Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante captures the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight title after a Round 3 TKO victory over King Mo
Posted on August 21, 2010, 11:36 PM by Anton GurevichNotorious striker Rafael Feijao became the new Strikeforce Light Heavyweight title, after dethroning Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal via TKO in Round 3. Just like in his fight against Antwain Britt, Feijao showed a great amount of patience, before exploding on his opponent in a deciding moment. Cavalcante did what Gegard Mousasi failed, and that is stopping King Mo's takedowns, forcing his gameplan on the previously undefeated Champ.
The fight was a complete opposite from Tim Kennedy vs Ronaldo Souza, as both King Mo and Rafael Cavalcante were looking for the finish early on. With only a small portion of successful takedown attempts, King Mo was forced to stand with Feijao. In fact, Mo showed an impressive chin and a pretty good striking, but Feijao's heavy hands were too much for Mo in Round 3.
Mo landed like a sack of potatoes on the canvas after a good combo from Feijao, as it was clear that it will be extremely tough for the Champ to recover from such a blow. Still, the referee John McCarthy did a good decision by giving the Champ an opportunity to grind it back, but Feijao's rain of elbows and hammerfists forced "Big John" to end the contest after just one minute and fifteen seconds from the start of the round.
With 9 knockouts out of his 10 wins, Rafael Cavalcante is definitely a forced to be reckoned with. It will be interesting to see who Strikeforce put up against Feijao as his next title defense, with Babalu Sobral and Dan Henderson possibly fighting for a title shot. As for King Mo, the battle is lost, but the war is just beginning. Lawal is still a young fighter with a bright future ahead of him. A tweak in his game will bring him quickly back to the top. The mental toughness is there, as well as skill. I will not be surprised if King Mo and Cavalcante meet again in 2011.
Comments
Feijao is the real deal....king mo was all hype
I agree 100% and whoever weaked you are obviously ignorant and need to learn more about MMA
I think it was the knees in the clinch that brought Mo down more than the fists of Feijao. I agree that Mo will come back stronger - it wasn't safe to be sitting in the clinch dirty boxing with Feijao and was probably just a mental lapse on the part of Mo.
Agreed. When Calvacante was able to stop the takedown, I am sure it threw Mo off his game mentally. The body shots were a good strategy tho. For one it generally makes an opponent lower their hands in anticipation of the next shot, but it also weakens their frame and makes them more susceptible to being overpowered and taken down. Which I think he was more interested in weakening the mid section for the takedown. Calvacante no doubt has very dangerous Muay Thai and this fight is a great example of something I always stress.... People complain, complain, complain about wrestling in MMA, well this is what a well prepared fighter does. Properly prepares to stop the takedown and force their opponent to fight their fight. First Roller was stuffed, now Mo... Maybe guys are starting to get the picture.
I finally got to see Mo finished!! SO happy!!!
king for a day
good fight
Mousassi gona be champ soon again.Mo won that fight with the stupid take downs witouth slam take down dosent mean anything.Feijao shutt him up
Nothin like a good KO. Gegard wasnt strong enough to knock him out, Feijao was. Maybe he'll come back a little more humble.
was really impress by feijao takedown defense and the quickness of his stand-up after the takedowns. amazing work from his back against one of the best wrestler in the game.
DAMN that guy feijao just made a name for themselves. strikeforce should be extremely happy, they need to start building more stars and faces for SF. and king mo didnt really loose anything he put on a good performance as well.
I agree with that. I think this fight was good for SF. Mo will be back and maybe another star was created.
I didn't think I would see someone make Mo look so small. Man he took a lot of elbows. I think I would be dead if I took those.
Those were some nasty knees that Mo ate.