Feijao overthrows King Mo, captures title
It was a great night for the new Strikeforce light heavyweight champ Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante after he successfully sent Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal off his throne.
Winning by way of TKO over Lawal, the Strikeforce: Houston event last Saturday night became an epic moment for the new title holder. The Brazilian Feijao believes that he had trained enough for this fight and he credits his TKO victory to his team and training partners.
“I have a new coach in the boxing and the Muay Thai," said Feijao. in passable English. “This of course is not about me. This is about my coaches, my team, Team Nogueira, my partners, trainers; this is about them. They give me support,” he explained.
The first round seemed to favour Lawal in the first minutes as he was persistent with his takedowns and strikes, allowing him to send Feijao up in the air with a powerful slam. But Feijao quickly regained his pace and was able to deliver counter attacks to Lawal. “King Mo” tried to deliver another slam but Feijao successfully fended it off.
At the start of round two, the Brazilian welcomed his opponent with a leg kick and a heavy right punch. However, Lawal countered with a takedown and some ground assaults to cleanly win the round.
On the third round, Feijao became an aggressor landing a barrage of punches and a knee to Lawal. But Lawal was still persistent for his takedown attempts. Feijao answered with more knees and punches, hurting Lawal badly. Lawal, a decorated amateur wrestler, attempted to revert to his instincts and take Feijao down, but Feijao bludgeoned Lawal's head with elbows until finally the American lost his grip and crumpled to the canvas, forcing referee John McCarthy to stop the fight.
“Somebody asked me before the key to win this fight. Training, training, training,” Feijao proudly said after the fight.
Feijao’s training indeed was a great help for him as we was able to continue his win streak. Holding a new record of 10-2, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt proved to the fans that he deserves the title. Having a total of nine TKOs out of his 10 victories, Feijao is indeed one of Strikeforce’s explosive fighters. He is known to have overthrown a couple of MMA vets including Aaron Rosa, Antwain Britt, Travis Galbraith, John Doyle and Wayne Cole.
“I'm just living my dream. This (I) always want; I always want to be here. Today I am here,” explained Feijao.
For King Mo, however, it was a disappointing loss since it was his first light heavyweight championship title defence. Last April on the Strikeforce: Nashville event, King Mo successfully grabbed the title from Gegard Mousasi. He was able to put up an impressive fight during that time, but on Saturday it was Feijao who was able to triumph.
Since the start of his MMA career, Lawal was known for his TKO wins, dominating wrestling and an impressive seven-win streak with no losses. Unfortunately this time, he suffered his very first defeat at the hands of Feijao, who'll now look forward to possible match-ups against fighters such as Dan Henderson, Gegard Mousasi or Renato Sobral.
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