After nearly 11 years of professional competition, Muhammad “King Mo” Lawal decided to retire from mixed martial arts. The announcement was made by his stable American Top Team through an Instagram post on Monday.
Now 38 years of age, the former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion spoke to MMA Fighting in detail about his decision to retire, most of his reasons stemming from the injuries he’s sustained over the course of his career.
“It’s been on my mind for a while,” Lawal said. “I just put it in the back of my head. It was the pain from the injuries that was messing me up and my lack of range of motion from my hip and my knee.