Former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal has apologized to Nevada Athletic Commissioner Pat Lundvall for referring to her as a “racist b**ch” in a series of angry tweets. Lawal was angry because Lundvall and her fellow commissioners voted to suspend him for 9 months and fine him $39,000 for failing a steroid test following his win over Lorenzo Larkin at Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine.
Strikeforce immediately released Lawal in response to “the suspension and his reaction” according to CEO Scott Coker.
Here’s what Lawal said to CSN Bay Area:
“I was out of line for calling the woman the ‘b’ word and I was wrong for that. I was kind of mad about the comments, I was offended by the comments made towards me and I was out of line. I was too emotional. I apologize for that. With that being said, I still feel that I was offended, but I’m in the wrong for what I said.”
Also Dave Meltzer is reporting at the Wrestling Observer (subscription required) that Lawal is considering a move to pro-wrestling. Lawal has endured 5 surgeries since his last fight — initially to fix a torn ACL, the rest to save his leg, and life, from a raging staph infection — none of them covered by insurance.
Here’s Meltzer:
Lawal immediately expressed interest in going to WWE. He’s had interest in the past. He was recruited years ago by Gerald Brisco, and at the time said he would be interested in going in 2008 because he first wanted to go to the Olympics. However, he lost in overtime in the finals at the Olympic trials. He had interest in both WWE and MMA after the Olympics but made the call to do MMA, feeling he could always do WWE after a few years of MMA, but couldn’t do it in the other direction.
Lawal grew up in Tennessee as a big fan of Jerry Lawler (hence the “King” gimmick) and several of the WCW stars like Ric Flair, Booker T and Arn Anderson, was in OVW briefly years ago. In a discussion with Shad Gaspard, Gaspard told him that he wished he stayed in fighting and had a career there before pro wrestling and encouraged Lawal to do the same. Lawal had always said when he grew up that his goal was to win an Olympic gold medal in wrestling (he came up slightly short), then win a world championship in fighting, and follow that by winning a world championship as a pro wrestler.
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