Muhammed Lawal: Man, you know what? I, you know, it's a dream come true man. It's like - it was a big dream and, you know, I thought I lost it when I turned my WWE contract - I turned it down.
And now it circled back around and I'm excited, you know, and I had to jump on it. I can't turn something like this down and I refuse to, and I took it and I'm happy with it. I'm excited. I can't wait.
Steven Muehlhausen: And to follow up Mo, regarding - and so what do you think of their light heavyweight division?
Muhammed Lawal: You know, hey, it's like this. They got talent there. Anybody can be beat. Christian M'Pumbu has good Jujitsu. He has good standup and he's shown he has skill. He's been around for a while.
Travis Wiuff, you know, I beat him in the past but now he's probably looking to get revenge on me, and he did beat - defeat Christian M'Pumbu and he got the Hale kid.
He's pretty talented. He defeated my friend Nik Fekete. I'm, you know, anybody can get beat so I'm going there, you know, 100% and focused and I'm going to win the tournament.
So, you know, hopefully, you know, the 205 division will end up like the 135 division, 145, 155 and even, you know, 205 with me. Hopefully I could take it to (Holgerson Webb) like, you know, Dantas and Askren and, you know, Cole Konrad and other wrestlers did, you know what I'm saying.
So I'm just, you know, I'm not worried about who's there. I'm just worried about me taking care of business.
Steven Muehlhausen: And Bjorn, you know, signing Mo today is a big signing for you guys. Does this feel now that you guys are on MMA because you always you said you wanted Mo but then the other core model and you're bringing Italian guy in outside of that model. Does this mean you're going to keep bringing in more big name guys like this or - and does this also indicate that maybe you're not going to find ((inaudible)).
Male: You know, it - we talked about it in the past. We're - you know, we're not an organization that plants a flag in the ground and defends it in kind of a Custer-like defense. You know, we don't set the bar somewhere and say we're never going to deviate from it.
So really what it comes down to is Mo was perfect for this situation and I've seen Mo fight a number of times. You know, I mean, I saw Mo's first fight against (Travis View) when he came out and (Travis) had 66 professional fights and Mo had never had a professional mixed martial arts fight and early in the first round he through a Superman punch and put (Travis) to sleep.
So it - you know, I mean, there are moments in time that you look at as a hardcore MMA fan. I mean, not a lot of people, like, pay attention or did at that point to the Japanese MMA scene, but when you see that kind of character come out with a purple robe and a crown on his head and, you know, a microphone was put in front of his face before the fight and he was asked, "What are you most nervous about," and his answer was, "I'm most nervous that the girls I'm walking out with are hot."
You think to yourself, this is a character. This is a guy who you can do crazy things with and it could really have an impact on a promotion. And we just - we've got the synergies to make it work. So, I mean, that's - you know, that is the focal point and the impact that it has on the signing of other fighters that are big names will be based on that same kind of analysis.
It'll be based on this team that I'm blessed to have with me based on (sitting out) with (Kevin Kay) and our partners at Spike and where there might be a fit sitting down with Dixie and saying, "Does this make sense?" And of all the situations that could've made sense, this was the one that just jumped off the page.
So whether it's just Bellator or some kind of integration like this, we'll just look at it on a one-off basis and sometimes we'll make these jumps and sometimes we won't.
Male: And (as far as you wanting) Mo and, you know, Mo, you fought as heavyweight before and will there be any consideration to put you at heavyweight since, you know, there are (significant) heavyweights in there?
King Mo: Well, you know, really I have no weight class. I'm a money weight. So wherever the money's at, that's where I'm fighting at. So if they want to (find) me a heavyweight, hey, anyway ((inaudible)) can make weight at is the weight ((inaudible)) fight at. So, you know, Bellator is interested in putting me in the heavyweight tournament, I'll jump in and fight those big guys, too, and knock them out. I'm about knockouts.
Male: And for Dixie and ((inaudible)), you said you wanted to get him in there starting in the summer. Is there more a better timeline for the ((inaudible)) can anticipate when we can see Mo coming into that?
Dixie Carter: Well, I think the first thing we have to do is get him completely healthy. That's just the biggest priority for all of us. Once we know, you know, when that will be, we'll begin his training and bringing him, you know, to the show and letting him get to meet everybody and stat down that path. But I think we've got to make sure that he's 100% healthy and ready to go before we get started.
Male: Well, when do you think - final question for Mo. Mo, when do you think you will be ready to get ((inaudible))?
King Mo: I'll find out after my rehab therapy. You know, if I could tell you a certain date then I would but I'll talk to my rehab therapist and he'll tell me when I can go and that's when I'll go.
Dixie Carter: But we're thinking you might start training this summer.
King Mo: Yes, yes, this summer, yes, yes.
Male: Congratulations Mo. It's good to see you live your dream, brother, and ((inaudible)) and congratulations.
Male: Thank you.
Dixie Carter: Thank you so much.
Operator: We'll go next to Mike Chiappetta with Mmafighting.com.
Mike Chiappetta: Hi guys. I was hoping everyone could sort of address this... (Continues on next page)
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