Tag: Muhammed Lawal

Bellator 110: Rampage vs. M’Pumbu Fight Card, TV Info, Predictions and More

Two of Bellator’s biggest stars and most recognizable fighters will be in action at Bellator 110 on Friday at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn.
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Muhammad “King Mo” Lawal have both had very decorated and distinguished MMA…

Two of Bellator‘s biggest stars and most recognizable fighters will be in action at Bellator 110 on Friday at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn.

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Muhammad “King Mo” Lawal have both had very decorated and distinguished MMA careers. The two men may be on a collision course in what would be one of the most hyped bouts in the promotion’s history.

Before that can happen, Rampage and King Mo have to take care of business against lesser-known competition on Friday. Here’s a look at the card, predictions and viewing information. Just after the table is a breakdown of the primary storylines to watch from the event.

 

Sophomore Jinx?

Rampage dispatched Joey Beltran in his first Bellator bout. Beltran was the perfect opponent for Jackson because he wouldn’t take him to the ground. Jackson is best when he’s standing and trading, and if M’Pumbu goes that route with him, he’ll likely meet a similar fate as Beltran.

The 36-year-old former Bellator light heavyweight champion does have some grappling skills, but chances are he won’t get an opportunity to display them.

Rampage vs. King Mo needs to happen somewhere down the line, and M’Pumbu isn’t good enough to throw things off course.

Riley Kontek of The MMA Corner agrees. He writes:

This fight is just a warmup for Rampage, who Bellator expects to be its champion once this tournament is over. He is bigger, more powerful, more experienced and more skilled than M’Pumbu. Rampage will keep this fight upright, walk M’Pumbu down, nail him with his fists and likely end this fight somewhat early.

 

Respect for the King

Many don’t realize just how much King Mo has accomplished in his MMA career. Because he’s never competed in the UFC, he’s never garnered the type of major attention that some of his contemporaries have.

He is one of five men to have held the Strikeforce light heavyweight title and he owns wins over Gegard Mousasi, Roger Gracie and Mark Kerr in his career.

On Friday, he’ll take on Mikhail Zayats, a Russian submissions specialist. He is a gold medalist in combat sambo from the 2008 Sambo World Championships.

Grappling might be Zayats‘ best plan of attack, but it won’t be easy. Lawal has never been submitted in his career. Once he’s able to ensure the fight is decided in the stand up, his power, speed and relentlessness will lead to a stoppage win for him.

Recently, King Mo talked about the prospects of fighting Rampage after the bout with Zayats with Alex Schlinsky of Fan Sided. King Mo said:

“If we fight, there is going to be beef again. Anytime there is money involved there is beef. I ain’t going to be cool with somebody who is trying to take my money. Why should I be cool with him?”

 

Richman Will Make it Exciting

Can Mike Richman continue his stunning and destructive ways on Friday? The featherweight is equally as dangerous as a striker and submissions fighter. He has seven KOs and seven submissions in his career. He often gets his opponents out of the fight quickly.

Of his 14 finishes, 13 of them came in the very first round. Based on that, his opponent Desmond Green could be in for a short night.

 

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@BMaziqueFPBR

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So Bellator Almost Definitely Screwed Attila Vegh Back in November

(Video via MMAFighting.com)

Bellator’s tenth season hasn’t even started yet and the company is already in the headlines for the wrong reasons.

Remember the highly suspicious bait-and-switch Bellator pulled in November 2013? The one where their light heavyweight champ Attila Vegh conveniently got “injured,” allowing Bellator to book a much-anticipated rematch between Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal and Emanuel Newton (who really should’ve adopted the nickname “Kingslayer” after defeating Mo the first time) for an interim title?

If you recall, Vegh said he wasn’t actually injured. Bellator disputed this, and then Vegh shut his mouth (maybe Bjorn Rebney threatened his dog).

Fast forward to yesterday, when Ariel Helwani interviewed Vegh in what looks like a dingy auto repair shop. Vegh spoke about the “injury,” but not before some prodding by Helwani.


