Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal returned to action Wednesday, June 19th, for the first time since his devastating loss to Emmanuel Newton back in February. It took him all of one minute and 35 seconds to return to the win column, as he knock…
Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal returned to action Wednesday, June 19th, for the first time since his devastating loss to Emmanuel Newton back in February. It took him all of one minute and 35 seconds to return to the win column, as he knocked out Seth Petruzelli in the main event of Bellator 96 at Winstar World Casino in Thackerville, Oklahoma.
After Lawal collided heads with Petruzelli on his first takedown attempt, referee “Big” John McCarthy briefly called a halt to the action.
After the restart, Lawal landed a takedown—something he hadn’t done his last two fights—which led to him standing up in Petruzelli’s open guard. From there, the former Oklahoma State Cowboy threw both of his opponent’s legs to the side to pass before landing the vicious over-hand right that would end the fight:
Petruzelli had talked a lot of trash leading up to the fight, saying he would spoil Bellator’s plans for Lawal to become a champion. Lawal is no stranger to running his mouth, but he didn’t have much of a response to Petruzelli’s pre-fight talk, letting his hands do the talking instead.
The AKA (American Kickboxing Academy) fighter is now 2-1 inside the promotion; he needed a win to avoid further criticism after his embarrassing defeat to Newton back at Bellator 90. Many media members panned Lawal for being overconfident and cocky before getting caught with Newton’s spinning-back fist.
Viacom has invested quite a bit in Lawal, and it would’ve been even harder to promote him in Bellator as well as TNA had he lost back-to-back fights at this juncture of the newest chapter in his career.
“King Mo” will now advance to the finals of the summer series four-man tournament where he will take on Jacob Noe. Noe was also victorious at Bellator 96, by third-round TKO over Renato “Babalu” Sobral.
He may not have said much about Petruzelli, but Lawal had plenty of disdain for Noe during the post-fight press conference:
“I didn’t know when the fight was going to end, but I knew I was going to stop him, and I did,” Lawal said.
He went on to talk about the Noe fight:
But now it’s time for me to fight Jacob Noe. Noe, No, I don’t know, I don’t care. I don’t like him, admitted Lawal. I don’t like the gym he trains at. He’s fake. He talked a lot of trash behind my back. I hope he’s here listening, you all can tell him this because I’m going to beat the brakes off him. I’m going to whip his ass so bad, I’m going to retire him.
The two finalists will meet on July 31 at the Santa Ana Star Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The summer series tournament champion will earn the right to face the winner of the light heavyweight championship bout between current champ Attila Vegh and season eight tournament-winner Newton.
Those two will likely square off at some point during season nine this fall.
Michael Stets is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes were obtained first hand unless otherwise noted.
Redemption was the theme of the night as Bellator kicked off its 2013 Summer Series in Thackerville, Okla.Highly touted light heavyweight contender Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal returned to action for the first time since his stunning knockout loss to Emanu…
Redemption was the theme of the night as Bellator kicked off its 2013 Summer Series in Thackerville, Okla.
Highly touted light heavyweight contender Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal returned to action for the first time since his stunning knockout loss to Emanuel Newton back in February. The former Strikeforce champion was a shoe-in to run the table in the 205-pound tournament. After his misstep in the second round, Lawal came into Bellator 96 looking to not only get back into the win column, but make a statement in the process against Seth Petruzelli.
And that is exactly what he did. While the king may have stumbled previously, on Wednesday night, he returned to the throne with a thundering knockout over the “Silverback.”
The other half of the redemption theme was carried by Renato “Babalu” Sobral. Unfortunately for the savvy veteran, he wasn’t able to stop the backslide, and Sobral came out on the business end of his tilt with Jacob Noe.
Plenty of action of all varieties were to be had at the Winstar World Casino, and let’s take a look at the good, bad and strange from the event.
The Good
No fighter under the Bellator banner needed a big win more than Muhammed Lawal. The organization has pumped a significant amount of time and money into promoting the former All-American wrestler, and the pressure was on “King Mo” to deliver.
