On December 16th, Muhammed Lawal was in Dublin, Ireland, headlining Bellator 169 opposite Satoshi Ishii. Less than two weeks later, he was in Japan, this time getting ready to face Mirko Filipovic at the Rizin FF Grand Prix Open Weight 2016.
Lawal, who’d taken a unanimous decision over Ishii, ended up suffering a TKO loss to “Cro Cop” in the quarterfinals of Rizin’s tournament. But, in spite of the unfortunate outcome, “King Mo” doesn’t regret taking on such close-together cage appointments. After all, what is a little bit of jet lag after a lifetime of overcoming physical hurdles?
“I fought with a torn ACL most of my career,” Lawal told MMAjunkie Radio. “Most of my fights, probably I had a torn ACL just about. I could feel the weakness, but I couldn’t feel the pain. When it’s time to fight, all doubts, all injuries just go away. You have no time to think about that. So when it’s time to fight, jet lag, there’s no excuses, man. I knew what I was getting myself into. I chose to do it.
“As a matter of fact, I wanted to fight ‘Cro Cop.’ At one point, they were going to try to re-draw the brackets, I think, and I was like, ‘No, I want to fight ‘Cro Cop.” Why not? I’m a fighter. This is how I get paid, and I want to go out there and knock him out. I wanted to knock his ass out. But he got me instead.”
'King Mo' Lawal has no regrets about fighting 'Cro Cop' so soon after Ishii: 'I knew what I was getting myself into'