(Video via MMAFighting.com)

Bellator’s tenth season hasn’t even started yet and the company is already in the headlines for the wrong reasons.

Remember the highly suspicious bait-and-switch Bellator pulled in November 2013? The one where their light heavyweight champ Attila Vegh conveniently got “injured,” allowing Bellator to book a much-anticipated rematch between Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal and Emanuel Newton (who really should’ve adopted the nickname “Kingslayer” after defeating Mo the first time) for an interim title?

If you recall, Vegh said he wasn’t actually injured. Bellator disputed this, and then Vegh shut his mouth (maybe Bjorn Rebney threatened his dog).

Fast forward to yesterday, when Ariel Helwani interviewed Vegh in what looks like a dingy auto repair shop. Vegh spoke about the “injury,” but not before some prodding by Helwani.

“I was injured,” Vegh maintained through a translator when first asked about the situation.

“I did have an injury before, but I was ready for the November fight,” he then said. “I wasn’t disappointed, but I was ready to fight.” He claimed to have “internal bleeding” from a kick to the rib cage.

Helwani kept pressing while Vegh and his translator nervously fiddled. He wanted to know why Vegh didn’t ask Bellator to book him in the fight against Newton since, after all, the Slovak was ready for the fight. Vegh channeled his inner Dana White with his response.

“No, I didn’t ask them,” he said. Why not? “Because.”

“I was ready just in case if somebody would be out or injured,” he explained. Then the discussion drifted to other, less interesting topics.

Let’s get this straight. According to Vegh, the CHAMPION (Vegh) was relegated to being an alternate for an INTERIM title fight. Wow. Is that the most Bellator thing that’s ever happened? We’re not definitively saying Bellator screwed Vegh, but the situation sounds fishy to us, especially in light of this interview.

It’s also concerning that Bellator’s stable of fighters seems rife with discontent. Featherweight champ Daniel Straus was pissed off about former champ Pat Curran getting an immediate rematch. Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, Bellator mainstay, earned a title shot by winning the season 9 welterweight tournament. Yet this recently booked rematch denies him of that. He was furious.

Bellator: Where title shots are earned, not given…unless you’re not quite as marketable or well known as somebody else. Then we’ll give you a title shot.

Bellator 106: Does Muhammed ‘King Mo’ Lawal Have the Lowest Fight IQ in MMA?

MMA fans who predicted the rematch between Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal and Emmanuel Newton were almost certainly on the same page. King Mo would look to use his wrestling more, while Newton would seek to avoid the takedown.
In the early going of their Bel…

MMA fans who predicted the rematch between Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal and Emmanuel Newton were almost certainly on the same page. King Mo would look to use his wrestling more, while Newton would seek to avoid the takedown.

In the early going of their Bellator 106 matchup on Saturday, that appeared to be the case. Lawal came out and utilized his superior wrestling en route to an easy 10-9 round. However, it would be the last time Lawal was the clear-cut winner of any round.

It was strange to see him abandon his wrestling game after seemingly finding it once again with his recent victories. Sure, Lawal still mistook himself for the next Floyd Mayweather at times, but in the end he still relied on his wrestling base, which—if you look at his credentials—is among the best in MMA today.

There was hope we’d see King Mo use his talents as the Bellator cameras showed him warming up. He appeared to be looking to close the distance off missed attacks. Even Bellator’s Jimmy Smith hyped up Lawal’s wrestling credentials by proclaiming that he could have achieved great success on the international level in wrestling.

I’m not “in the know” of the international wrestling scene enough to know whether this was hyperbole or a fact, but I do know King Mo was a pretty good collegiate wrestler.

Apparently the one man who doesn’t know King Mo is an accomplished wrestler or enjoyed an immense grappling edge over Newton is Lawal himself.

After the first round that saw Lawal land three of his four takedown attempts along with some nice strikes on the ground, he attempted only nine more takedowns. Many of them were half-hearted attempts, and one of them was a reaction to getting rocked by a head kick from Newton.

