Don't Hate on Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal After Strikeforce: Houston Loss to Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante

After Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal's shocking upset loss to Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante at Strikeforce: Houston last night, many are already claiming that Mo was "exposed" and that his loss is a promotional disaster for Strikeforce.

Zach Arnold epitomizes this view point:

After the results from tonight's event, it might actually benefit the promotion if some fans didn't see this show.

Outside of the Middleweight title fight between Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza and Tim Kennedy, everything that could have gone wrong ended up going wrong.

...

Which led us to the main event featuring King "f*** the fans" Mo versus Rafael Feijao. This fight almost didn't happen because Scott Coker last May stated that he was considering Feijao vs. Mike Kyle. Yes, *that* Mike Kyle. Well, in the end we're going to get that match because Feijao beat Mo and took the Middleweight belt. About as disastrous of an outcome for Strikeforce promotionally-speaking as you could possibly get. 

Matt Bishop has a more balanced view:

King Mo definitely got away from his wrestling. The fight was either 1-1 or 2-0 Mo after two rounds depending on who you asked, but I had a feeling that Rafael Feijao was just landing too much and that would eventually catch up with Lawal. It did. Feijao came into this fight very undervalued in my opinion. Nobody was picking him to win, but he certainly had (and has) the striking skills to win this sort of fight. The outcome of this fight wasn't out of the realm of possibilities, not by a long shot. I think when Lawal looks back on this fight, he's going to regret his performance. This was a missed opportunity for sure. There's no doubt he'll come back stronger. As I've written time and time again, high-level wrestlers seem to have more resilience than any other breed of fighter. Lawal is so smart that he'll recognize and work on what needs to be worked on.

Mike Chiapetta praises Lawal's heart:

Lawal may have lost the belt to Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante at Strikeforce: Houston (does this mean Cavalcante is now the king?), but the indelible image of the champion desperately clutching at Cavalcante's legs for a takedown in the final seconds should silence any last doubts about Lawal's gameness.

And having seen the fight from press row, I have to concur with Chiappetta's assessment. Frankly it was an incredible fight, my favorite kind of MMA bout. Both men showed their strengths, implemented key elements of their style to score points and ultimately the best man won. 

Watching King Mo lean down lower and lower to dig in on his body shots to Feijao I was nervous knowing that he was opening himself up to Feijao's dangerous knees. Self-appointed MMA pundits like myself are constantly praising fighters who add body punches to their arsenal, but Mo's loss shows why it's a risky move to implement. Unlike boxing where you can get inside and work the body with little fear of a one punch KO from your opponent, in MMA the danger of leaning into a knee is ever present when you go down to attack the mid-section. 

Mo knows that now.

In talking to Feijao after the fight I also realized something else -- when you pride yourself on watching tape like King Mo does, you always have to be wary of the opponent who is also watching tape on you. I asked Feijao why he stopped throwing leg kicks after some early success had King Mo changing stances. His answer was, "I watched a lot of tape on him and knew that when he changed his stance like that he was preparing a counter to the leg kick."

Two very skilled and well prepared fighters met in the headliner last night at Strikeforce: Houston. The less heralded fighter one, but let's not diminish his accomplishment by denigrating his worthy opponent.

As for Mo's future, S.C. Michaelson has a good take:

As for Mo Lawal, there were not that many, if any, blatant external factors to try and "pass blame to". It was his first main event; it was also his first title defense. The demand for his time has greatly increased due to his championship status. All of those are reasons to why Lawal or others around him can say he lost. Or Mr. Lawal can say "Hey, I lost, he was better than me tonight. I have a couple areas in my game that I need to work on and I'm going to fix them." To his credit, that's exactly what Lawal said following his loss. And it sounded good. To be honest, I believe him when he says it. Having watched dozens of interviews of his, Lawal is a student of the game of MMA. Don't let the jewelry and the entourages fool you, he's one of the most cerebral fighters in terms of recognizing what does and does not work in MMA. If I had to make a prediction, I would say that Mr. Lawal will come back from this a better "King Mo" and rule the MMA world with an iron fist.

I wouldn't go quite that far. One key thing to remember about Lawal is that he's already in his late 20's. That is generally not a period in an athlete's life when he can make enormous strides. But I do expect him to recover and continue to impress. Particularly if he bows to reality and cuts down to middleweight.