"I never planned on taking this dude down; no plans. I knew that I wanted to show the rest of the field my progression and my improvements. That's all I wanted to do... I felt good, mayne. When I'm at the gym, I'm working out for 2 to 3 hours and with Roy Nelson doing drills and going hard. I don't know, but we ain't playing, dog," stated Bellator light heavyweight contender King Mo Lawal, who talked about his impressive victory in his return to the cage, his future in the tournament, and much more. Check it out!
PC: Congratulations on the big knockout win. How did it feel to get back in there after the layoff?
KM: Ah man, it felt good, mayne. I can't really think about it too much because I'm fighting again pretty soon, so I gotta get back; put that behind me and get back on the grind.
PC: Is that a difficult thing to adjust to, because you go from fighting every 3 to 4 months to every 3 to 4 weeks? Is that something that's difficult to transition to?
KM: Well, luckily I don't cut that much weight, so making 205 is not that big of a deal. I just gotta be smart with my training and know when to peak and know when to turn it down a little bit; turn it up and turn it down.
PC: Now that you are in a tournament format, do you catch yourself looking ahead at the brackets at who could possibly be next or is it easy for you to just focus on the person in front of you at the moment?
KM: I just want to know who my opponent is next, but I don't look for anything further than that. It's like now, I know I'm fighting Emanuel Newton and that's who I'm training for, but I don't look any further than that.
PC: So you just want to know basics, like southpaw or orthodox, to give you a base to train from without studying the entire field of light heavyweights.
KM: I know a little something about everybody in the tournament, but when it comes down to actual fights, I just train for that one person. I don't train for anything beyond that person I'm fighting.
PC: I got a lot of questions leading up to your fight against Przemyslaw Mysiala asking how you were dealing with the pressure. On the surface, you handled it well, but was it kind of nerve racking for you being brought into Bellator as a favorite, especially seeing how Babalu's debut turned out?
KM: Nah mayne, I wasn't nervous, man. I wasn't worried about it because honestly, it's like FightHype's motto: a fight's a fight. I wasn't worried about if I was gonna win or lose. I just wasn't worried.
PC: He emptied out his arsenal within the first minute and a half. He really came out aggressive. Did that surprise you or did you expect that?
KM: I kind of expected that because he seemed kind of nervous.
PC: He kicked at your leg a few times. How does the knee feel?
KM: I checked one and caught one, but it didn't hurt. I wasn't worried.
PC: The jab was the key to victory in my opinion. Tell us about the jab and the set up for the knockout, which was the right hand.
KM: Well, the thing about the jab is I went into training camp with a purpose to actually improve my jab. I told Ron Frazier and Jeff Mayweather that for this camp, I wanted to make sure my jab was on point. If my jab is on point, it's going to make my jab that much easier, you know what I'm saying? I just tried to focus on that and just try to build on that because once you get your jab straight, everything else falls in line.
PC: When you have the wrestling background that you have and you have steadily improving standup, does it make the fights that much easier for you knowing that you have a tool in your back pocket that is world class and you rarely have to use it?
KM: Oh yeah! I never planned on taking this dude down; no plans. I knew that I wanted to show the rest of the field my progression and my improvements. That's all I wanted to do.
PC: That was your first fight with the organization. What was the treatment like from Bellator?
KM: I feel great about being in Bellator. They have always treated me good and made sure I was straight and I'm happy to be a part of the family.
PC: They gotta work on getting your entrances in there (laughing).
KM: We'll see at the finals, you know what I'm saying? You know, right now, I'm like the mafia boss that just got out of jail and I gotta get my troops back together to take over the streets. That's how it is with me. I gotta win to get 'em back!
PC: What did you think of Ben Askren's performance?
KM: He looked good, man. Ben Askren beat the brakes off of that boy, man. I was very impressed. Everybody back tage was like, "Damn, Ben is a beast." They couldn't say nothing. I know what they were thinking..."How are we gonna beat this boy?" I know they were. They had to be thinking that because no one has really come close to beating Ben other than Jay Hieron, and Ben has grown a lot since that fight.
PC: When I think of the guys with the true All-American wrestling credentials and not just the one that commentators refer to as world class, you, Ben Askren, and Daniel Cormier, you guys haven't been training in MMA for very long; a little over 2 years, so you are still learning on the job so to speak and a lot of fans I don't think understand that.
KM: They don't and they never will.
PC: I saw a little Mayweather cross body shoulder roll at one point during the fight from you.
KM: I learned a lot from Jeff Mayweather and the shoulder roll is just my reset so I can calm down and I won't get stupid. I get excited out there and I go into kill mode, so that's how I calm myself down; that's all.
PC: I know the fight didn't make it out of the 1st round, but it was a fast-paced 4 minutes or so. How did you feel conditioning-wise?
KM: I felt good, mayne. When I'm at the gym, I'm working out for 2 to 3 hours and with Roy Nelson doing drills and going hard. I don't know, but we ain't playing, dog.
PC: Who do you want to thank, and give me some closing thoughts Mo?
KM: Man, I want to thank all of my training partners and the entire Mayweather Boxing Club, Jeff Mayweather, Kenny "Bad Ass" Johnson, Roy Nelson, Ryan Martinez, Ron Frazier, Mike Kogan, and the people at AKA, MMA Elite, and Alden from MMA Elite, Bellator, Bjorn Rebney, my boy Anthony, who handles Bellator's PR, Spike TV, and everybody that came out to support; OVW Wrestling school, TNA Wrestling and my boy "Trailer Park Trash!"
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]