Muhammed Lawal Explains Why He’s Fighting at Light Heavyweight Again

Muhammed Lawal spoke with MMAjunkie ahead of his fight with Liam McGeary at Bellator’s Hawaii card in December. Highlights are below:

On fighting McGeary despite committing to middleweight previously: “It’s crazy because Bellator hit me up, and they were like, ‘You’re going to fight Liam, I think Oct. 30, or Nov. 30,’ so I’m like, ‘Cool, whatever. All right.’ Then, they said, ‘Hey, Mo, things changed. Could you fight (Lyoto Machida) at 195 or 190?’ And I was like, ‘Cool! When?’ They’re like ‘Dec. 15.’ I was like, ‘OK, that’d be kind of tough, because I’m fighting Liam two weeks before. But, you know what? I can weigh in right, fight Liam, beat him, and then cut the rest of the weight down.’ And they’re like, ‘Well, no, we’re just going to move your fight to Dec. 15.’”

On a possible rematch with Gegard Mousasi: “I’d definitely love to fight Mousasi again. He’s hot. He’s on fire, man. But I’ve just got to make sure I can make this weight.”

On making weight: “The weight is not where it should be, but we can make some adjustments to get some of this muscle off.”

On a possible fight for Rizin: “I like what they’re doing with Kyoji (Horiguchi), they’re pushing Kyoji. I kind of like what they’re doing. It’s a different take to MMA. A different alternative. I like it, though…I’ll dance with anybody. Whoever wants to fight, we can fight. I got into this to get paid, to fight and have fun. As long as I’m doing three, or one in three, cool. I’m happy.”