Strikeforce Light Heavyweight champion “King” Muhammed Lawal is starting to feel like the Rodney Dangerfield of MMA: he gets no respect. Lawal has done battle with fans on twitter about his stature in the sport and his style in the cage and this weekend on Inside MMA he was confronted with a recent MMA Junkie poll that seemed to diminish him, and by association, Strikeforce.
KENNY RICE: “MMA Junkie poll, where would you rank King Mo right now? He is certainly in our Top 10 Light Heavyweights. I don’t see how he could not be. 47% said yeah, he’s Top 10. 6% put you in the Top 5. I would question everybody in that 47% that wouldn’t rank you in the Top 10 right now. I think there needs to be a little more love for the Strikeforce champion.”
KING MO: “You know how it is. Everyone, Mousasi’s a good fighter, everyone had Mousasi in the Top 10 pound-for-pound, everyone said Mousasi’s this, Mousasi’s that. Everybody said Mousasi would kill King Mo, King Mo has no chance. First round knockout for Mousasi but after I won, they just discounted, they discredited Mousasi’s abilities because I was taking him down and controlling him. Well, people, I wrestled at the world level, you know, I’ve taken down people considered some of the best in the world. Mousasi’s not a wrestler and he never stop my takedowns. And they just don’t understand that and I’ve worked with great jiu-jitsu guys like Dean Lister and Fabricio Werdum and they’re teaching me high-level techniques, plus Nogueira and you know I’m holding my own with them and Mousasi’s not at level as far as jiu-jitsu.”
Mo is ranked eighth in our USA Today/SB Nation Consensus MMA rankings. He’s the highest rated fighter in the division outside of the UFC- and that seems unlikely to change. Of the top 25 fighters at light heavyweight, 21 of them reside in the UFC. Lawal will be stuck fighting tough but unknown challengers like Rafael Cavalcante, who he faces August 21 in Houston. All King Mo can do is continue to win. But without a trip to the Octagon, or the unlikely chance Strikeforce can sign one of the UFC’s top fighters in the division, King Mo will never sit on the true throne.