When the cage door closed and the action got underway, Lawal once again proved why he is the fighter to watch on the Bellator roster. After putting Petruzelli on his back, the former Oklahoma State wrestling standout clipped his opponent’s power switch with a brutal left hand from top position.
Petruzelli received a stiff case of the “robot arms,” and Lawal got back into the win column.
While Bellator’s heavyweight division is typically the basis for chuckles around the MMA community, two bright spots were on display on Wednesday night.
Undefeated Russian Vitaly Minakov kept his record untarnished as he knocked the stuffing out of Ron Sparks on the televised portion of the card. The Kentucky native charged forward and paid the price as a blistering right hand from Minakov laid Sparks flat on the canvas. With the victory, Minakov will move on to face a fighter who has been a pleasant surprise inside the Bellator cage in Ryan Martinez.
Following his upset knockout victory over Travis Wiuff back in March, the heavy-handed 25-year-old stepped up on short notice to fight Rich Hale at Bellator 96. While the fight started with a brief feeling-out period, it didn’t take long for Martinez to complete his night of work as he pounded out Hale on the canvas.
The victory over Hale makes it three consecutive wins under the Bellator banner and eight out of the past nine for Martinez.
The final entry into the category comes courtesy of War Machine. The mercurial veteran finally made his long-awaited debut inside the Bellator cage on Wednesday night, and after shaking off the rust of a year-long layoff, the 31-year-old made good on his debut by scoring a stoppage victory over Blas Avena.
With everything he’s been through outside of the cage, the victory over Avena should lift the weight off War Machine’s shoulders for the time being.
The Bad
There was no hiding the fact Renato “Babalu” Sobral had a lot on the line going into his fight with Jacob Noe. The 37-year-old Brazilian was coming off a disappointing knockout loss to Mikhail Zayats back in January and needed to a victory at Bellator 96 to keep the pulse on his career.
While “Babalu” started out with solid footwork and landing clean shots, he was also taking bombs as well, and those punches began to take their toll early in the third round. Despite his opponent showing major signs of fatigue, Sobral continued to wade into heavy punches and eventually ate one too many midway through the round.
After catching a left hook from Noe, Sobral took his eyes off his opponent to look at the fight clock just as a right-hand bomb from Noe found its mark. The punch caused Sobral to stumble around the cage, and because of his condition, the referee stepped in and called off the fight.
The loss makes it two straight for Sobral and three of his past four. While it wasn’t shown on the broadcast, cageside commentator Randy Couture announced the former PRIDE and UFC veteran ceremoniously retired after the bout.
Although Seth Petruzelli wasn’t included in the night’s ongoing redemption theme, he was certainly in need of a big showing on Wednesday night.
The 33-year-old Florida native has competed in nearly every major MMA promotion to hit the states in the past decade and has failed to gain traction in any of them. Coming into his bout against Lawal at Bellator 96, Petruzelli had an opportunity to make his mark on Bellator in a major way.
Despite mocking Lawal’s king theme at the weigh-ins and putting forward strong words in the pre-fight build-up, Petruzelli had little to offer once the action began. Lawal was able to put him on the canvas with ease, and after one huge shot with Petruzelli’s back on the mat, the “Kimbo Killer’s” night ended violently.
The Strange
I’m all for hyping up different aspects of a fighter for promotional reasons, but touting Sobral as an “MMA legend” is a tough bit to swallow. Don’t get me wrong, Sobral has absolutely stepped into the cage with a collection of the best fighters to ever compete in mixed martial arts, but losing to great fighters doesn’t make you a legend—at least in my opinion.
Following his loss to Zayats, Bellator could have easily dropped said tagline from his promo and the world would’ve been right again. But that didn’t happen, and once again, Sobral failed to advance in the light heavyweight tournament, leaving Bellator’s promotion of him as an MMA legend to serve as fodder to be written about.
