KALIN: This is Kalin Johnston here in Nashville with King Mo Lawal who is fighting for the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Title tomorrow night. Mo, what's going through your head as you're about to fight for the title?
KING MO: I'm actually just chillin and relaxing.
KALIN: A lot of the betting lines have you as a pretty big underdog. How do you see this fight going for you?
KING MO: I know I'm going to win. Here's the thing, people don't want me to win. They pick against me because they don't like me. They hype up Mousasi. They say that he trains with Fedor which is pretty much a myth. They've trained together two times. They say he's training with GSP, but that lasted two days. They say that he's a hard hitter, but who have we seen him knockout with one punch? They say he's a great submission fighter, but who have we seen him submit? Denis Kang and Melvin Manhoef. He does what he's supposed to do. He's 24 or 25, he hasn't changed a bit, and he has hit his peak. The Mousassi I'm going to fight right now will be the same Mousassi for the next five years.
KALIN: For you, is this fight more about winning the title or about proving that you're worthy of fighting top competition on a regular basis?
KING MO: I don't care about the title, I just want to win. I want to get that W and get that respect. I don't give a d*** about the belt.
KALIN: Will you stay at light heavyweight if you get the belt or will you stay a moneyweight?
KING MO: I'm always a moneyweight. I don't care about weight classes.
KALIN: After Mousasi, what are some fights that you would like to see put together for you?
KING MO: If Fedor can get by everybody else, I wouldn't mind fighting Fedor. That's the Oscar De Le Hoya of Strikeforce. If you beat him you're set. Everybody watches him. That's the cash cow.
KALIN: Do you see any holes in Fedor's game that you could expose?
KING MO: I don't know until I fight him, but I see some things that could work for me. I think he has a hard time with people that move. That's why he'll have a hard time with Alistair and I think he'll have a hard time with my boy Werdum. I really think so. I think he's going to win.
KALIN: You have some of the best wrestling credentials in MMA. Even Mousasi said that he's expecting you to take him down a few times in the fight. Do you think he's underestimating what you can do once you get him on the ground?
KING MO: Yeah because he's a go to jiu-jitsu guy. He has no set ups for his submissions. His sweeps are f***ing trash. He swept Sokoudjou with some garbage. He was using technique that wouldn't work on a middle school wrestler. That stuff ain't going to work on me because I'm pretty aware. I have great jiu-jitsu coaches. I'm not worried about anything he has to offer off of his back.
KALIN: I don't want to get too far ahead of your fight tomorrow night, but before I headed over here I was watching the video of you and Rampage going at it and all that he had to say is that you haven't fought anybody. Well if you beat Mousassi, he won't have that argument anymore. What do you think would happen if you potentially fight Rampage sometime down the road?
KING MO: I'll beat Rampage, but Rashad is going to beat him first. Everyone says that I haven't fought nobody, but at the same time I've only been fighting for a year and a half. My first fight against Travis, did you pick me to win? You didn't know who I was. I came in and knocked out Travis. My second fight I fought another veteran. I've been fighting veterans from the get go. Nearly nobody else has. You look at Mousassi's first fights, you look at a lot of top fighters first fights and other than Brock Lesnar they don't start out fighting veterans. I've not fought no chumps. I came out the gate either sink or swim and I'm swimming. Everybody's saying I ain't fought nobody. They didn't pick me to knock out Whitehead. They thought I would just win a decision. I knocked him out in the first round. Who else did that? All of these people are haters and don't know much about MMA. They use MMA Math, but that don't work in this sport. It's a joke.
Kalin Johnston
Staff Writer
MMA Authority & Lifestyle Magazine
Kjohnston@authoritymag.com
http://twitter.com/Kalin_Johnston
ttt
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One more ttt for the new champ
Yeah because he's a go to jiu-jitsu guy. He has no set ups for his submissions. His sweeps are f***ing trash. He swept Sokoudjou with some garbage. He was using technique that wouldn't work on a middle school wrestler. That stuff ain't going to work on me because I'm pretty aware. I have great jiu-jitsu coaches. I'm not worried about anything he has to offer off of his back.
mousasi swept mo
ranier wolfcastle - Yeah because he's a go to jiu-jitsu guy. He has no set ups for his submissions. His sweeps are f***ing trash. He swept Sokoudjou with some garbage. He was using technique that wouldn't work on a middle school wrestler. That stuff ain't going to work on me because I'm pretty aware. I have great jiu-jitsu coaches. I'm not worried about anything he has to offer off of his back.
mousasi swept mo
Mo beat Mousasi
In Mo's defense I felt pretty bad for him! He was fighting before his fellow tennesseans and was booed. I never booed him, even though I was rooting for Mousassi. I thought he won it fair. I know there was a lot of lay and pray, but shit, mousassi let it happen. I just hope that Mo doesn't dislike the TN crowd because of the booing. He is the new champ, and I hope he improves because there are many u and comers that will take that belt by any means!
KING MO: Yeah because he's a go to jiu-jitsu guy. He has no set ups for his submissions. His sweeps are f***ing trash. He swept Sokoudjou with some garbage. He was using technique that wouldn't work on a middle school wrestler. That stuff ain't going to work on me because I'm pretty aware. I have great jiu-jitsu coaches. I'm not worried about anything he has to offer off of his back.
Mo has nothing to offer on top either, atleast Mousasi is blasting with hard shots off his back with hammer fists and upkicks like Hansen..did Mousasi get back to his feet a couple of times with his garbage sweeps?..if not for Mo's takedowns he's doomed, good thing Mousasi is half asleep on that fight and the only thing that looked garbage after the fight was his face