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“King Mo” Lawal Fires Back at Critics

If you ask any honest MMA blogger to choose 4 words to describe what goes through their mind, prior to reading an interview with dudes like Chael Sonnen or “King Mo” Lawal, there’s a 90% chance they are ‘this-will-be-good.’ Sonnen’s gift for shocking gab has garnered him his own term with Fix for golden quotes, […]

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If you ask any honest MMA blogger to choose 4 words to describe what goes through their mind, prior to reading an interview with dudes like Chael Sonnen or “King Mo” Lawal, there’s a 90% chance they are ‘this-will-be-good.’ Sonnen’s gift for shocking gab has garnered him his own term with Fix for golden quotes, ‘Sonnens’, while Lawal continues to deliver in this respect, no doubt because the recently crowned Strikeforce champ is now receiving more well deserved coverage.

Yesterday we posted Lawal’s take on this weekend’s UFC 115 bout between Chuck Liddell and Rich Franklin, and the accomplished wrestler certainly didn’t wimp out on making a pick, stating outright he’s picking Liddell by KO. Well, in an interview posted today by Fight Hype, Lawal covers several topics candidly, including training with James Toney, his views that “Rampage” Jackson has slowed down, as well as, his favourable opinions of Rashad Evans. Where the interview gets particularly popcorn worthy, is when Lawal talks about himself and Evans being labelled by some, as ‘lay-and-pray’ fighters:

“That’s the UFC frat boy fans. They just want to see slugfests. If you want to see a slugfest, go to a bar. If you put two skilled fighters in there, you can’t get them to have a slugfest. You can get two mid-level fighters. If you want to see crisp stand-up, watch boxing. They hate to see someone with good stand-up come to MMA, like James Toney, but when someone like Rashad uses his wrestling, he is considered boring.”

To check out the rest of the interview, which trust us, doesn’t disappoint head here.

Junior Dos Santos vs. Roy Nelson Confirmed for UFC 117

While speaking with MMA Fix’s Dave Farra late last month, Roy Nelson did his best ‘can’t confirm-won’t deny- even a dimwitted Doberman can put this together’ act, indicating that he would most likely fight Junior Dos Santos next. Well, Mr. Nelson is a man of his ‘read between the lines’ word, as the UFC has […]

While speaking with MMA Fix’s Dave Farra late last month, Roy Nelson did his best ‘can’t confirm-won’t deny- even a dimwitted Doberman can put this together’ act, indicating that he would most likely fight Junior Dos Santos next. Well, Mr. Nelson is a man of his ‘read between the lines’ word, as the UFC has confirmed today that the heavyweight will indeed face the fellow contender Dos Santos, August 7^th at UFC 117.

So, there you have it, and with Matt Hughes vs. Ricardo Almeida already confirmed, the main card for the Oakland event has 3 pretty sweet bouts set. It will be interesting to see what kind of game plan Nelson comes out with. Now of course, both Brendan Schaub and Stefan Struve know all too well just how “Big Country” the TUF 10 winner’s fists can be, but Dos Santos also hasn’t had much trouble scrambling opponent’s consciousness with his striking. Someone should really bring Struve in on this as he should be the expert; Nelson bombed out the reedonkously tall Dutchman in 39 seconds, while Dos Santos needed 54 seconds…Wonder who Struve will be cheering for?

Dos Santos hasn’t really had his ground game tested thus far in the UFC, and while he trains with the Nogueira brothers and is reportedly pretty good on the mat, Mr. Nelson is a BJJ black belt (equipped with one of the finest bellies the sport has to offer…). Pretty damn important fight as the winner will probably get in line behind Cain Velasquez for a title shot.

“King Mo” Lawal Predicting Chuck Liddell by KO at UFC 115

If you’re a big time fan of Rich “Ace” Franklin (which is totally cool as long as you didn’t buy a copy of “Cyborg Soldier”) then you might be interested to know that Strikeforce Light-Heavyweight Champion Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal, is predicting that Chuck Liddell will KO the former middleweight champ at UFC 115. Now, […]

If you’re a big time fan of Rich “Ace” Franklin (which is totally cool as long as you didn’t buy a copy of “Cyborg Soldier”) then you might be interested to know that Strikeforce Light-Heavyweight Champion Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal, is predicting that Chuck Liddell will KO the former middleweight champ at UFC 115. Now, if you follow Strikeforce, you’re more than well aware that Lawal’s rapid ascension in the sport is not only due to his sick wrestling skills and developing MMA game; he’s also extremely ‘quotable.’

Speaking to Tap Out Radio (and thanks to Bloody Elbow for the tip); here is some of what Lawal had to say about this Saturday’s main event tilt:

“I got Chuck by knockout. Unless Rich decides to just stick and move, I think Chuck could catch him and hurt him.”…”Other than Nathan Quarry, who has Rich Franklin ever knocked out?”

“Rich’s chin has been always suspect because Rich has been hurt. He got hurt against Wanderlei and he did every dance move against Vitor Belfort. Vitor just clipped him, didn’t land anything solid.”