Also, it is never a good thing to shove a referee inside the cage, and Sobral’s post-fight antics and fight night showing were a bad look to end his MMA career.
One of the key missions for Bellator’s production on Wednesday was to promote its new fighter-based reality program Fight Masters. Throughout the broadcast, the show’s four coaches sat in as guest commentators and called the action alongside the regular team.
While the revolving cast did a solid job during the bouts, the camera shots in between fights left something to be desired. Showing coach Frank Shamrock with a cocktail in hand as he cut it up with his fellow coaches was certainly something that could have been avoided.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for a good time, but when you’re on location to work—even intermittently—maybe you instruct the stars of your new series to wait to enjoy an adult beverage or two until after the live television broadcast is over.
MMA’s Great Debate Radio is back with all new guests and debate topics, including interviews with “King” Mo Lawal and Bellator Fight Master coaches Greg Jackson and Joe Warren, plus debate about the fallout from UFC 161. Lawal joins the show today to p…
MMA‘s Great Debate Radio is back with all new guests and debate topics, including interviews with “King” Mo Lawal and Bellator Fight Master coaches Greg Jackson and Joe Warren, plus debate about the fallout from UFC 161.
Lawal joins the show today to preview his fight on Wednesday night against Seth Petruzelli, while also discussing the recent addition of Quinton “Rampage” Jackson to the Bellator roster and his recent loss to Emanuel Newton.
Bellator‘s Fight Master reality show also kicks off on Wednesday, and today we welcome two of the coaches from the show.
Joe Warren talks about being the youngest coach on the show and sharing space with three legendary names in the industry, while Greg Jackson explains why Fight Master is a much different experience than anything fans have seen on The Ultimate Fighter.
Finally, today’s debate topics heat up with discussion about UFC 161, Roy Nelson’s future and much more.
Today’s debate topics include:
—How would you rate UFC 161 as a whole on a scale of 1-10?
—Do you believe Roy Nelson will return to the UFC following his loss last Saturday night?
—Can Bellator find the same kind of success through Fight Master that the UFC did through The Ultimate Fighter?
This is MMA’s Great Debate Radio for Wednesday, June 19, 2013
It’s been six months since former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion “King” Mo Lawal made his debut with Bellator, and while not everything has gone right inside the cage, life is good on the outside. Lawal inked his deal with the promotion after h…
It’s been six months since former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion “King” Mo Lawal made his debut with Bellator, and while not everything has gone right inside the cage, life is good on the outside.
Lawal inked his deal with the promotion after his release from Strikeforce last year, but his contract with Bellator was unlike anything else that had ever been done in the industry up to that point.The deal points including a long-term fight contract with Bellator, along with a deal to begin his pro-wrestling career at TNA Impact Wrestling.
Since he signed with the promotion, he’s seen his fair share of fighters bashing Bellator like it’s the fun thing to do right now.He’s watched former Bellator champion Eddie Alvarez’s contract situation unfold while fans and journalists alike have jumped on the bandwagon to slam the promotion for their perceived mistreatment of athletes.
The fact is, according to Lawal, there’s always going to be disgruntled employees—whether it’s in Bellator, the UFC or players making millions of dollars in the NFL.
“Not everybody can be happy,” Lawal told Bleacher Report recently.“There’s guys that are unhappy in the UFC, but just won’t speak out.”
Despite the fact that he no longer works with Zuffa (parent company of the UFC), who he fought for while competing under the Strikeforce brand, Lawal still cherishes the time he spent with the promotion.He’s now even happier to be competing for Bellator and pursuing his dream as a pro wrestler in TNA.
To hear Lawal explain it, some places are just a better fit for certain fighters.That’s why he was happy to welcome in former UFC fighter Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, who will join him on the Bellator and TNA rosters later this year.
