal both admitted — the athlete bears the ultimate responsibility for what goes into his system. As Helwani pointed out, even a quick Google search on the product reveals web sites that describe it as “the most powerful designer anabolic ever created,” and suggests that consumers “conduct all the necessary research that comes with using a designer anabolic of this nature.”
Still, Kogan appeared eager to turn the conversation into a referendum on “the supplement industry,” which he said “knowingly, intentionally, and maliciously misguides, hides, mislabels, and resynthesizes and does all kinds of tricks to try to keep selling you the product that they themselves know is illegal.”
“If Mo would have purchased this product in some back alley from some guy who happens to lift weights, the setting itself would probably warrant a lot more alarm than walking into a nutrition store — and not walking in there and saying, ‘Hey do you guys sell any anabolic steroids?’ — but just walking in there and saying that he’s looking for a supplement to help reinforce his muscle during light lifting and being recommended a substance,” Kogan said. “Also, in 2010 this product was not taken off the shelves. This product was not illegal. This product was not being marketed as an anabolic steroid.”
That argument will be part of Lawal’s “answer” when he appears in front of the NSAC, Kogan said, where he’ll likely make more of an attempt to explain his positive test rather than refute it.
“Our primary focus with the commission and the Attorney General’s office is intent,” Kogan said. “We had no intent of taking any illegal substance and we believe we have enough evidence and enough character references to make that point very clear.”
As for whether that explanation will satisfy fans, Lawal declined to speculate, but he did say that he would only take Nature Made supplements from now on.
“People are going to accuse me of whatever they’re going to accuse me of,” he said. “I can’t focus on that. All I know is that I know the truth. The truth is out there, I’ve got nothing to hide, and we’ll see what happens come time for the hearing. I’m not going to worry about the negatives. I’m just going to focus on the positives. That’s all I can do, man.”
Somewhat ironically, Kogan suggested that fans resist forming an opinion on the matter until they’d done all the research — exactly what Kogan and Lawal admit they did not do on the supplement that caused this situation in the first place.
“Listen, everybody has a story and every athlete has an explanation,” Kogan said. “All we ask for is that people do their own research before they jump to conclusions and then arrive to a conclusion after that. Don’t just read the headlines and be influenced by headline-chasing reporters based on that. You know, everybody cries wolf, but there are circumstances where the wolf is really there. I strongly believe that this is that circumstance.”
Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine made not a lot of money: $68,805. There were more comps than tickets sold and still about 727 seats didn’t get filled. No Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix Tournament Finals date in.
Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine made not a lot of money: $68,805. There were more comps than tickets sold and still about 727 seats didn’t get filled.
No Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix Tournament Finals date in site as Daniel Cormier‘s hand has yet to heal.
Quinton “Rampage” Jacksonspeaks out on Muhammad “King Mo” Lawal‘s positive steroid test, calling it “karma”.
Lorenz Larkinsays he lost his fight to “King Mo” Lawal whether, Lawal used steroids or not leading up to their fight at Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine.
UFC 142: Aldo vs. Mendes prelim fights on FX drew 880,000. In comparison, (in case you care to compare) Spike TV‘s lowest prelim audience was just over a million viewers.
Antonio Silva expected to make UFC debut in April but not against Cain Velasquez.
Michael Bispingsays the worst Chael Sonnen can do to him is “outpoint” him at UFC on Fox 2.
Chael SonnensaysMichael Bisping “appears to be cocky and arrogant, which is two qualities that I like in a person.”
Following his first professional loss — a decision likely to be changed to a no contest due to a positive drug test by his opponent — 
Former 