‘King Mo’ Lawal’s comeback begins in wrestling
By BOB EMANUEL JR. | Scripps Howard News Service
ORLANDO, Fla. — Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal is enjoying the perfect intersection of two careers.
Lawal, a former Strikeforce light-heavyweight champion, signed a contract earlier this year that will allow him to participate in mixed martial arts under the Bellator Fighting championships brand, and in professional wrestling under the Total Nonstop Action Impact brand.
Both promotions are affiliated with Viacom, which will shift Bellator from MTV 2 to Spike TV, which broadcasts “Impact,” in January.
The dream scenario for Lawal follows a nightmarish chain of events. He failed a drug test for performance-enhancing drugs, and made inappropriate comments on Twitter about the subsequent hearing. As a result, Strikeforce — which is owned by the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s parent company, Zuffa LLC — released Lawal from his contract.
“It’s the best thing that happened to me in two ways,” he said. “First of all, you say anything bad or you speak your mind over there, you get the beat-down. Everyone turns on you … And two, they let me go. Hey, I’m in a better place. I’m in a way better place.”
Lawal cannot make his in-ring debut for Bellator until January, when the drug suspension ends. But his “Impact” debut comes this week as a special enforcer selected by Hulk Hogan.
“I’m very anxious,” Lawal said. “I’m very nervous about it and very excited. … Now I have a chance to be a champion of some sort in TNA Impact wrestling.”
Lawal, whose over-the-top personality inspired thoughts of pro wrestling earlier in his MMA career, said the transition to the scripted world of “Impact” is more difficult than it appears.
“Some people just think, ‘You’re going to be good at it because you have a personality.’ Well, there are a lot of people with personality that can’t pro-wrestle. You have to go there and learn the best you can and translate it live on TV like these guys do.”
Lawal’s two worlds intersected last month during Bellator’s media day at Universal Studios. Several wrestlers stopped by to say hello and offer a quick word of encouragement.
“It’s not easy,” Lawal said. “I had a (World Wrestling Entertainment) tryout in 2004. Granted, I picked it up, but there (are) little tricks and a lot of technique involved … You have to tell a story, and the story has to pull together with the climax and the finish. … There’s an art to this.”
QUICK JABS: Heavyweights Travis Browne and Antonio Silva headline Saturday’s “UFC on FX 5” event in Minneapolis. (Live on FX, 2 p.m. HST). Flyweights John Dodson and Jussier Formiga, welterweights Jay Hieron and Jake Ellenberger and welterweights Josh Neer and Justin Edwards also fight. The preliminaries can be seen at 11 a.m. on Fuel TV, and include lightweights Jeremy Stephens and Yves Edwards; lightweights Michael Johnson and Danny Castillo; lightweights Dennis Hallman and Thiago Tavares; lightweights Jacob Volkmann and Shane Roller; featherweights Bart Palaszewski and Diego Nunes; and flyweights Darren Uyenoyama and Phil Harris … A strong field of heavyweights competes in quarterfinals Friday at “Bellator 75,” live on MTV 2 at 2 p.m. HST. Brett Rogers, who competed for the Strikeforce title in 2010, will face Russian Alexander Volkov in one quarterfinal. Eric Prindle, who won the Season Five tournament, will face Thiago Santos. The other quarterfinals match Richard Hale and Mike Wessel, and Vinicius Queiroz and Mark Holata … Jessica Penne will fight Naho Sugiyama in the main event of “Invicta Fighting Championships 3” on Saturday at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kan. The 14-fight women’s card, which begins at 1 p.m. HST, can be seen for free at invictafc.com.
PHOTO CREDIT: Josh Hedges/Mike Roach/UFC
