Dixie Carter: And I think to echo that we're going to be playing out and, you know, the real life role, his dual role on our show as well. So as he's prepping for a fight a lot of that will be covered within the show, so it's not as if he's going to live two distinct worlds. You know, we have every intention of blending those two together.
Sergio Non: And actually just one other question that just came up. I don't suppose Mo you've decided what you're finishing move will be yet.
Muhammed Lawal: I'm still, you know, still thinking about that. You know, I'll reveal the name later but I'm still, you know, a lot of possibilities. I'm even trying to make one up myself, you know.
Sergio Non: All right, thank you.
Operator: We'll go next to Ariel Helwani with mmafighting.com.
Ariel Helwani: Thank you King Mo. Why you laughing Mo?
Muhammed Lawal: That wasn't me laughing. That was somebody else.
Ariel Helwani: Oh okay. I got a few questions for you Mo. First off you said that this was the best deal. And you made - according to the Nevada State Athletic Commission you made $95,000 in your last fight with the win bonus, which is pretty good for Strikeforce and even Zuffa in general.
So can you tell us how this deal is better than the deal that you had with Zuffa?
Muhammed Lawal: Well it's like this. It's a better deal; let me put it like that. I can't go into the particulars but I'm just telling you this. It's a better deal in the long run. I'm going to be on Spike TV dog, you know.
It's not - and that's not Showtime because I like Showtime. They were cool but Spike TV is bigger than Showtime, so I'm going to be in - I'm going to be seen by more people. So I think that in the long run that's the better deal.
Ariel Helwani: And how long is the deal for?
Muhammed Lawal: For a long time, you know. I don't know how many years but it's for a long time, you know what I'm saying, so I'll probably be having some gray hair by the time I'm done, in my beard that is.
Ariel Helwani: Right. And just curious, did Strikeforce or the UFC try to counter this offer, or did they even know that you were going to sign with Bellator and TNA before you did sign the contract?
Muhammed Lawal: They knew but if - and we could tell you more about that whole thing. You need to call Mike Hogan and you know his number: 408-583-7220.
Ariel Helwani: I don't know. All right. And just curious, just knowing you and how much you love pro wrestling, I'm wondering which organization are you most excited about debuting in, TNA or Bellator?
Muhammed Lawal: Hey, both equally, you know what I'm saying. I, you know, because like I said earlier I love knocking people out, especially with the right hand, but I've never hit somebody with a chair before so I'm looking forward to doing that as well. So I feel sorry for who that victim is. They get hit pretty hard.
Ariel Helwani: And just one last one for you Mo. You know, you've obviously had a longstanding beef with Rampage Jackson. It looks like his UFC career is coming to an end.
Are you going to try to convince Bjorn and Spike to sign him so you can fight him in Bellator?
Muhammed Lawal: If he wants to fight or he can sign with IMPACT Wrestling and we could do a match there. You know, it's whatever. I - you can talk to Rampage. I really don't know what he's going to do and, you know, it's whatever.
But I just know this. King Mo is with Bellator and IMPACT Wrestling and that's the way it is.
Ariel Helwani: Okay, and just two quick ones for Kevin if I may. Bjorn said that there's going to be more sort of synergy between TNA and Bellator in the future in I'm guessing 2013 when Bellator moves over. Can you give us a hint as to what kind of synergy we'll be seeing?
Kevin Kay: Well I think you'll see - obviously you're going to see a lot of promotion back and forth between the two brands. I think we'll always be looking for, you know, fighters or wrestlers who, you know, want to go from one brand to the other in a similar fashion to what Mo is doing.
And, you know, if that makes sense we'll definitely look at it. And, you know, and the other part of that Ariel is that, you know, we're looking at not just, you know, Bellator and TNA but also like what other opportunities there are for, you know, for fighters to come to Bellator or to TNA offering them different things, you know, under our umbrella whether it's, you know, video games or, you know, development and - of their careers in different ways.
So, you know, we're going to use every resource that we have to sign the best fighters that we can get and the best wrestlers.
Ariel Helwani: And my last one for you Kevin would be, you know, given the similarities in the demographic and the audience, and now you have a fighter that will be, you know, appearing on both brands and both shows, does this mean next year that we'll be seeing Bellator maybe on the same night as TNA? Will they be sort of coupled together?
Kevin Kay: Don't know yet. You know, we - we're still looking at like what night is right and, you know, what you'll see is, you know, TNA's going to be on Thursday at 8 o'clock.
May 31 we're moving to 8 o'clock. That's a big decision and it's because there's more of an available audience there, and because we want to get out of the way of football when it comes in the fall.
And we want to establish a beachhead for TNA at 8 o'clock and I think it's a really smart move. You know, right now Bellator's on Friday nights on MTV2 as you know and, you know, we're going to just continually assess the situation until we get a little closer and then make a... (Continues on next page)
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