Lawal also landed only a single strike on the ground after the first round. That’s right, one total strike on the ground in 20 minutes of fighting. 

Now it would be one thing if Lawal was dominating Newton on the feet, but as the CompuStrike stats show, Newton edged him out in the stand-up as well. It should be noted that only two minutes and 47 seconds of the 25-minute fight were spent on the mat.

You could see the frustration on the part of Lawal’s cornerman, Roy Nelson, as he urged Lawal to stop messing around and put Newton away. That never happened, and for as much trash talking both sides did coming into the bout, the actual fight looked like a sparring session in any local MMA gym.

Lawal has fallen into the trap of loving the knockout. We’ve seen a number of talented wrestlers avoid their grappling game in favor of the knockout, and why not—it’s a lot easier to knock a fighter out in MMA than to grind out a fight with takedowns.

But when Lawal completely ignores his best asset, his camp needs to address it. It’s one thing if he’s dropping people with one-punch, vicious KO power, but Lawal shouldn’t be struggling to beat guys like Newton.

Or maybe we’ve simply overrated Lawal as a fighter? He does have only one win over respectable competition after all, and even that fight was marred in controversy as Gegard Mousasi arguably won with his activity from the bottom.

Or maybe the knee injuries took a lot out of him in his grappling game? Lawal badly injured his knee in his loss to Rafael Cavalcante and took some time to return to the fight game. Look no further than Mauricio “Shogun” Rua as an example of how knee injuries can affect a fighter’s ability in the cage.

I’m not sure what it is, but I do know none of that affects a man’s fight IQ. It’s the same as Tom Brady attempting to run a read-option play; yes, it’s different, but it takes away from his biggest asset. Instead of trying to be flashy and look for a one-punch KO, Lawal (and his career) would be better served by winning impressively.

To do that he has to go back to his roots and capitalize on his wrestling game—an area he’ll enjoy an advantage in against nearly everyone he’ll meet inside the Bellator cage.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Post-Bellator 106 News Roundup: Bjorn Rebney Plans Another PPV, Alvarez Tweets Picture of F*cked Up Eye, and More


(The purple hue really brings out the chestnut color of Alvarez’s eyebrows. / via twitter)

The best Sundays are post-event Sundays. There’s tons of great articles to read about the valiant, violent displays of physical fortitude that occurred the night before.

Usually, there’s not enough interest in a Bellator card to warrant a slew of interesting sound bites and pictures. But Bellator 106 was different. Bellator 106 was the canceled PPV that became one of the most important free, non-UFC televised cards in MMA history. Let’s look at some of the fallout, the crucial and the just plain cool.

Dana White, predictably, had nothing positive to say about Bellator 106 (but that’s not just because he’s a jerk; the show really wasn’t that great). Bjorn Rebney responded to Dana’s comments about karmic justice like a shady Winnebago salesman, saying “If karma is that we just put on the best mixed martial arts fight I’ve ever seen, that’s karma I’ll take big boatloads of.”

Rebney had some other important statements. He pessimistically dismissed the future of Bellator’s “Ultimate Fighter” knockoff “Fight Master.” Typical of post-Viacom buyout Bellator, Rebney didn’t do this without taking a shot at the UFC.

“Reality fight TV is having its difficulties now. You can see it in the UFC’s ratings, they’re having the lowerst-rated TUF they’ve had in the history of the show,” he said (he was right, by the way).

Read about Bellator’s next PPV, King Mo’s surprising salary, and more after the jump.


(The purple hue really brings out the chestnut color of Alvarez’s eyebrows. / via twitter)

The best Sundays are post-event Sundays. There’s tons of great articles to read about the valiant, violent displays of physical fortitude that occurred the night before.

Usually, there’s not enough interest in a Bellator card to warrant a slew of interesting sound bites and pictures. But Bellator 106 was different. Bellator 106 was the canceled PPV that became one of the most important free, non-UFC televised cards in MMA history. Let’s look at some of the fallout, the crucial and the just plain cool.

