Exclusive Interview Interview with a King

King Mo made his MMA debut in Japan for World Victory on their Sengoku 5 event vs Travis Wiuf.  He fought a lot of fights in that short time-span and even defeated Pancrase Ryo Kawamura even after suffering an ACL tear in the first round.  From there, he exploded on the scene in the world of MMA, became champion in after his second fight in the United States and is appearing in a Video game by EA Sports.  I caught up to former Light Heavy Weight Champion King Mo Lawal to find out how his rehab is going his plans for boxing, and more.

TS: King Mo!!!  What Da Dizzle?

King Mo: Nothing really mane, about to start training, you know what I’m saying mane, getting back to the grind. About to train with Gerald Harris for a little bit and Tyrone Sprong

TS: How’s rehab going?

King Mo: Yea it’s about over. I got about two more weeks and then I’m done.

TS: Daniel Cormier, your friend headlined his fight and won. Are you surprised at how fast Daniel has transitioned into MMA?

King Mo: Ah nah, I’m not surprised at all really.

TS:  You used to train here in Colorado Springs at the Olympic Training Center (OTC) with Kevin Jackson, how was that experience in terms of your work out routine, compared to a professional MMA fighter routine?

King Mo: Training is training you know what I’m saying, it’s all the same except you know, at the training center its geared more toward one thing and that’s wrestling. Now I have to work on wrestling, boxing, kickboxing, jujitsu and conditioning, there’s a lot you have to deal with in the fight game.

TS:  Just listening to you talk about James Toney, he seems like a very cool guy, not really like the media portrays him to be.  As a boxing fan, I was pulling for him during his first MMA fight, but he didn’t show up against Randy Couture.  Do you think he should focus on boxing or should he as you say “GDP” Get Dat Paper by any means necessary?

King Mo: Mane, he should get that paper man, because you he’s forty something years old and you know. The thing with Randy (Couture), man they kinda threw him to the wolves because Randy has so much experience, you know he was up against a big battle in that fight, but things happen and he should keep on trying to get paid and box and fight mma.

TS: Sylvester Stallone was recently inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame as an “Observer” (Print and media journalists, publishers, writers, historians, photographers and artists.)(ibohof.com) for his role as a fictitious character named Rocky Balboa along with Mike Tyson, Julio Cesar Chavez, and Kostya Tszyu — you know, real boxers who actually fought in the ring. Do you think Stallone/Balboa deserves to be in the International Boxing Hall of Fame with real fighters even under this category?

King Mo: Yea I think so because Rocky is the one, you know Rocky is a classic movie about boxing and the thing is he immortalized boxing just in that and told a story about an underdog and if it wasn’t for him, who knows how boxing would’ve been seen in the early 80’s. Cause at that time boxing was big but I think Rocky helped shed the light more on boxing. It turned people that weren’t fans into casual fans. It’s like Karate Kid did with Karate, I’m pretty sure after Karate Kid came out there were a bunch of kids go out there learning karate cause of Karate Kid.

TS: You were recently in Japan participating in Dynamite!! 2010. How was it?

King Mo: It was cool. The guest that I vs Maha Sakura which was a big fight for him.

TS: You once tried out for WWE and almost signed. Do you think in the future you could do a special event, something like Floyd Mayweather Jr. did with the Big Show for the fans and who would you like to face off against?

King Mo: I think I’m a join WWE eventually when I’m done fighting and continue to entertain the masses…I’m a big fan. I was gonna do that before I was gonna fight.

To be continued…