Weary of MMA media headlines, 'King Mo' says Emanuel Newtown tag simple: revenge

LONG BEACH, Calif. – A verbal dust-up spurred by a radio appearance has provided plenty of headlines for Muhammed Lawal and Emanuel Newton in advance of their rematch at Saturday’s Bellator 106, but Lawal isn’t putting much stock in them. 

“King Mo,” in fact, doesn’t care much for most of what he comes across when he turns on his computer and visits the MMA webisphere. Even if there is blowback from him calling in to an online MMA show to call Newton a “black skinhead,” he shrugs his shoulders.

“Let’s keep it 100,” he told MMAjunkie.com during a workout for the media in advance of this weekend’s event. “Most MMA media, the stuff you report, for the most part, it’s dumb-ass headlines, like, ‘Mo delivered cookies before a big fight.’ It’s just TMZ news. It’s nothing really newsworthy, but people love it for some reason. I think it’s garbage. 

“If you’re going to come with something, come with something legit, like, ‘Bigfoot overcomes acromegaly to become this.’ Something real news that you see in football all the time, and MMA for some reason, I could be doing this (and it’s) ‘Mo stubs big toe, fight in jeopardy.’ That’s the type of news that’s put out there, which is garbage. Seventy-five percent of MMA media need to step their game up. Fighters as well. We’ve got to step our game up, too. But I feel you all can pick and choose what you come up with, and you all could put out better stories, if you want to make it a real sport. Because right now, it seems like it’s almost spectacle and entertainment. 

“I’m not trying to bash the MMA media. As a whole, we’re trying to make MMA into a big-time sport. We’ve got to step up our game as fighters and media.”

Lawal (11-2 MMA, 3-1 BMMA) is confident he’ll be stepping up his game for his second fight with Newton (21-7-1 MMA, 4-1 BMMA), which co-headlines Bellator 106 at Long Beach Arena in California, and serves as an interim light-heavyweight title bout. The fight airs on the Spike TV-televised main card following prelims on Spike.com.

“I’m going to get payback with [my fists], and [my elbows], and the referee’s going to jump in and pull me off of him,” Lawal said. “What’s going to be different is I’m going to get my hand raised and you all will not, I repeat, you will not see that ugly-ass dance he does after he wins. I don’t know what the hell that is, man. He looks like a voodoo priest. You all won’t see that dance. Straight up.”

Asked earlier whether he regretted anything he said during the appearance, he shot back, “What did I say that was so bad?”

“I called him a black skinhead,” Lawal continued. “OK, I did my research. I saw a documentary a while ago about skinheads that follow a music genre called ‘hardcore.’ And he’s ‘The Hardcore Kid,’ right? He likes hardcore music. He does that ugly-ass dance, that stupid s–t. So I put two and two together and said, ‘Hey! He’s a black skinhead.’

“I’m not taking about no Aryan Nation. Is he Clayton Bigsby or something? I just said that he is black skinhead. I didn’t say he was a racist against his own people. He likes that hardcore music that skinheads like. That’s all. Is that bad? I didn’t say he was an Aryan Nation skinhead, because that would make no sense. That’s like saying black klansman. I’ve never seen it except on [The Dave Chapelle Show]. So the fans out there can kiss my ass. That’s my explanation. You don’t like it, whatever.”

Of course, comments such as that are considered headline gold to the media. If Lawal were writing copy, he would lead with a different angle. 

“Grudge-match,” he said with a smile. “Revenge. Payback. Get-back. Because [my fight] is James Brown (song), beside he stole the girlfriend part. ‘I don’t karate, but I know crazy.’ 

“I feel like the theme of this whole card is people trying to come up. Newton trying to make a name for himself. I’m trying to beat Newton to get revenge. (Daniel) Straus and (Pat) Curran are both trying to make names for themselves, and … (Eddie) Alvarez is trying to get back in the spotlight, and Chandler’s like, ‘I’m the champ. You’re not getting your belt back.’ 

“It’s about guys trying to come up and be respected within an organization that a lot of people out there, UFC groupies, they downplay the whole card. I’ve seen people on Twitter saying, ‘Bellator failed because it’s (not) on pay-per-view.’ Why are you complaining about fights falling through when there are still fights left. Be happy you’re seeing fights for free. Don’t bash organizations because they have shortcomings. They’re fights. If you want to see lesser fights, go to a bar, get two people drunk, and then instigate a fight between them. You can watch a fight for free then. But if you want to see high-level competition, tune in to Spike TV Nov. 2 and watch this fight.”

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