Ring Psychology: King Mo is Done With Japan and Says "F*ck the Fans"

by Dave Walsh on Aug 19, 2010 10:22 AM EDT in Podcast

My cohort Jonathan Snowden and myself sat down the other night with the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal for our show, Ring Psychologywhile he prepares for his first title defense against Rafael Cavalcante at this weekend's "Strikeforce: Houston" event. We discussed a whole slew of topics while Mo was winding down from a rough day and as always, he had a lot to say.

One of the big topics we discussed was if he sees a future for himself fighting in Japan. This is of course right in the midst of all of the controversy surrounding FEG not paying their fighters, during all of this, WVR's SRC has gotten a free ride as the "better Japanese promotion." Mo was quick to debunk this.

They left me with the damn hospital bills not being paid...they didn't pay for it so I'm not going to go back and fight for them. I tore my ACL in the fight against Kawamura and they wouldn't pay for the surgery. So, it's whatever man...I'm not going to fight in Japan unless I'm getting paid upfront.

So it seems that SRC taking care of their fighters is not exactly true. I think there are just less and less foreign fighters fighting in SRC and more lower-level Japanese and Korean fighters. We then talked about his win over Mousasi and how fans are ignorant and wrote Mousasi off for not better defending Mo's wrestling.

Some are cool, some are idiots. They're fans-they don't know what the f**k they are talking about. That's why I'll say it again: 'f**k the fans.' A lot of them ain't educated. They're just bandwagon jumpers...

A bit brash, sure, but he is making a very valid point, to where Mousasi was a "top 5" 205lbs fighter, then when Mo beat him, everyone changed their minds and decided he wasn't as good as they initially believed.

We discuss this and a whole lot more, as Fraser Coffeen joins Jon and myself to discuss some K-1 and kickboxing. Then to round out the show, Strikeforce's Miesha Tate, who recently earned a title shot in the 135 pound weight class, joins us to discuss female fighting, rape prevention and more. You can download the show from I-Tunes or listen live by heading over to our friends at Angry Marks. Thanks for tuning in. Feedback welcome.

SBN coverage of Strikeforce: Houston

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Direct quote from Mo, after his fight with Kawamura

“The thing is, I hurt [my knee] a week before the fight, so I couldn’t really train,” Lawal said. “I was just icing it, and I was struggling to walk. So I was like, ’Well if I can get to the point where I can just bend my leg a little bit, I can beat this dude just wrestling.”

I like Mo, but why should Sengoku pay for his surgery?

by Cacti45 on Aug 19, 2010 3:02 PM EDT reply actions

lol, that is incredible.

Dear god.

Head Kick Legend
Twitter @HeadKickLegend

by Dave Walsh on Aug 19, 2010 3:47 PM EDT up reply actions

Because he could have pulled out and left them without a fight. He fought, so they had an event. He was also their investment, so his health would be necessary for them to be cashing in.

For Mo doing that, paying him would be the right thing to do.

by cyke on Aug 19, 2010 11:59 PM EDT up reply actions

It might be the right thing to do in some sort of moral sense, but it really isn’t standard business practice in MMA. If you get injured in training, you are on the hook. Perhaps he should have said he got hurt during the fight.

by capital L on Aug 20, 2010 7:20 AM EDT up reply actions

That is to say, initially, rather than explain away his performance (which was actually rather impressive) with a pre-fight injury report.

by capital L on Aug 20, 2010 7:22 AM EDT up reply actions

I just said in my comment that he was their investment, who was allowing them to put on a show. If you can’t protect what you invest in, you should be out of business.

by cyke on Aug 20, 2010 3:22 PM EDT up reply actions