“You can’t please everybody.With me, I had a great time at Strikeforce, I’m having a lovely time with TNA and Bellator,” Lawal said.“I’ll speak on me, I’m loving it.You can ask Joe Warren, he’s loving it.Ask Rampage, I told him you made the best move.I texted him and was like this is the best move you could have made, dog. Now you’ll be treated like a human being and you’re going to be respected.”
Respect is the key word for Lawal when talking about his promoters at Bellator.They treat him like a professional athlete, and he appreciates everything they’ve done for him thus far.
Lawal knows, however, the same can’t be said for some fans who are going to make up their opinions about him or Bellator, and there’s just no changing some people.
“You’re going to be respected by your co-workers and the people you work for—the fans f—k them,” Lawal stated emphatically.“Because some fans, the ones that are positive, show them love.I ain’t got time for negativity just like (Rampage) doesn’t have time for negativity.You just block the haters out.”
The “haters,” as Lawal puts it, came out in full force when he lost his last fight to Emanuel Newton back in February.The fight was supposed to be Lawal‘s path to the Bellator tournament finals, where he would then earn a shot at the light heavyweight title.
Instead, Lawal was a victim of a devastating spinning back fist knockout that landed him on the wrong end of a highlight reel that even made it to Joe Rogan’s podcast when he just so happened to be interviewing UFC President Dana White at the time.
The loss doesn’t necessarily haunt Lawal the way that some defeats always pop up for a fighter, but he’s not exactly letting it go either.
“After I lost that fluke match to (Emanuel) Newton, granted congratulations throwing the spinning back fist.You just threw it, you didn’t know, but whatever I got caught,” Lawal said about the loss.“The fact that he said he looked over his shoulder before throwing the spinning back first?Please.Get out of here with that.Come on.Like he’s Neo from The Matrix or something.”
One day soon, Lawal knows he will cross paths with Newton again, and he plans for a much different outcome in the rematch.
“I want it.The thing is my goal is to get that belt.So if I have to whoop his ass to get the belt, that would be even better,” Lawal said about Newton.“If he loses to Attila Vegh, and he has to fight his way to get to me, then he’ll get an ass whooping when he gets to me. Eventually, I will see him.”
Lawal will be starting back on his path to the title on Wednesday, and to borrow a page from his pro-wrestling personality, he quoted the infamous legend Ric Flair for his inspiration to get back to the Bellator gold.
“We’re in Bellator—you have to beat the man to be the man,” Lawal said.“I know it’s going to happen.”
Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report, and all quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
They say time heals all wounds, and that seems to be the case between new Bellator stable mates Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal. In 2009, Rampage and Lawal infamously argued while they were riding in a van together, yelling and c…
They say time heals all wounds, and that seems to be the case between new Bellator stable mates Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal.
In 2009, Rampage and Lawalinfamously argued while they were riding in a van together, yelling and cursing at one another for the better part of five minutes.
From then on out, the two fighters exchanged a war of words through the media, until they finally sat down again a few years later to put the ill will behind him.
Jackson recently signed a new deal, similar to the same one that Lawal signed last year, that allows for him to compete in Bellator for mixed martial arts while also pursuing a career in professional wrestling under the TNA brand.
So now that both fighters are competing under the same company, will the old rivalry come back to life for what could be one of the biggest fights in Bellator history?
“I talked to Mo and it only makes sense that Mo’s an MMA fighter, he’s a wrestler. I’m a MMA fighter, I’m a wrestler, we both going into pro wrestling. Me and Mo are actually thinking about teaming up and being tag team partners over there in TNA. I think we could change the game up,” Rampage said about Lawal during a media conference call on Wednesday. “We didn’t see eye to eye in the past, I thought I was going to have to put a whopping up on Mo, I ain’t going to lie.
“Mo is actually a cool guy. I can only take him for small periods of time, but we tag team partners. Maybe that will bring two different types of guys together, who knows might end up being best friends one day.”
Lawal, who recently had his first pro wrestling match after training at Ohio Valley Wrestling in Kentucky, said that he was happy to hear Rampage was coming to Bellator and the plans of them teaming up in the squared circle are in the works.
