Former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion “King” Mo Lawal has been going through rough times recently. He tested positive for steroids after defeating Lorenz Larkin in January, placing the blame on an outdated supplement he’d been taking. His health took a dramatic turn for the worse after post-knee surgery complications left him with such a severe staph his question that his very survival was in doubt.
Then last week he had his hearing with the Nevada State Athletic Commission, where he was suspended nine months and fined $39,000 for his positive test. Lawal, understandably upset at the news, lashed out on twitter in the direction of Commissioner Pat Lundvall:
I shoulda stayed home! Lol. NSAC had they mind made up b4 we got there! Lol. All the research we did and disclosed to em! They ignored! LOL.
I honestly feel like Lundvall was a racist bitch asking me if I can read or speak english. Go on somewhere with that bullshit bitch!!!
Lundvall….I’m college educated. Get your mind right!
Zuffa immediately terminated Lawal for his remarks. Lawal`s comments were not only completely out of line, but wrong-headed to begin with. Lundvall’s questions were in a line of questioning Lawal’s credibility after Lawal had filled out pre-fight medical forms incorrectly. Yahoo’s Kevin Iole noted that Lundvall had used the identical questioning on boxer Michael Steele, a caucasian. While Lundvall may have been confrontational in her approach, it was not racially motivated but rather an attempt to illustrate that Lawal had knowingly lied on the forms .
Lawal has since apologized and says while he still feels offended, he is “in the wrong for what he said”. While Lawal appears to be attempting to take the high road after his outburst, his manager Mike Kogan continues to stoke the fires and make incendiary comments.
Kogan gave an interview Wednesday where he made the following remarks:
Her unprofessional comments that were uncalled for, and in my and Mo’s judgment, very racist. He’s faced these kinds of comments in the past and he knows how they were said. And if you were sitting there and you were looking at her with her smug face and her “I am God” condescending attitude, you would have known what she was saying.
She got a little carried away and there is nobody there to smack them on the hand. They are the gods. so that doesn’t mean that I have to take it or Mo has to take it. And if the consequences are getting fired or getting cut and spending the rest of your life fighting for $2,000, that’s fine, but if the flip side of it is to become a house nigga and hop up and down and give it to you up the ass, then f— that! I’ll take the other alternative.
How Kogan feels these comments will in any way aid his client defy logic. He has managed to take Lawal`s comments and made them seem almost tame by comparison. Kogan has not only completely misread the situation, he has done his himself or his client no favours for any future dealings with the NSAC. He may also affect any future dealings with Zuffa, as Dana White isn’t fond of managers at the best of times.
Kogan also comes off as more than a little of a hypocrite, being that he was released from his position as a commentator for HDNet for making remarks on-air that were deemed to be offensive to Mexicans and whose twitter account has been known to feature racially and culturally insensitive comments.
Dave Meltzer is now reporting that Lawal is interested in trying his hand at pro wrestling. While I would be disappointed to see him leave mixed martial arts, he might be doing the sport a favour if he takes Kogan with him to do his carnival-barking there.
Related story: King Mo situation calls for social media policy
____________________________________________________________________________________
Follow @CarlinBardsley on Twitter and keep up with the latest news by following @MMASucka on Twitter and on Facebook