Dana White, predictably, had nothing positive to say about Bellator 106 (but that’s not just because he’s a jerk; the show really wasn’t that great). Bjorn Rebney responded to Dana’s comments about karmic justice like a shady Winnebago salesman, saying “If karma is that we just put on the best mixed martial arts fight I’ve ever seen, that’s karma I’ll take big boatloads of.”

Rebney had some other important statements. He pessimistically dismissed the future of Bellator’s “Ultimate Fighter” knockoff “Fight Master.” Typical of post-Viacom buyout Bellator, Rebney didn’t do this without taking a shot at the UFC.

“Reality fight TV is having its difficulties now. You can see it in the UFC’s ratings, they’re having the lowerst-rated TUF they’ve had in the history of the show,” he said (he was right, by the way).

But Rebney couldn’t continue his streak of smart post-fight quotes—he all but flat-out said that he’s planning another PPV for Bellator…because it went so well the first time. He said he wouldn’t put Chandler-Alvarez III on free TV unless he had his brains removed, which is funny because your brain (or at least part of it) would have to be removed to think putting Tito Ortiz vs. Rampage Jackson on a PPV in 2013 was a good idea.

Presumably, Chandler-Alvarez III would serve as this hypothetical PPV’s main event. That’s great because Bellator would be promoting it’s own stars rather than UFC castoffs, which is what a lot of fans and writers want. But if Bellator 106 showed anything, it was that Bellator doesn’t have the supporting cast to make a PPV worth $45, no matter how exciting the main event promises to be.

On the lighter side of things (and it’s interesting commentary on MMA that a fighter tweeting a picture of his injured face is the lighter side), Eddie Alvarez shared a picture of his stitched-up, swollen eye. The shiner was probably worth the $160,000 Alvarez earned though; he was the highest paid fighter of the night.

Interestingly (and sadly), King Mo only made $10,000 despite being one of the most well-known fighters on the card. For reference, low-level journeyman Hector “Sick Dog” Ramirez (the very same Hector Ramirez that Forrest Griffin won a boring decision over way back at UFC 72) made $7,000 to lose on the prelims. Guess it’s not so good to be the king—unless you count meeting former WCW champ Diamond Dallas Page after the fight as part of Mo’s kingly benefits (which is pretty cool).

That’s all for now. Soak it up, because there might not be another Bellator news roundup until their next PPV.

Bellator 106 Recap: Alvarez Edges Chandler, Newton Picks Apart King Mo, Riggs Becomes The “Fight Master”


(Photo via Tracy Lee/CombatLifestyle.com)

Bellator should be thankful that this card never made it to PPV; the main event was incredible but paying $45 for the rest of the card would’ve turned people off to Bellator for life.

The night started off promising. Mike “The Marine” Richman met Akop Stepanyan and won via TKO in the first round. The match was well fought and exciting.

The same couldn’t be said for the next fight on the card: Joe Riggs vs. Mike Bronzoulis. The two men fought for the honor of being Bellator’s first “Fight Master” winner, a title as dubious as being the first XFL champion. Riggs won a wrestling-heavy decision that sedated the crowd and likely had television audience flipping channels.

Pat Curran vs. Daniel Straus, the first of three title fights on the card, followed Riggs-Bronzoulis. This fight didn’t wow viewers either. There were a few spurts of action — as well as a point-deduction for an illegal knee that essentially KO’d Straus in the third round — but it was a generally lackluster affair that saw Straus take Curran’s featherweight title and in doing so avenge his 2009 loss to Curran.

But Straus wasn’t the only fighter looking to avenge a loss at Bellator 106. Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal sought victory over Emanuel Newton, who humiliated Lawal with a spinning backfist knockout back at Bellator 90. Lawal failed in this task.


(Photo via Tracy Lee/CombatLifestyle.com)

Bellator should be thankful that this card never made it to PPV; the main event was incredible but paying $45 for the rest of the card would’ve turned people off to Bellator for life.

