{"id":315612,"date":"2019-06-04T06:57:28","date_gmt":"2019-06-04T13:57:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=315612"},"modified":"2019-06-04T06:57:28","modified_gmt":"2019-06-04T13:57:28","slug":"king-mo-retires-from-mma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/king-mo-retires-from-mma\/","title":{"rendered":"‘King Mo’ retires from MMA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amid the retirements of UFC light heavyweights like Alexander Gustafsson and Jimi Manuwa<\/a>, another fantastic light heavyweight fighter has elected to hang up the gloves: The great Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal.<\/p>\n

Lawal, a former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion, RIZIN Grand Prix winner, and Bellator contender, quietly retired from competition earlier this week. The news was announced on the official Instagram page of American Top Team, the gym he’s called home for many years.<\/p>\n

Speaking to MMA Junkie<\/a>, King Mo confirmed that his retirement is both legitimate and permanent.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m done for good,” he said. “My body can\u2019t handle it, man. Too many surgeries. My body, as I\u2019ve gotten older, I just can\u2019t keep weight on. I\u2019ve got (hyperthyroidism). That, with the injuries and my replaced hip, my five ACL surgeries and my staph infection and me being 38 \u2026 right now I\u2019m about 197 pounds. Everything is falling off me, man.”<\/p>\n

King Mo continued, explaining that he’s been thinking retirement since before his recent RIZIN rematch with Jiri Prochazka.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m going to be totally real with you: Before the (Jiri Prochazka) fight,” he added. “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\u2019t do this for much too much longer. I\u2019m going to need a full replacement. My body\u2019s been feeling weird for the past few years. I just don\u2019t got it no more, man. I\u2019m just old. Old and beat up.”<\/p>\n

Over the course of his career, King Mo picked up big wins over dangerous foes such as Gegard Mousasi, Roger Gracie, Seth Petruzelli, Cheick Kongo, Linton Vassell, Teodoras Aukstuolis, Jiri Prochazka, Satoshi Ishii and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. The wrestling specialist retires with an overall record of 21-9 (1). Despite never fighting in the UFC, he should be remembered as a top-level light heavyweight and heavyweight who fearlessly took on all comers.<\/p>\n

This article first appeared on\u00a0<\/i>BJPENN.COM<\/i><\/span><\/a>\u00a0on 6\/4\/2019. <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amid the retirements of UFC light heavyweights like Alexander Gustafsson and Jimi Manuwa, another fantastic light heavyweight fighter has elected to hang up the gloves: The great Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal. Lawal, a former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion, RIZIN Grand Prix winner, and Bellator contender, quietly retired from competition earlier this week. The news was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":315563,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10647,39610],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n'King Mo' retires from MMA | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion, RIZIN Grand Prix winner, and Bellator contender Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal has retired.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/king-mo-retires-from-mma\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"'King Mo' retires from MMA | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former Strikeforce light heavyweight 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