“I’m with it, we’ve just got to find a tag team name. I’ve got finishers and everything lined up.I’m excited,” Lawal told Bleacher Report.“I’m thinking we’re going to be a combination of Powers of Pain, mixed with Demolition, mixed with Harlem Heat, and part Steiner Brothers.”
Lawal went on to say that in his opinion, landmark deals like the ones that he and Rampage scored that allow them to fight while pursuing other interests are good for mixed martial arts as a whole.Lawal is well aware that he can’t fight forever, and the opportunities provided for him in his recent deal will give him something to build a career on after the cage door closes for the last time.
“Here’s the thing, I’m excited because I feel if Rampage can get a deal like that, and I’ve got a good deal, I feel like more and more MMA fighters can get a deal like that to become fighters as well as entertainers on the other end,” Lawal stated.
“Some guys think ‘oh I want to be a fighter’, but once you’re done fighting what are you going to do next?What are you going to do?Open a gym?Start a clothing line?That’s all been done and some people do good and some people don’t.”
As of now, it seems that Rampage and Lawal have not only put their previous beef to bed, they’ve actually become friends who will look to pursue a future in pro wrestling together as teammates.
That won’t interfere with a potential fight, however, according to Lawal.Fighting is a business just like any other sport, and if he has to face Rampage in the Bellator cage, then that’s what will happen.
“It’s part of the business.Al Snow (trainer at Ohio Valley Wrestling) told me this, he said Mo in the combat game or in pro wrestling, it takes two to make money,” Lawal said.“I don’t dislike nobody in the fight game. I don’t have no enemies in the fight game. I’m happy for everybody.Jon Jones got a Nike deal, congratulations.Johny Hendricks and Rampage are with Reebok, hell yeah get that money. I want everybody to get that money, because eventually when you stop fighting you’ve got to find other ways.You can’t fight forever.
“I want everybody to do good. So if me and Rampage have to fight to make money, it’s part of the business.At that same time we’ve got the pro wrestling to fall back on.Anything’s possible, it’s all business.I’m open to it. I’m just happy he’s with Viacom, Spike TV, Bellator and TNA, I’m happy about all of that.”
Rampage echoed the same when speaking about a fight with Lawal. If it’s what the fans want to see, then they’ll step in the cage and trade leather like any other fight.There’s no need for it to be personal anymore.
“We may be tag team in pro wrestling, but if it works out and we can give the fans what they want, maybe we’ll fight each other and then we’ll fight each other,” Rampage said.
Right now a fight between Rampage and Lawal isn’t on the map because both are doing different things in their careers.Lawal is preparing for a showdown with Seth Petruzelli on June 19 as the kickoff to the new Bellator summer series and a light heavyweight tournament.Meanwhile, Rampage will make his TNA wrestling debut on Spike TV on Thursday night.
It’s good to know, however, that two of Bellator‘s biggest stars are both on board for being great friends outside the cage and temporary enemies inside the cage.
Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report, and all quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
The first full fight weekend of June is here, and the UFC will be there to kick it off with their 10th installment on Fuel TV.However, the leaders of the MMA world are not the only organization with interesting fights happening this month.From fights t…
The first full fight weekend of June is here, and the UFC will be there to kick it off with their 10th installment on Fuel TV.
However, the leaders of the MMA world are not the only organization with interesting fights happening this month.
From fights that could determine the next title challenger to fights featuring some of the top prospects in the sport, there are plenty of reasons to watch. Then, of course, there are fights that will just be fun as hell to watch.
Here are nine can’t-miss fights heading your way this month.
Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal returned to action Wednesday, June 19th, for the first time since his devastating loss to Emmanuel Newton back in February. It took him all of one minute and 35 seconds to return to the win column, as he knocked out Seth Petruzelli in the main event of Bellator 96 at Winstar World Casino in Thackerville, Oklahoma.