The night started off promising. Mike “The Marine” Richman met Akop Stepanyan and won via TKO in the first round. The match was well fought and exciting.

The same couldn’t be said for the next fight on the card: Joe Riggs vs. Mike Bronzoulis. The two men fought for the honor of being Bellator’s first “Fight Master” winner, a title as dubious as being the first XFL champion. Riggs won a wrestling-heavy decision that sedated the crowd and likely had television audience flipping channels.

Pat Curran vs. Daniel Straus, the first of three title fights on the card, followed Riggs-Bronzoulis. This fight didn’t wow viewers either. There were a few spurts of action — as well as a point-deduction for an illegal knee that essentially KO’d Straus in the third round — but it was a generally lackluster affair that saw Straus take Curran’s featherweight title and in doing so avenge his 2009 loss to Curran.

But Straus wasn’t the only fighter looking to avenge a loss at Bellator 106. Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal sought victory over Emanuel Newton, who humiliated Lawal with a spinning backfist knockout back at Bellator 90. Lawal failed in this task. He looked impressive with his takedowns and pressure early on, but faded fast, and began looking at the clock and taking deep breaths more than he was blocking punches. As the contest stumbled into the championship rounds, Newton gassed too. The latter half of the fight wasn’t Houston Alexander-Kimbo Slice bad but it was getting to that point. Newton won via unanimous decision and earned a shady, gimmick interim title. 

The main event saved the night. Eddie Alvarez and Michael Chandler attempted to rip one another apart for our entertainment (and for money, of course). Their fight rivaled Diego Sanchez-Gilbert Melendez in terms of excitement; it was equally action-packed but far more competitive. Chandler had the upper hand at some points, but it was Alvarez who was just a little quicker, landed a little more, and was a little more aware. The judges awarded Alvarez with a split-decision victory — to Bjorn Rebney’s apparent dismay — but the match took a lot out of both fighters.

The aftermath? Let’s just say Bellator really lucked out that this wasn’t put on PPV. The fights, on the whole, weren’t entertaining enough to warrant a price tag. Even worse, cherished “star” King Mo lost to a fighter many deemed beneath his level in Emanuel Newton for the second time. The positive fallout is that with an Alvarez victory, Bellator has at least one title fight to book that people actually want to see now: A rubber match between Alvarez and Chandler.

Here are the complete results for Bellator 106:

Main Card

Eddie Alvarez def. Michael Chandler via split decision (48-47, 47-48, 48-47)
Emanuel Newton def. Muhammed Lawal via unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-46)
Daniel Straus def Pat Curran via unanimous decision (49-45, 48-46, 48-46)
Joe Riggs def. Mike Bronzoulis via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Mike Richman def. Akop Stepanyan via TKO, 4:05 of round 1

Preliminary Card

Cristiano Souza def. Alejandro Garcia via submission (rear naked choke), 3:06 of round 3
Brandon Halsey def. Hector Ramirez via TKO, 0:52 of round 1
Mike Guymon def. Aaron Miller via submission (triangle choke), 4:20 of round 2
Cleber Luciano def. Joe Camacho via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Josh Smith def. Darren Smith via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

‘King Mo’ Talks Emanuel Newton Rematch, Pro Wrestling, UFC & Fighter Rankings

Former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Muhammed Lawal is looking to add another piece of hardware to his trophy case when he rematches Emanuel Newton for the interim Bellator 205-pound strap at Bellator 106 this Saturday. 
When asked how he…

Former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Muhammed Lawal is looking to add another piece of hardware to his trophy case when he rematches Emanuel Newton for the interim Bellator 205-pound strap at Bellator 106 this Saturday. 

When asked how he envisions this fight going, “King Mo” was succinct in his answer. 

“It’s a different fight, and it will be a different outcome,” Lawal told Bleacher Report over the phone. “I got a little reckless the first time, and that won’t happen again.”

Newton pulled off a massive upset at Bellator 90 in February, knocking out Lawal with a spinning backfist mid-way through the first round. 

