Muhammed Lawal celebrated his first Strikeforce win on Saturday night by paying homage to pro wrestling great "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Austin was famous for smashing Budweisers together, pouring some of the beer in his mouth and the rest all over himself and the ring after a big win.So Lawal recreated the Austin post-fight drinking scene with a few Rockstar energy drinks after defeating Mike Whitehead, however, the California State Athletic Commission did not appreciate the gesture and fined "King Mo" on Monday 10% of $20,000 purse. When FanHouse contacted Lawal, he was surprised to hear that he had been fined.
"Someone told me, 'You got fined.' I was like what? Fined by who?," Lawal said.
"I told Strikeforce. I figured that everybody knew. I think it probably had to do with the huge uproar because everybody was like, 'Mo's unsportsmanlike,' and their corny a** bulls***. They don't want to see me have fun and what not. They think this is the NFL."
Lawal even mentioned on last week's edition of The MMA Hour that he would pull off the stunt should he defeat Whitehead, and contrary to what has been reported online, this was not a cheap ploy to get a sponsor more air time.
"I'm not sponsored by Rockstar. The thing is, I couldn't have any other beverage in the ring. If I could have, I would have had Pepsi. But Rockstar is cool, they are the sponsor for Strikeforce, I have a lot of respect for Strikeforce so I just did it. Why not? I was just out there having fun."
Lawal took offense to people claiming he tried to soak the mat on purpose with three fights left on the card.
"I didn't splash the mat with the drink. The drink exploded when I opened it because someone shook it up," he said.
"As far as people saying, 'Yeah, Mo got the mat slippery on purpose.' Let me telling you something, you idiots: the canvas is slippery anyway. If I get Rockstar on the mat and it dries up, I'm doing them a f***ing favor, you know what I'm saying? It irritates me when people run their mouths and sh**. They always say the dumbest sh** ever and they don't know sh** about what's going on."
The former All-American wrestler at Oklahoma State University said that he tried to climb the cage so that none of the drink would fall on the mat anyway, but he was told by a CSAC official that he couldn't do so.
"I didn't know that you can't jump on the cage anymore. I had no idea," he said.
"I tried to, but they were like, 'Get down! Get down!' So I got down, and the guy beside me was like, 'Calm down,' and I was like, 'Yeah, I am. I'm going to go to my corner real quick, I'm going to get some towels and do it over a towel.'"
FanHouse contacted the CSAC on Monday to get an official reason for the fine, but didn't hear back.
Lawal planned on talking to his manager Dr. Ryan Parsons about contesting the fine, but doesn't know if that was even a possibility. Regardless of the fine, though, Lawal said he promises to do more elaborate celebrations following his future wins.
He kicked off his Strikeforce career with one of his now-famous entrances, but it wasn't televised. However, surprisingly, "King Mo" wasn't bothered by the fact that his entrance did not air on the Showtime telecast.
"It's whatever, man, because you know what? I don't care if they show it or not because I just do it for me. If I'm having fun and if people there are having fun ... if they want to see my entrances, they need to fly to a Strikeforce event and buy a ticket," he said.
Lawal is planning on training with the Golden Glory team in the Netherlands over the holidays to improve his striking skills. He has been placed under a one-week medical suspension by the CSAC, but hopes to talk to Strikeforce in the near future about his next fight. According to Lawal, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker told him that he could be in line to fight the current light heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi after two more impressive victories.
Viewed as one of the brightest young stars in the sport, Lawal improved his pro MMA record to 6-0 on Saturday night. Yet, due to his colorful personality and his willingness to always tell it like it is, he has received a lot of criticism online from MMA fans. Regardless, though, "King Mo" says he is fueled by his critics.
"Keep hating. Y'all are just wasting your time. Keep hating. There are other people out there you can hate on, but, actually, I'm proud that you waste all your time and energy to hate on me. Makes me feel special, and I'm just going to keep on doing what I do, so be prepared to be mad in the future."
Comments (Page 1 of 2)
hate him or love him he is an entertaining fighter. he runs his mouth, but so far he's been able to back it up. what I would love to see is a fight between him & rampage. they have some bad blood there.
I understand fines in the nfl, but mma is completely different excessive celebration is what peoplewant, people love big personalities, it creates stars.
excessive celebration is not what people want to see. You can have excessive celebration when you win big on a lottery ticket, but when you are a professional, you act as such.
where has all the fun gone man? he won his first real big show, its an emotional thing
csac should change their name to nutsac
The point is that he spilled Rockstar (a LOT of Rockstar) all over the mat, and when he was asked to stop he continued. You could see that clear as day on the televised broadcast.
