Mo Lawal on Strikeforce: Seems like Dr. Kevorkian is waiting to pull the plug

http://mmajunkie.com/news/25207/mo-lawal-on-strikeforce-seems-like-dr-kevorkian-is-waiting-to-pull-the-plug.mma

At this past weekend's poorly attended Strikeforce event, Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal was one of the few to say it – even though most people were thinking it.

Strikeforce appears all but dead.

"I (had) thought Strikeforce was a cancer patient," he told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). "Man, it's a damn AIDS patient instead – with Dr. Jack Kevorkian in the background ready to pull the plug."

Lawal's criticism began even before the event, "Strikeforce Grand Prix: Barnett vs. Kharitonov," which took place Saturday at Cincinanti's U.S. Bank Arena. Lawal (8-1 MMA, 3-1 SF) defeated fellow light heavyweight Roger Gracie (4-1 MMA, 2-1 SF) via first-round knockout on the Showtime-televised main card.

Despite the victory and his long-awaited return from a 13-month layoff due to knee surgery, Lawal was irked even before the event. In fact, the exasperation was evident during a pre-event press conference, where he openly wondered why more media members weren't covering the event. He then wondered why UFC-bound Strikeforce fighters – most notably Nick Diaz – were overshadowing the pre-show coverage.

And he couldn't help but wonder how a major event with plenty of star power appeared to draw no more than 2,000 fans.

"It was a damn shame, dawg," Lawal said. "It was sad. There was like, what? Two-thousand people there?"

With the poorly attended victory, the former Strikeforce champ seems a likely option for a title fight, especially now that current light-heavyweight champ Dan Henderson appears headed to the UFC. But as MMAjunkie.com reported over the weekend, Lawal said he doesn't want to contend for a vacant belt and would rather fight the winner of such a title fight, even if that means putting off a fight with Gegard Mousasi or a rematch with Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante, who delivered Lawal his only career loss.

"If Dan has the belt and is in Strikeforce, I'll fight Dan for the belt," Lawal said on Saturday. "If it's vacant, Mousasi can fight someone for the belt.

"I want to fight someone who has the belt. I don't want to fight for no vacant title."

But whether that title fight ever materializes is up for debate. Currently, Strikeforce has just one more major event planned before year's end (on Dec. 17). After that, the heavyweight grand-prix's conclusion tentatively is scheduled for early 2012.

And after that, your guess is as good as Lawal's.

"From what I understand, I think Strikeforce will be done," he said. "I don't even know. Maybe we (UFC and Strikeforce fighters) are all folded together. I have no idea. I've been hearing rumors. I heard it might keep going. I heard it might be dead. I don't know. I have like one or two more fights (left on my contract), and then I'll see what's up after that.

"But my gut feeling? If it's not fighting, I'm always wrong every time. I'm terrible. So I don't know."

As for his victory itself, Lawal said it came a little easier than expected. He anticipated a long, drawn-out affair, but once he reassessed the situation on fight night, he knew he could throw caution to the wind.

"I don't know what he was trying to do really," Lawal said of Gracie. "He couldn't hit me that hard. As soon I felt his jab and how he was throwing it, I was like, 'You know what? I'm going to make this a brawl as much as I can. I'm going to land that big left hook or that 'Doomsday' right hand.'

"I've got that John Howard in my right hand, know what I mean?"