[MMA] Mousasi Joins St. Pierre's Camp, Eyes 'King Mo' Next

[Kebal]

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Gegard Mousasi will join Georges St. Pierre in Miami this week to assist the UFC welterweight champion for a part of his training camp in preparation for St. Pierre's title defense against Dan Hardy at UFC 111 on March 27 in Newark, N.J.

Currently in Glendale, Calif., preparing for an appearance on HDNet’s “Inside MMA” which airs Friday, the Strikeforce light heavyweight champion said he will spend a few days with St. Pierre’s team in Miami, where Mousasi will also attend Strikeforce’s Saturday event at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Fla. Then, Mousasi will fly with the team to Las Vegas for an additional week of training.

The trip marks the first time the Iranian-born Armenian fighter will train stateside. Mousasi has traveled to Russia to work with the world’s No. 1 heavyweight, Fedor Emelianenko, for brief spurts, but has kept the majority of his camps in Holland, where he resides.

“I am nervous being away from my family and friends for two weeks and I don’t think of it like Georges is calling me for help,” Mousasi told Sherdog.com via email. “I think he is a great athlete that wants to train with different fighters to improve himself.”

The 24-year-old champion said he hopes to exchange vital training information with St. Pierre.

“To be honest, I’m curious about everything, curious how he does things and if I have to say something specific that would be how he puts everything together to be able to take down opponents with ease,” wrote Mousasi.

Mousasi’s travels kick off an already congested 2010 for the in-demand fighter. Including his New Year’s Eve victory against Gary Goodridge at K-1 and Dream’s co-promoted “Dynamite” event, Mousasi expects to fight six to eight times this year.

“I’m just trying to keep busy from New Year’s until 2011 New Year’s Eve,” Mousasi told the Sherdog Radio Network on Saturday at the Los Angeles Fit Expo. “Every fight won’t be top competition, so there will be some fighters that maybe are less fighters than others, but I want to stay busy and I’m going to fight a lot this year.”

Mousasi’s list of tentative bouts include two to three appearances in Dream’s light heavyweight tournament beginning in May, a bout for K-1 when it hosts an event in Amsterdam this year, another New Year’s Eve appearance for K-1 “Dynamite,” as well as two Strikeforce fights.

Mousasi has been told that Strikeforce is considering Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal for his first title defense, most likely on the promotion’s second CBS-televised event sometime in April. Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker confirmed to Sherdog.com that the promotion is considering the matchup.

Lawal, a 2003 Div. I All-American wrestler for Oklahoma State University and 2005 U.S. world team member, has finished five of his six career victories with strikes.

“He’s undefeated. He’s confident, obviously,” said Mousasi of Lawal. “He has also proven himself in wrestling, from what I’ve heard. I think he does his homework. Style-wise he matches up very well for me and I think he feels the same way about my fight style against him.”

Mousasi, who’s lost only twice in his 31-bout career, believes he’d be the favorite over Lawal should they meet.

“Basically, if he wants to take me down, he has to set the takedown with punches. I don’t see that happening,” he said. “In the clinch, I’m much better with inside boxing, with knees, kicks. I’ve never seen him kick, so I see a lot of advantages. His only advantage, basically, is the wrestling and he has good ground-and-pound, but I feel I have the same ground-and-pound, so I don’t see any advantage that he has over me.”

In the interim, Mousasi’s international studies will take centerstage.

“I always train for my fights in Holland. This is just a learning experience,” said Mousasi on Saturday. “I don’t have a fight right now, so I’m trying to learn how they fight, how they train, how they do stuff. I will take what I learn and try to do it in Holland, but I don’t prepare for fights in other gyms. I always try to prepare for my fights in Holland.”

http://www.sherdog.com/news/news/Mousasi-Joins-St-Pierres-Camp-Eyes-King-Mo-Next-22253

[ataraxia]

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Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal cautiously optimistic on potential bout with Gegard Mousasi
by Steven Marrocco on Jan 26, 2010 at 5:35 pm ET
Fresh from a late night training session in Orange County, Calif., with Wanderlei Silva and Fabricio Werdum, Muhammed Lawal (6-0 MMA, 1-0 SF) heard the news about Gegard Mousasi's (28-2-1 MMA, 2-0 SF) desire to fight him next, but "King Mo" didn't want to get too excited.

"I feel great," Lawal told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) when contacted about the potential matchup. "I'll feel better when it's confirmed, you know what I'm saying? Once it's confirmed, game over."

Lawal said he expected to face the Strikeforce light heavyweight champion after defeating Mike Whitehead at "Strikeforce: Evolution" but added that he had not been formally offered the fight and nothing was confirmed.

On Monday, Mousasi surfaced on multiple news outlets and said he expected to face Lawal on the second installment of "Strikeforce on CBS" in mid-April, though he, too, said the fight was in its early stages.

The pair was supposed to meet two previous times, though the bout never came to fruition.

This past August, a fight was scratched at "M-1 Global: Breakthrough" when Lawal, nursing a newly repaired ACL, elected instead to fight Mark Kerr. Mousasi went on to face sometime training partner and No. 1-ranked heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko in a grappling exhibition, and he wound up injuring his elbow in the process.

A second meeting was scratched at "Dynamtite!! 2009" when Mousasi turned down a fight with "King Mo" on the New Year's Eve card for unknown reasons, according to Lawal.

"I don't know if he turned it down, or I guess his management – maybe he didn't have enough time to train for me on short notice, but I was willing to step in and fight him at DREAM," Lawal said.

As always, the former Division I All-American and Division II champion addressed his critics and said they were a primary motivator in his fight path.

"My critics are my opponents as well," Lawal said. "Because everybody has something to say. Who's that dude, Mike Straka? I don't know who he is, but I guess he's trying to tell people that I'm overrated and this and that. This is coming from somebody who knows [expletive] about MMA, who's just a fan with his own TV show. If he thinks I'm overrated, he can come and train with me. Come train with me – I'll show you overrated.

"I've only been in this sport for a year and a half. Now who else in a year-and-a-half has been beating people with winning records like I have?"

And truth be told, Lawal said would feel out of place if it were any other way.

"If everyone was giving me compliments, like 'you the man, you the man,' then what's the point?" Lawal asked. "I like being an underdog. I like people doubting me."

But when it came to making proclamations about how a potential fight with Mousasi would go down, "King Mo" was surprisingly restrained.

In a recent interview with Sherdog.com, Mousasi said he was en route to an extended training camp with UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre. On a potential fight with Lawal, the Armenian-born fighter said he had the advantage in all areas of the game but one: wrestling.

"He can say this and that, but we'll find out come fight time," Lawal said. "Yeah, he has good stand-up. He might have a better clinch, but I'm not worried about what he says at all. I hope he trains hard with 'GSP,' man. That's cool. It's whatever. He can do whatever he wants and say whatever he wants, cause when it comes down to it – when the fight happens – I'm going to be happy, because I get what I want.

"Anybody can make a [prediction] right now, but I'm just going to keep my knowledge to myself until the fight comes – because then everybody will see what I'm talking about, why I wanted this fight."

In the meantime, Lawal said he will continue to train for a general opponent and hope for the best.

For the latest on the as-yet-unannounced Strikeforce on CBS show in April, stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of MMAjunkie.com.

bron (http://mmajunkie.com/news/17696/muhammed-king-mo-lawal-cautiously-optimistic-on-potential-bout-with-gegard-mousasi.mma?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+mmajunkie+%28MMAjunkie.com+Fe ed%29&utm_content=Google+Reader)

[Kebal]

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