"People want to talk shit about me...look, any of you motherfuckers that talk shit about me, let them fight somebody that's 50 pounds heavier than them, let them walk somebody down that's 50 pounds heavier than them and formulate a game plan to defeat someone much bigger than them who has knockout power. I was walking Quinton down. There was no retreating from me. I walked his ass down," stated Bellator light heavyweight/heavyweight King Mo Lawal, who talked about his recent victory over Rampage Jackson, his upcoming clash with Ryan Bader, and much more. Check it out!
PC: You got your revenge against Rampage Jackson. Three years in the making; it had to be a good feeling.
KM: Yeah, it was a good feeling, man. The fight was different than I expected it to be. In camp, we trained a whole different way. We trained hard, but we trained to jab and move laterally, jab to the body because we were expecting Quinton to come forward and for some reason, he came out different. He came out in a lower stance going backwards. I didn't see that coming. We didn't even train for that scenario not one time in camp. I couldn't get my range. I was just thrown off. I usually can adapt good, but I was just thrown off. It was just messing me up. I was expecting to be in the center because I figured he would be walking me down and I would be able to stab him and roll under. I would stab him in the stomach and he would throw a left hook and he wouldn't be able to touch me. I shut down them uppercuts because the uppercut is what he caught me with last time. I was like, "Man, I'm not getting hit with that fucking uppercut." I shut that shit down. He caught me with the left hook, which he didn't hit me with in the first fight. I kind of got lazy in the 2nd round. As the fight went on, I had him up against the cage trying to wear him down. I saw a fight break out in the crowd. I ain't gonna lie, I lost focus in the 2nd round. I was trying to see what fight was happening in the stands. I seen everybody stand up. I'm for real, mayne. I be focused, but sometimes during a fight where I get real relaxed or too aggressive, I lose focus. I start noticing shit outside of the cage. It's weird. I don't know why, but it's just like that. In Japan, my first fight in Japan, I noticed Josh Barnett ringside; I seen Akiyama ringside. I shouldn't be noticing them. I be seeing everybody. I saw where Kevin Kay was, I saw Coker, I saw when Coker's wife was sitting down during my fight. I notice everybody, dog.
PC: You told me through text that you felt he went backwards so that he could use the cage to hold himself up and not have to use his legs as much.
KM: Yeah, that's what he was doing. When I tried to double him high crotch, he put weight on me. That's why I kept going to double leg. People don't realize when I stopped going to double leg, instead of putting weight on me, he would sit back into the cage. That was in the first fight, but this time, he made a little adjustment because instead of leaning back, he squatted down a little bit and spread his legs and turned his body a little more. More than anything, his legs were flexed and his core was flexed. It was tighter than when he was leaning against the cage. I kept bumping him trying to pull him out and create some space, but he did a good job at that. But what happened was he got his body tight, but while he was leaning on the cage, I was leaning on him. That's why he got so tired. That's why after the 2nd round, when he hit that little flurry, I knew he was gone. Like he hit me, I was overwhelmed, but I wasn't close to being gone. He hit me one time in my eye and I was like, "Ah man, I see 4 Quinton's." I started blinking and all of a sudden, I was good. I knew he was done when we were in the clinch and he tried to trip me. I didn't see that shit coming at all. I had to laugh at myself. I was like, "Oh my God, (laughing) this boy trying to take me down." When I went to the corner, they were like, "Mo, we have to win this round." And I was like, "Alright, I will. I'm not even worried." So I went out there and I knew I was going to push the action, regardless of what happens. He may land some shots, but I'm going to break him and take over. First 2 minutes, I went out there and closed the distance. I know people were getting mad because they want to see me get knocked out and stand and bang with a man that's 50 pounds heavier, so I just boxed with him and smothered him. What he was trying to do didn't work because he couldn't land nothing. I figured I was winning the round because I was more active. I start pressuring him, Big John breaks us up and separates us, and he shoots on me; game over! When he shot on me, I was like, "Okay!" Let me tell you something, I wasn't expecting him to shoot on me. He got into my legs and it surprised me at first. I sprawled, waited to see what he gave me because he was moving his hands trying to move, cradled, took his back and threw about 5 punches. He came up, I kept the pressure on him. I hit him with a jab to the body and I saw him kind of double over. The jab to the body hurt him.
PC: I did feel like when he shot in on you, that was all of the energy he had left. That was his last hurrah so to speak.
KM: My first thought was, "Why is he shooting?" He went to his hands and knees, so it was like a dive almost. I think he lost mental focus and I think he was getting tired and that's why I started going to his body. Granted, I was throwing rocks out there because I was a little bit tired too, but I was trying to go to his body and use activity. I landed a few knees in the round. It is what it is. I had to outwork him. People want to see me lose, but it is what it is, man, they can kiss my ass.
PC: It's always kind of a weird feeling when I see someone engage you in wrestling or shooting in on you. I thought he was going to try to use that takedown attempt and try to feint the next one and follow with punches. I guess I'm just used to seeing your opponents try to avoid your wrestling and not initiate it.
