Former Strikeforce champ 'King Mo' Lawal out of BKFC debut on Sept. 13

Muhammed Lawal’s return to combat sports competition is off.

Former Strikeforce champion and longtime Bellator veteran “King Mo” Lawal was scheduled to make his BKFC debut at BKFC 66 on Sept. 13 at Dave Mundell, but an injury sustained in training will prevent that from happening.

A BKFC official verified the news to MMA Junkie on Wednesday following an initial report from MMAFighting.com.

The exact nature of Lawal’s injury was not disclosed, and it remains to be seen if the 43-year-old will make another comeback attempt once he is medically cleared. In the meantime, BKFC officials told MMA Junkie a new fight for Mundell’s BKFC middleweight title is in the works.

“King Mo” hasn’t competed since November 2019, when he suffered a first-round knockout loss to Andrew Kapal at Bellator 233 in his MMA retirement bout. The result extended his losing skid to four fights, all of which came by stoppage due to strikes.

During his MMA career, Lawal (21-10) defeated notables such as Quinton Jackson, Jiri Prochazka, Linton Vassell, Cheick Kongo, and more. He served as a part-time coach at American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Fla., during his fighting career, but following his retirement, became a full-time part of the gym.

When speaking to MMA Junkie shortly after his fight was announced earlier this month, Lawal said his incentive for a comeback was to “test himself.”