Interesting analysis. It does seem like Franklin’s hoping to take the bout into the later rounds, and one would think he’ll look to ‘stick and move.’ Maybe he’s hoping to repeat his ‘that left a mark ‘body-kick stoppage of Matt Hamill at UFC 88? At any rate, the debate about Franklin’s chin aside, not too many dudes have responded well to getting blasted with Liddell’s right hand. Should be a good one. To bet on it head here.

Josh Koscheck Wants Olympic Standard Drug Testing for GSP Bout

If Georges St. Pierre fans are sick to tears of having the UFC welterweight champ tossed into the ‘who’s on the juice’ gossip mill, they may have to invest in more mouchoir en papier (that tissue for you anglophone fans), as apparently this undead horse has survived all the GSP vs. BJ Penn II drama after […]

If Georges St. Pierre fans are sick to tears of having the UFC welterweight champ tossed into the ‘who’s on the juice’ gossip mill, they may have to invest in more mouchoir en papier (that tissue for you anglophone fans), as apparently this undead horse has survived all the GSP vs. BJ Penn II drama after all (when it took a real sh-t kicking). Looks like heading into the champ’s rematch with Josh Koscheck, performance enhancing drugs and even ‘grease gate’ are back on the table.

According to a report from MMA Junkie, while speaking at the TUF 12 media day recently (Kos and GSP are next season’s coaches for those of you testing the MMA waters), Koshcheck was quoted saying:

“B.J. Penn and his camp gave me a little phone call. They were saying, ‘Yeah, he’s on steroids. He’s this; he’s that.’ I said, ‘Yeah, there’s a possibility.’ The guy is pretty ripped all year round.”

“I would love to do it; why not?” Koscheck asked. “I think Olympic-style testing would be great for our sport. At least you do it a couple times out from the fight.”

Now of course, St. Pierre vehemently reiterated that he is innocent of all charges, and also stated his desire for Olympic standard drug testing, saying he would even “give my body to science.” Maybe if more rigorous testing is implemented this issue will finally die (although since when do people not talk about PEDs in the Olympics?). To read more about the recent back-and-forth head here.

Report: “JZ” Cavalcante Signs 4 Fight Deal With Strikeforce

It looks as though Strikeforce has added another notable fighter to its roster, as both MMA Junkie and FightHype are reporting that Gesias “JZ” Cavalcante has signed with the promotion. FightHype was the first to post news about the signing, and in a follow up story from MMA Junkie this afternoon, the outlet is reporting […]

It looks as though Strikeforce has added another notable fighter to its roster, as both MMA Junkie and FightHype are reporting that Gesias “JZ” Cavalcante has signed with the promotion. FightHype was the first to post news about the signing, and in a follow up story from MMA Junkie this afternoon, the outlet is reporting that Cavalcante has signed a one year, 4 fight deal, with Strikeforce.

Now, if you’re only familiar with those fighters that appear in UFC Undisputed, you may very well be asking ‘’who is “JZ” Cavalcante?” and “why should I give an eff?” Well, through 2006 and 2007, Cavalcante took the MMA world by storm, and more specifically Japan, as the American Top Team fighter won back-to-back lightweight grand-prixs will competing for K-1 Hero’s. In other words, at the time, JZ could proudly tell anyone at a cocktail party that he was ‘kind of a big deal.’ The last two years his career has been stifled a bit by injuries, as well as, by fighting dudes like Shinya Aoki and Tatsuya Kawajiri.

It could turn out that Cavalcante may not deliver on the hype that should accompany him into Strikeforce, similar to guys like Marius Zaromskis and the aforementioned Aoki, but then again, maybe he won’t face someone like Nick Diaz or Gilbert Melendez in his promotional debut. At any rate, it definitely could be a nice score for Strikeforce.

Demian Maia Believes Bout With Alan Belcher Next

After Alan Belcher’s recent ‘dude was that a f–kin piledrive?’ victory over Patrick Cote, the rising middleweight was quick to call out champion Anderson Silva, after all, Belcher has looked pretty damn impressive lately and clearly he knows it. Will he get the winner of the upcoming August 7th Silva vs. Chael Sonnen? Well, according […]

After Alan Belcher’s recent ‘dude was that a f–kin piledrive?’ victory over Patrick Cote, the rising middleweight was quick to call out champion Anderson Silva, after all, Belcher has looked pretty damn impressive lately and clearly he knows it. Will he get the winner of the upcoming August 7^th Silva vs. Chael Sonnen? Well, according to Demian Maia, the answer is ‘negativo.’ In a recent interview with the Brazilian MMA outlet Tatame.com, the jiu-jitsu champ said this, when asked if he could be facing Belcher next.

“It seems it will happen, that’s what I heard. I haven’t signed anything yet, but I believe he will be my opponent”

“Man, I’ve seen him fighting, once he fought in the same card as I did, I saw his last fight against (Patrick) Cote, he certainly is a tough guy, one of the tops of the division. For me, it’s an excellent thing to come back with a guy from his level.”

Now it remains to be seen how Belcher feels about possibly fighting a guy who, at least for a couple of rounds, was outgunned big time by Silva (we apologize if you’ve tried to erase the memories of UFC 112 from your mind). Really, in our less than humble opinion, Belcher should welcome it; Maia may still be a ways away in the stand-up game, but just ask Sonnen what happens if he gets you to the ground. To read the entire Tatame interview head here.