Since then, Newton won a hard fought battle against Mikhail Zayats in March, while Lawal earned back-to-back TKO’s over Seth Petruzelli and Jacob Noe in June and July, respectively.

Therefore, a second encounter between the two competitors was inevitable. 

Waiting in the wings for the winner is Bellator light heavyweight champion Attila Vegh, who boasts a nine-fight win streak and is just as dangerous standing (10 knockouts) as he is on the ground (11 submission). 

Nevertheless, Lawal isn’t sweating a potential title unification bout with Vegh. 

“I think I match up well and (I’d) beat him,” he said. “He’s good at changing foot stances and (throwing) volume punches … he’s well-rounded. But I can mix it up and keep him guessing,” indicating he could win the fight with either his wrestling or his striking. 

The former Division I All-American collegiate wrestler was also willing to talk about several matters not related to Bellator 106, including his time spent learning the trade of professional wrestling at Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), a developmental league that is owned by Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling.

“I like it, it’s just hard. (There is) so much to remember, so much to learn. People think pro wrestling is easy…you got guys that have been wrestling for years and are still in pro wrestling school after seven or eight years of training,” Lawal explained.

“I don’t want to step in the ring until I’ve mastered each technical piece I’m missing. If I rush, I can look real bad. … I want to be ready,” he said refusing to put a timeline on his TNA debut.

As he has stated in the past, the American Kickboxing Academy fighter reiterated that he is “definitely interested in working with (Quinton) ‘Rampage’ (Jackson)” inside the pro wrestling ring.

Rampage, a former PRIDE star and UFC champion, made his debut with TNA on June 6, joining the The New Main Event Mafia faction and feuding with fellow UFC castoff Tito Ortiz.

Ortiz vs. Rampage was set to headline Bellator 106 this weekend on pay-per-view, but as fight fans know all too well now, things don’t always work out as planned, per MMA Fighting.  

After Lawal was released from his Strikeforce contract last March due to a spat with the Nevada State Athletic Commission, fans and analysts alike assumed he would eventually end up inside the Bellator cage. 

When asked by Bleacher Report if he had any interest in finishing his career inside the Octagon, the heavy-handed wrestler gave a thought-provoking response. 

“I don’t care. I’m happy with Bellator. I could’ve went to the UFC if I felt like waiting…but I didn’t feel like waiting. I choose Bellator,” Lawal said.

“Every organization has great fighters. You can’t make it about the organization, you have to make it about the fighters. Look at boxing: Adrien Broner, Omar Figueroa, Juan Manuel Marquez. … If you aren’t repping Golden Boy (Promotions), that immediately means you’re a bad fighter?”

“No, who cares. If you’re a fan of the fighter, you’re a fighter. It shouldn’t matter which promotion they’re competing in.” 

Finally, Lawal was asked how he stacked up against the best light heavyweights in the sport, such as UFC champ Jon Jones and top contenders Alexander Gustafsson, Phil Davis and Daniel Cormier. 

While the five-year veteran of the cage did not address anyone directly, he made it clear that he is both confident in his skills and not a big fan of current MMA rankings. 

“I feel like I can beat anybody. The rankings are kind of a joke. Rankings don’t mean anything at all,” Lawal stated.

“There could be a stud from Guam who could whoop anyone’s ass, but we just don’t know about him now. There are no true comprehensive rankings in MMA. In other sports like football or basketball, we can see athletes climb the ranks through High school, college and then professional leagues.”

“Then there’s a Pro Bowl, All-Star Game, where the best of the best can really show off their talent. In MMA, I could go to Kentucky, find a dude working on farm, give him a weight program, a good diet, a training regime…and he could turn pro (in MMA).”

Lawal also cited Olympic-level, pro style boxing, prior to headgear being worn in the 1984 Los Angeles games, as the perfect way to determine “the cream of the crop” among fighters. 

Lawal vs. Newton II is the third main card bout at Bellator 106, marking one of three championship bouts on the Spike TV event. 

 

John Heinis is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA Editor for eDraft.com.

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