"If some of this stuff happened in the UFC, the fans would give it more praise for sure. If Overeem did some of the things he's doing in the UFC, he would be considered the next God. The fact of the matter is a lot of these fans aren't familiar with what's going on in Japan, and then they try to call Strikeforce 'Strikefarce' because they hear Dana White call it that. Dana White has his own opinion or whatever, but fight fans need to have their own opinion and their own way of thinking, but we know that's asking a lot," stated former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion King Mo Lawal, who talked about a number of entertaining MMA fights that have taken place outside of the UFC. You don't want to miss what he had to say as Lawal shares his thought on Strikeforce's highly-anticipated 8-man heavyweight tournament and much more. Check it out!
PC: What's up man? How are you?
KM: Just chillin' dog; watching some Maury Povich. It's been going down.
PC: You've been in Japan more than you've been in the States lately, for K-1 and Dream. What did you think of those two shows?
KM: Ah man, K-1 was amazing because we seen Supa Nigga...actually, let me correct myself...Lord Supreme Supa Nigga Overeem win the K-1 World Grand Prix, and then he came back and beat Todd Duffee in impressive fashion. Granted, Duffee took the fight on short notice, but Overeem did his thing. It was some good fights at Dynamite, mayne. I was pretty impressed.
PC: I watched that fight you were telling me about where dude fought off all of those submissions and then tried to throw Tokoro out of the ring.
KM: That boy is 100% dog. That's Watanabe! I'm down with Watanabe, dog. I love watching him. He needs to come to America and fight. That was his first MMA fight. He's a boxer; a former featherweight champion. He kept trying to slam him because dude would take him down. That boy came to fight. He fought in K-1 like 10 years ago when he was in his prime. Now he's doing his thing, you know, but he's still fun to watch fight.
PC: Do you think some of the things that go on in Japan are overshadowed by the fact that it didn't happen in the States, and more than that, in the UFC?
KM: You know what? If some of this stuff happened in the UFC, the fans would give it more praise for sure. If Overeem did some of the things he's doing in the UFC, he would be considered the next God. The fact of the matter is a lot of these fans aren't familiar with what's going on in Japan, and then they try to call Strikeforce "Strikefarce" because they hear Dana White call it that. Dana White has his own opinion or whatever, but fight fans need to have their own opinion and their own way of thinking, but we know that's asking a lot.
PC: I'm amazed that we can even find fans criticizing the heavyweight tournament that Strikeforce is hosting. I'm all for it.
KM: I personally love it, and to all of them motherfuckers out there talking bad about it, you can kiss my black ass, dog. It's ridiculous, man, to bash something that's good. That's a severe hate crime and they just mad because they ain't doing shit with they lives. Shit, in they life, it's going bad, so they gotta hate on something that is doing good.
PC: I gotta put you on the spot and ask who do you favor in that tourney?
KM: Ah man, whoever comes out not injured because you got some killers in there fighting. You got the Lord Supreme Supa Nigga Overeem fighting Fabricio...and Fabricio a monster too. Then you got "Big Foot", who is a monster, fighting a monster in Fedor. And then Barnett fighting Brett Rogers, who is another beast. People want to talk down on Brett Rogers, but he does hold a win over Arlovski and he was looking like he was top 10 at one point. And then you got Kharitonov vs. Arlovski. Somebody gonna get knocked out in that fight because Kharitonov be coming with it. That's gonna be a good fight.
PC: What's your training regimen like right now and how is the comeback coming along?
KM: The knee is healing. I'm pretty much taking it easy. I'm not trying to rush like I did the last time. I'm just doing a lot of plyometrics, hitting that treadmill and doing stuff that Jon Chaimberg "The Automatic Throw up Maker" got me doing; pushing sleds and doing treadmill work. I'm working my Jiu Jitsu with my boy Romulo Barrall. Romulo is for real, man. Hopefully once I get cleared, which should be in the next couple of months, I'm going to take my ass to Holland and get with Mike's Gym. I'm trying to be like Badr Hari or Melvin, because them boys are beast. That's why I want to go up there and train with them. I'm trying to get my hands right. I got Brother Fareed Samad working my hands, along with some other people, so it's looking good.
PC: You were not only dealing with your first career loss, but also a major knee injury all at the same time. Most guys get their first loss and want to get right back in there, but you weren't able to do that. How big of a setback was that for you?
KM: It wasn't a setback because you know what? If I would've won, I would have kept on fighting with no ACL; that's how dumb I am. The fact that I lost...yeah, I lost and I was mad, but I'm going to come back more evil and darker. When it comes to fight time, you not going to see a nice King Mo. You're going to see a motherfucking asshole. You know what I'm saying? Aside from you, the other people are going to get it. They gotta respect my mind dog. I ain't gonna hold back; I'm going to be real with it. Man, fuck that, I'm going to be worse than Chael because the shit that I'm gonna be saying is going to be 100% real.
PC: I know you have been dying to talk about how good Bernard Hopkins looked against Jean Pascal. What did you think of his performance and if you're Pascal, do you honor your contractual obligations and fight Chad Dawson or the WBC's obligations to immediately rematch Bernard Hopkins?
KM: BHop is...I told y'all boys BHop was going to do it and they didn't believe it. They wanted to doubt me. Even though he got robbed with a draw...if I was Pascal, I would fake an injury, say something like I pulled a muscle, take my time and rehab it, get hurt again, wait like 6 or 7 months, and then wait until BHop gets real real old and then fight Chad Dawson (laughing).
PC: First big fight of the year in boxing is on the horizon. Who do you like, Timothy Bradley or Devon Alexander?
KM: Man, I'm going with the boy Alexander. I think he's going to shock people. Timothy Bradley, he work hard and he fight hard, but I think Alexander's more of an athlete and he's hungrier. I think Alexander is going to come and get that victory.
PC: You get a bad rap sometimes, but a lot of people aren't aware of all of the charity work that you do for Sayif Saud and MMA Youth Foundation, and you are coming here to Louisiana and speaking to kids who were affected by Hurricane Katrina. I know you guys don't look to get headlines over work in the community, but can you speak on it a little bit?
KM: I do some things here and there, you know what I'm saying? I try not to play it out in the public because it's not about the attention, but I like to go back and give to the community as much as I can. I work with the MMA Youth Foundation, started by my boy Sayif out in Dallas. I'm out there trying to do my thing and give back to give kids the opportunity to become great. A lot of people don't have the opportunity, so they get stuck doing stuff with their boys and get into stuff. I'm just trying to provide other outlets so some of these kids can get to college, get legit money, become more accomplished, or just have some discipline in their life.
PC: When you were coming up, who were your role models in your life?
KM: First it was my momma. I ran into a great wrestler by the name of Byron Tucker, who was a national champion. Byron Tucker molded me. And then I ran into Kevin Jackson and Kevin Jackson made me who I am today as far as an athlete. And I have an older cousin who helped me out a lot, so I had like 4 role models who I looked up too.
PC: Good deal man. I appreciate your time. We look forward to having you down. Is there anything else you would like to say in closing?
KM: Y'all gotta keep on posting the James Toney articles. He is funny as hell. I like to see him and Rampage go back and forth and I would like to see that fight happen. Hopefully it's not pure stand-up for Rampage's sake. Rampage would have a chance in MMA to do some things, but if it's pure stand-up, give me James Toney. I think the whole thing is funny though. James Toney is hilarious man. I read your interview with him 5 times already. Some people out there don't understand the art of selling a fight. Things happen; this can't just be a boring ass sport with fighters saying how good the other fighter is and how strong his game is. People don't care about that shit. They say what they want, but they will buy it.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]