He was fined $2,000 ... big deal. Unfortunately it gives him another chance to run his mouth. That being said, despite facing a completely out of shape Whitehead, King Mo looked much better than in previous fights.
fight fedor and see who has some fun afterwards . hahahahahahaha !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! king in his own mind !!! hahahahahahahahaha !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! king schmo is more like it !!! he beat an overweight , out of shape fading fighter , big deal !!! haahahahahahahahahaha !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
get off fedors nuts!!! when fedor steps up and fights in the top notch organization then talk all this fedor is king crap!! until then he is scared of real competition and beating up on walmart employees.
all I have to says is what about what GSP, BJ Penn, Anderson Silva, Machida, and every other person that does flips and celebrates their wins. People eat that stuff up when they do it why not let him do it. People are just to busy acting like little church school girls.
okay, first off, let me preface this by saying....
i am not a fan of the pre-meditated ochocinco type celebration,
however, unfortunately it seems that that type of thing is sort of accepted in our sports culture of today.
i prefer to see the honest raw emotion of not expecting to win, type of celebration......like when i forget his name, but the guy that ran full force into the cage....after winning and bounced off it.
that was probably the most hilarious awesome celebration ever.
yet, if king mo was not warned ahead of time, then that is total bush-league of the CSAC to arbitrarily assess a fine.
hey pipp, as a matter of fact the NSAC doesn't hold a candle to the CSAC as far as commission crap.
next: wow! i certainly hope king mo wins his next 2 fights, because king mo/mousasi would be awesome.
that is if mo continues to look good.
seriously, aside from cyborg/carano, this could rival any top ufc match-up to date.
this would be a fantasic homegrown all it's own sf match-up.
@neozoo........sounds a bit contradictory. Seems like you're trying to ration between what amounts to be the same thing. A celebration is a celebration. Practicing and "premeditating" as you say has been apart of sports since the beginning.
So, the fact that you though the guy running across the ring and into the gate and bouncing off was funny and a 'true' celebration.....well, I didn't see that as all that funny. Looked sort of goofy, imo. And that's just it, it's an opinion. You don't like big personality. But I do.
Yeah sure, King Mo is a bit immature. And he won't slow down until someone beats him down. I'm a King Mo fan, and I hope sooner rather than later he'll calm down and attract more endorsements.
hey ariel,
and anyone else that would like to chime in...
and with this i'm only trying to affect change here.
mma fanhouse has blended with mma fighting.
for the most part i could care less about the change except for 2 issues:
regarding site navigation.
1 - only 5 topics per page
2 - no area on who has been commenting (posting).
as a poster, i like to keep up and read what my other fellow posters are saying, thinking.
thats it. curious on your opinion on that.
because on the old site....just last week, that's the big difference.
i emailed them here and got no reply on why they changed those 2 things.
ariel, if you could help out here, it would be nice.
or at least your opinion.
neozoo,
I understand your concern about the 5 posts per page, but don't forget the links at the top. So it's really 10 links. I will bring it up, though.
As for your other issue, I'm not quite sure I understand the problem. You want to see what other people have commented on?
Also, be sure to check out the forums. I think they are really great and some really knowledgeable fans hang out there.
Hope some of that info helps. Feel free to write back about any other concerns or questions.
hey ariel, thanks for replying.
let me try clarifying the commenting issue....
in the old site (last week) there was always an area to the right
that had most commented topics (that i don't really care about)
but right under or just above the site always had so and so was posting (commenting) about a certain topic.
which i always thought was cool, because i like seeing what some of those guys were thinking and i could go right to it.
guys like niv, johnnynumber5, richardbickel, m-13, pipp..etc...
we're sort of cyber freinds now and i think that helped to stay fresh with each other.
just my 2 sense, i think if you were to take an objective poll most would agree with my 2 issues.
i could explain the value of both points more if you like, there is actually psychological aspects to both of them as well. to help keep interest from the readers. blah blah.
maybe, there is a reason from your site navigation team on why they dont do it or maybe they just have not thought about it.
once again thanks
hopefully this helps.
also i'm not really a forum guy maybe i try it here.
:aww shucks: you making me blush!
Me too! ;). Just playing man.
I hear you. I'll bring it up.
Check out the forums, I think someone like you (and the rest of the loyal commenters you mentioned) would really like it there. Thanks again for your continued support.
Hey Ariel while we're bringing a few things up I'd like to make a few suggestions. Universal login (like bloody elbow) so you don't have to login for each comment and a post history like the other blog smith network blogs have (joystiq, engadget etc) ... if I click my name on Joystiq it takes me to my profile link (which can be public or private) and allows me to change my name and avatar (which vanished with the merger to mmafighting.com for some reason) and it would allow other users to see the things I've been saying (and vice versa) over the last few days. Perfect example: Lets say myself and Neozoo are arguing over the merits of UFC & Strikeforce like usual ... if I haven't been online for a few days I could simply click his name, be taken to his profile and read what he's said without having to click through 4-5 pages to find that original thread. My Joystiq profile actually shows the posts I've made on Fanhouse so the framework has to be there somewhere.
Anyway ... seems like you cursed Logan Stanton. After you got her punch drunk on plaid love she got canned from carrying the giant flash cards. For shame, Ariel! For SHAME!
where has all the fun gone, man. He just won his first big show, its an emotional thing.
I like King Mo. He is a young dude having fun and trying to build a persona to standout from the crowd. It's not like he hurt anyone or adversely affected any other fights. How about a warning then a fine if it happens again. Seems reasonable.
I think King Mo would give Mousasi a run for his money. I'd like to see him fight Rogers or Lashley as well.