King Mo Declares Himself the Underdog vs. Rafael 'Feijao' Cavalcante

By Mike Chiappetta - Senior Writer

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Muhammed Lawal will walk into the Strikeforce cage on Aug. 21 as the promotion's light-heavyweight champion, and with the odds strongly suggesting a successful title defense. But the man they call "King Mo" disagrees with the handicappers that have made him as much as a 5-to-1 favorite over Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante.

"If anyone should be a favorite, it should be 'Feijao,'" he said on a Monday conference call. "He has a name, he's been fighting longer than me. I remember watching him on Showtime, in Elite XC and in the IFL. He should be the favorite. Due to marketing, people see me as the favorite. He's the favorite, I'm the underdog even though I'm the champ."

Lawal, who improved to 7-0 upon capturing the title in an April win over Gegard Mousasi, has been considered one of the sport's top talents since his Sept. 2008 debut. But despite the championship belt around his waist, he notes that he's still a relative newcomer to the game.

Cavalcante, at 9-2, has just four more fights than Lawal, though he's been fighting professionally since Feb. 2006.

A former collegiate wrestling All-American and international wrestling star, Lawal has become renowned for an encyclopedic knowledge of combat styles, which he often utilizes in his fights.

Prior to his bout against Mousasi, he hinted at using a "Cuban-boxing" style, though the five-round bout evolved into largely a grappling match. For this one, he said that he might implement a Bernard Hopkins boxing style.

"If that doesn't work, I'll go to a Paul Williams style," he said. When asked how exactly he would emulate Williams' style, which heavily relies on his length advantage, Lawal hinted it had more to do with a southpaw stance and "punches in bunches."

While Cavalcante noted that he expected his ground skills to come into play -- he is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt -- Lawal believes those statements are simple mind games to distract him from 'Feijao's' true preference.

"It's all mental warfare," he said. "'Fejaio' knows he likes the KO. He wants the knockout, he doesn't want the submission. I trained with Nogueira in the past. He's been training with [Andre] Galvao and 'Jacare' [Ronaldo Souza]. My training consists of [Fabricio] Werdum, Amal Easton and Dean Lister. That's somewhat comparable. I'm not worried about the ground at all, I've got good sub defense."

Cavalcante, who is coming off back-to-back TKO wins over Antwain Britt and Aaron Rosa, is indeed equally skilled with his hands and on the ground, but Lawal says he'll find a way to win.

"Hypothetically, if you ask me if I can beat anybody, I think I can beat anybody," he said. "It doesn't matter who it is, except my momma. I'll beat them with a good gameplan."

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