KM: It's weird because people don't realize, when I went in the cage with Quinton, I was 209. I lost weight after the weigh-ins for some reason. I don't know how in the hell it happened. I bet you Quinton was 255 or 260 when we went in the cage. He was big. I could feel it. I didn't realize how much bigger he was than me until I saw the pictures. When I fought Cheick Kongo, I realized he was big because he was so much taller than me. He had like 4 inches on me in height and 3 inches on me in reach and then weight. People got mad about the way I fought that fight. Quinton, I had reach on Quinton, but he had the height and weight advantage on me; 40 pounds. People just want to see me fight stupid and go out there and get knocked out. And then if I fight stupid and get knocked out, guess what they say? "Ah man, Mo fell in love with his boxing. He thinks he's a boxer." And then when I start wrestling, it's like, "Ah man, Mo just want to hump his leg." They buy that dumb shit, "Oh he just want to hump my leg," so what was he doing to me when he went for that takedown? The people out there that want to talk down on me are some idiots. I had some ugly ass bitch try to hit me up on Instagram talking about, "Your fight was boring." I was like, "Bitch you ugly!" She had a pushed back hairline. Fuck that hoe! First of all, it's funny because all of these motherfuckers that talk shit have the same characteristics. Peep the characteristics of all of the people that talk shit on Instagram; they have about 100 followers, but they following 6,000 people. They have 100 followers and they follow 6,000 people and I guarantee you all of them are athletes. And they go to their page and even dick ride them or talk shit to them. They talk shit and nobody responds to them. So I fix them; I talk shit on my page and then I block they ass. And then some of them will be like, "Fuck King Mo, he blocked me!" Bitch, you think I'm just going to let you come on my page and talk shit? I don't even know who the fuck you are. Your shit is on private. Why would I waste my fucking time? I don't know who the fuck you are. Your shit is on private and my shit is open. My page is public. You have 100 followers and your shit's on private, so that tells me right there you're a fucking fraud. And the people in Chicago that turned against me, fuck them! Put that out there too. Fuck all of them motherfuckers that turned against me in Chicago. I got a lot of love from my people out there that look like me. Everybody else that was out there cheering against me could kiss my motherfucking ass; fuck 'em.
PC: It looks like you and Rampage were finally able to at least embrace and share a word after the fight. I never thought I would see that. What did you say to him?
KM: People were asking me and telling me about when Quinton said his greatest regret was getting into MMA. I thought that was stupid, but he didn't mean that. He meant something different. He was saying when he got into MMA, he regrets moving off to California and not seeing his family. That makes sense because that's the truth. There is a lot of shit I miss doing because of MMA. It's a job; it's part of the job that you're going to miss a lot of things. So I told him, "What you said was some real shit because I feel you on that. Good fight!" And that's about it. And he told me, "You fought me like a man. I'm proud of you because you came and fought me." I pushed the action. I had to come forward this time. People want to talk shit about me...look, any of you motherfuckers that talk shit about me, let them fight somebody that's 50 pounds heavier than them, let them walk somebody down that's 50 pounds heavier than them and formulate a game plan to defeat someone much bigger than them who has knockout power. I was walking Quinton down. There was no retreating from me. I walked his ass down.
PC: The crazy thing is, you're 9-1 as a heavyweight and that's not even your weight class. I could tell the level of disrespect for you is starting to annoy you.
KM: Yeah, I'm not even a heavyweight.
PC: And you just became the first fighter 205 pounds and up to win 10 fights inside of the Bellator cage, so congrats on that as well.
KM: Oh shit, I ain't even know that shit. I don't even be paying attention to that shit. That's cool! Oh shit...hell yeah I'm accomplishing some shit; that's cool.
PC: And now you're turning right back around to fight Ryan Bader on June 24th. I call you the MMA version of James Toney because you will truly fight anyone, any time, and anywhere. For you, it's gotta feel good just to be fighting another 205 pounder. People can say what they want, but there aren't a lot of King Mo's out there that's doing what you are doing and that's taking on all comers no matter the weight. Props to you on that and the win and best of luck in June. Is there anything else you want to add?
KM: Yeah, yeah! I talked to him in the cage. I was like, "What you weighing, Bader?" He was like, "About 230." Alright, that's cool, I really don't care. If he is 230, 250, it's all the same to me. It's bigger than me. I just gotta be smart. I will have a game plan. I see some things. I see a lot of things that I can exploit. And I'm pretty sure he sees some things he feel like he can exploit, but I'm making some changes already. I'm gonna make some changes on him and he will see come June. He gonna see them changes in June. This is how I get paid, dog. I'll fight any time and anywhere, just pay me. I'm excited about being a part of the first Bellator event in New York. At first, I wasn't. I didn't care. But now...we using the scale that Ali and Frazier weighed in on, I'm kind of excited about that. I'm going to take pictures on them motherfuckers, you know what I'm saying.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]