Muhammed Lawal, whose colorful ring entrances and gift of gab made him an MMA star, is retiring at 38.
A former Strikeforce, Bellator and Rizin FF champion, “King Mo” Lawal leaves the sport with a professional record of 21-9 with one no contest. In an interview with MMA Junkie, he spoke about the physical and mental aspects of his decision to hang up his gloves.
Are you done for now, or done for good?
I’m done for good. My body can’t handle it, man. Too many surgeries. My body, as I’ve gotten older, I just can’t keep weight on. I’ve got (hyperthyroidism). That, with the injuries and my replaced hip, my five ACL surgeries and my staph infection and me being 38 … right now I’m about 197 pounds. Everything is falling off me, man.
Was there a particular moment at which you realized this?
I’m going to be totally real with you: Before the (Jiri Prochazka) fight. I could feel how I was walking. For the past five years before I had the surgery, I was walking weird because my hip was all messed up. I just knew I had to do something. So I got the surgery done, and once I got it done, I knew: I can’t do this for much too much longer. I’m going to need a full replacement. My body’s been feeling weird for the past few years. I just don’t got it no more, man. I’m just old. Old and beat up.
So what exactly is going on with your hip? How do you describe it?
I’ve got titanium in it. I had Birmingham Hip Resurfacing with a modified replacement. It’s my right hip. I’m probably the first or second to come back from Birmingham Hip Resurfacing to compete at a high level. So now, every time I go through the airport metal detector, my (expletive) will beep. If I go to a concert, my (expletive) will beep.
What is it like to train with metal in your hip?
It feels funny, man, because I can feel it there. Sometimes it will clank. Sometimes when I walk, I can hear it clanking in my hip. It feels like my range of motion decreased, because for about seven years, I couldn’t tie my shoe, or put my shoe on. As soon as I had the surgery, I could put my shoe on. I could get in and out of my car with no problem. For a while, I was pretty much a fighter with no legs. My fights weren’t always pretty, but I would find ways to win. But I’m not the only one with a beat-up body in MMA. I’m not the only one with surgeries. But I just knew I wasn’t performing the way I was. I was getting tired even though I trained hard.
My last fight with Jiri, my body gave out. It was just fatigue. I don’t know what happened. It just went out. I don’t know.
So is this primarily a physical problem, or are there other components to it as well?
Physical. I can’t do it no more. My mindset’s changed a little bit. Before, I wanted to hurt people. But now, I don’t know if I want to hurt people any more. I’ve got kids. I want to be able to walk and do stuff with my kids, and with my knees, having five ACL replacements, and staph infection in the knee, and my right hip, my leg is all messed up. So when it’s all said and done, I’m going to need a hip replacement. I’m going to need a left elbow replacement for my left elbow that won’t bend. I’m all messed up.
What is your plan from here?
Coach and enjoy life. Just go back to normal civilian life. Find me a little job. I’ll do something to keep me busy. That’s all it is – staying busy. Because when you’re done fighting, you’ve got a lot of free time on your hands.
You’ve studied this game. You know how this works for a lot of people. So how do you plan to distinguish yourself, avoid some of the pitfalls?
I don’t know. A lot of things that lead people to pitfalls are bad decisions. My decisions have been so good so far. I’ve just got to be smart and not live past my own means. Just live normal. I can’t go out there and try and make it rain.
Any thought of working with Bellator? You and (Bellator executive) Mike Kogan are really close, and he’s pretty tied in at that company.
Man, I would love to do something with Bellator. I owe my career to (Bellator president Scott) Coker and Mike, and Ryan Parsons, too. All my coaches from wrestling up until now, I owe them everything. Without them, I’d still be a kid doing nothing. Athletics has gotten me this far. I’m a child of immigrant parents. My mom had nothing when she came here. We were behind the 8-ball, so I just had to grind and make something happen. Wrestling took me around the world, and MMA helped me grow up and become a man.
What would you say is a career highlight for you when you think back on what you’ve done?
I’ve never had one. I think my career highlight is me enjoying the fight game. I never got burned out. I enjoyed this (expletive). My enjoyment of what I’m doing is the highlight.
Do you have any regrets on things you didn’t pursue?
Maybe I should have tried middleweight a little sooner. But other than that, no. I’m good with what I did. A career’s a career. It’s over.
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