Strikeforce champ Gegard Mousasi not a fan of "King Mo's" crown
Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal (6-0 MMA, 1-0 SF) is chomping at the bit to make a fight with Gegard Mousasi (28-2-1 MMA, 2-0 SF) at the second installment of "Strikeforce on CBS," which is expected for April.
All in good time, Mousasi assures.
"[Lawal] is confident," Mousasi recently told MMAjunkie.com. "But I'm more than happy to show him he's going to pay in the cage. I'm just more motivated to beat him, just because he likes himself so much. I think he's in front of the mirror 24 hours (a day)."
Mousasi last week broke from Strikeforce promotional partner M-1 Global and may have signed a long-term fight contract with the San Jose, Calif.-based promotion on his own as recently as last month.
As Mousasi vs. Lawal hovers in the "rumors" section of the fight world, Lawal recently told MMAjunkie.com Radio that the Dutch-Armenian could forge his signature to get things moving.
"Just write, 'M-O' and 'X,'" Lawal said. "If he wants to put the little crown and 'King Mo' inside, he can do that, too. That's how ready I am for this fight. That's how bad I want it."
Sign the fight, yes, Mousasi said. The crown, not so much.
"I don't know about the crown," he scoffed.
Then he thought for a moment.
"Maybe he's a nice guy," Mousasi continued. "Personally, if you get to know him, maybe he's a nice guy. But for me, now I have to fight him and I don't have to like him. And he's challenging constantly and blah, blah, blah, so I don't have to like him."
Lawal, a former Division I All-American collegiate wrestling champion, said that he was supposed to fight Mousasi on two occasions: at "M-1 Global: Breakthrough" this past August, and "Dynamite!! 2009: DREAM vs. World Victory Road" on New Year's Eve.
Mousasi disputes Lawal's claim that they were supposed to fight at "Breakthrough," though he concedes turning down Lawal as a potential opponent on the New Year's Eve event (in addition to Lawal, Mousasi was also offered fights with Jorge Santiago, Yosuke Nishijima and Kevin Randleman before settling on Gary Goodrige).
"I was doing the exhibition fight," Mousasi said of the M-1 Global card. "M-1 couldn't afford to pay me."
"I never said no. They offered these fights (on New Year's), and for a fight like [Lawal], I want to be prepared very well."
Which, in kind, Lawal said he wanted when he claims the fight was broached to him in August.
Mousasi chalks Lawal's confidence up to his undefeated record and said the bluster won't hold after they fight.
"Once you get knocked out once in your life, you're not the same fighter," Mousasi said. "He even challenges Fedor (Emelianenko) with six fights, so I don't know what to say about that.
"He's confident because he's never lost. I want to see how he reacts when I punch him, and how he fights then."
The Strikeforce light heavyweight champion still believes his wrestling deficit on paper is not enough to stop him from smashing Lawal.
"I have a good chin, and he's basically a wrestler with punches and ground and pound," Mousasi said. "I have the same ground and pound, even better, with submissions. His wrestling is the only thing that he's better. But I would say, in the clinch I would knee him, and I have my boxing, so I'm not worried."
Source: http://mmajunkie.com/news/17982/strikef ... -crown.mma