Muhammed Lawal has always been very clear that he is a “moneyweight” fighter. Tell him where his weight needs to be to make the most money in his next fight, and he’ll be there.
At Bellator 154, that means Lawal (19-4 MMA, 8-3 BMMA) makes his way back to light heavyweight for a bout with former UFC contender Phil Davis (15-3 MMA, 2-0 BMMA). The two meet in the event’s headliner, which takes place May 14 at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif. The main card airs on Spike following prelims on MMAjunkie.
Lawal spent 2015 primarily as a heavyweight, he and earned a split decision over UFC veteran Cheick Kongo at Bellator 134 and won the Rizin FF heavyweight tournament with three wins in two days. In between, he participated in Bellator’s four-man light heavyweight tournament at “Dynamite 1.” He defeated Linton Vassell by unanimous decision in the opening round but was forced out of his tournament final with Davis due to a rib injury.
“King Mo” said his decision to move back to heavyweight after the injury and travel to Japan to compete at Rizin FF were motivated by his always-present desire to get paid.
“Truth be told, the objective at Rizin was to get paid and get fights,” Lawal told MMAjunkie. “Because when I fight, I get paid. There wasn’t any mathematical equation or anything to do it. We just did it. We saw the opportunity, took it, ran with it and went out there and fought three times in two nights.”
Davis represents a stiff test for Lawal. The UFC veteran is ranked No. 4 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA light-heavyweight rankings while Lawal is No. 12.
A win would obviously raise his stock and put him in position to challenge current light heavyweight champion Liam McGeary (11-0 MMA, 8-0 BMMA) for the belt. However, Lawal said he is interested in fighting current heavyweight champ Vitaly Minakov (17-0 MMA, 5-0 BMMA).
Minakov hasn’t competed in Bellator since April 2014 and instead has fought for the Russian “Fight Nights” promotion three times.
“With me, I’m 205 or heavyweight,” Lawal said. “I wouldn’t mind fighting Minakov. I’ve fought heavyweight before, I’m undefeated at heavyweight. Give me a loss at heavyweight, I don’t care. Get me beat. Put me at heavyweight and let someone beat me. I’m cool with that.”
Check out the full video above.
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