It’s a Thursday night in the fight capital of the world, and one of the most polarizing figures in mixed martial arts is thinking about video games. Not Call of Duty first-person shooter home-console variety, but the 16-bit arcade classic type.
“It doesn’t matter which one we pick,” Muhammed Lawal says in a tone thick with confidence. “Whatever we play, I’m gonna whoop your ass.”
After the projected button-mashing beatdown takes place, an argument is made that Dig Dug would have been a better-suited platform, but apparently there is no room for excuses where he’s concerned. The only thing on King Mo’s mind in that moment was winning, and once he accomplished that, the conversation on such matters was over.
While there was no shortage of back-and-forth banter during the Street Fighter II dust-up, once the gaming had concluded, Lawal returned to his normal reserved self. Although his fighting persona is an all-eyes-on-me showcase, the real Lawal is on the other side of the observational spectrum. He would rather mind his own business than be the focal point of anyone else’s, and that’s an interesting paradox for a man who seems to covet attention in his professional life.
“I just care about winning,” Lawal told Bleacher Report a few weeks later from Coconut Creek, Florida, where he was training for his upcoming fight at Bellator 134 on Friday. “I don’t care what anybody else thinks or what they are going through…I only care about what I have to do to win. Everybody has different goals at the end of the day, and mine is to win and get paid.”
Furthermore, the word “business” is a crucial aspect to Lawal‘s drive as a fighter. Whereas most of his peers are on a constant push for recognition and doing everything in their power to compete under the brightest lights, the former standout wrestler from Oklahoma State University is all about his financial hustle. Using his gift of gab to promote a fight or land a high-profile matchup is all done in the flow of the game he’s come to know, and Lawal has honed his tools to improve his position in the chaos.
Lawal understands these things, and his knowledge of the MMA landscape has certainly helped him navigate his way toward the prominent position he enjoys under the Bellator banner. And while competing for the UFC—the most recognizable brand in MMA—could potentially boost his paydays and visibility, Lawal isn’t willing to exhaust himself courting its attention.
He’s fighting to get paid, and that is the bottom line. Yes, there is the fire to compete as Lawal is a born competitor, but his career throwing leather inside the cage is an ends to a means. The former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion-turned-Bellator contender doesn’t make illusions about being a prize fighter. In fact he’s fully embraced it.
“I’m not sure where it came from, but it’s something I’ve always had,” Lawal said. “Obviously when you get into competition mode, it is a different mode than when you are just sitting around and chilling. Competition mode is what you shift into when it’s time to work, and I developed that mindset early on through wrestling. When you are wrestling, every day you are going hard to prepare in the time you have during your training, and you use your downtime to chill, recover and get ready to do it all again. MMA is the same thing.”
And in the MMA realm Lawal is a unique commodity. Not only does he possess a fan-friendly style, but he brings a level of showmanship that is unrivaled by his peers throughout the sport. He instituted the flashy walkouts and entourages filled with dancing girls to hype up his walk to the cage, and no other fighter competing in the current era of MMA can claim to do it better than he does.
Yet, on the flip side, all the glitz and glam are simply Lawal‘s way of providing entertainment to the fighting faithful who tune in to watch him work. He wants to give the masses a show, and he’s determined to bring something exciting every time his name is on the billing.
“I just think it sounded cool,” Lawal said in regard to his King Mo persona. “I’ve always been a wrestling fan, and that became my angle. If you are an entertainer, then you bring elements of who you are into what you do. A day in the life is what I say. MMA is a sport, but it’s also entertainment, so you have to bring who you are to it. That’s what I do, and it’s part of who I am.
“I look at it as entertainment, man. I’m going out there to be entertaining and have fun with it. That’s what I’m going to do. Money is a big part of it for me because fighting is my job. That’s how I get paid and that’s my goal…to get paid.”
In addition to his attention-grabbing persona when the bright lights are on, Lawal has also never been one to shy away from putting what he calls “haters” in check. He understands everyone is entitled to their opinions, but he also feels that people are going to great lengths these days to act out and attempt to get their opinions heard.
There is no bigger platform to interact with professional athletes in the current day and age than Twitter. And it’s because of the length that people will go to sling dirt on social media that he’s completely backed away from participating on the platform.
“That’s why I don’t live on Twitter,” Lawal explained. “People get on there and rip on fighters and other people and it’s just crazy. I saw some girl or someone create a profile and use Ariel Helwani’s last name and start ripping on fighters. What does that say about you where you don’t have the originality to come up with your own persona and have to take someone else’s last name? You have to take someone else’s last name to try to become something? It’s a joke, man.
“That would be like me saying I’m going to be a good promoter, so call me Mo White or Mo Coker, and I start going to shows. Come on, man, it’s a joke. Be your own person and make your own way. The stuff that happens on Twitter is a joke.”
Putting outside distractions aside leaves Lawal more time to focus on his current grind as being one of the most marketable faces for Bellator. Although he’s been a key member of the promotion since joining the Los Angeles-based outfit’s roster in 2012, the organization has undergone some changes in key positions that have things moving in a new direction.
The biggest adjustment for the promotion was parting ways with longtime CEO Bjorn Rebney and replacing him with former Strikeforce front man Scott Coker. Lawal had a public feud with the way Rebney was handling business toward the end of his run with Bellator and welcomed Coker coming in and taking the reins.
With Coker‘s experience as one of the top fight promoters in the business, the future looks bright for the surging promotion, and Lawal is excited to see what the future holds for the place he calls home.
“It’s been a great feel so far,” Lawal explained. “The crowd turnout has been good, and there has been solid hype on the fights. The fights they are putting together are more exciting and everything about the production has been better. The canvas, the lighting…everything. It has just been better all around.
“I said it because it was true,” he added when asked about the colorful name he attached to Bjorn Rebney following his bout with Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in May 2014. “I don’t even want to talk about the guy, but he did me foul because he was d*** riding.”
With everything moving in the right direction where Bellator is concerned, Lawal is looking to keep things rolling and is focused on making 2015 a big year for his personal brand. While he’s spent the better part of the past five years competing in the light heavyweight division, the 34-year-old American Top Team representative is making sure to keep his options open and will take his next fight as a heavyweight.
He will square off with UFC veteran-turned-Bellator heavyweight contender Cheick Kongo this weekend at Bellator 134 in a bout that has the potential to cement him as a two-division threat. While he was originally slated to face James Thompson in his first heavyweight showing inside the cage, injury threw a wrench in those works, and the end result was a showdown with Kongo.
Lawal is constantly looking for the biggest fights available, and locking up with Kongo fits the bill.
“I was supposed to fight James Thompson,” Lawal said. “Then I don’t know if he didn’t want to fight or got hurt or something like that, but he was out of the fight. They asked me if I still wanted to fight, and I said sure and said that I would fight at heavyweight, 205 or whatever. Then they said that Cheick Kongo wanted the fight, and I said, ‘OK, cool. Then I’ll fight him.’
“I don’t have a feel for anyone until I fight them or train with them. I won’t know what to expect until we get in there. We know he’s improved. He’s gotten bigger, stronger and faster, and his grappling has gotten better. He doesn’t have any submission wins on his record, so his submission game is whatever, but he’s gotten better all around. We’ll see what happens when we fight. I can’t predict the future.
“My goals are to get paid, win the belt, win big fights and live my life. That’s all it’s about.”
Duane Finley is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless noted otherwise.
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