Lawal Out Nine Months After Knee Surgery

Former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal will undergo surgery next week to replace both his anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments in his left knee. The injury occurred during Lawal’s Saturday bout with Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante at “Strikeforce: Houston.”

Lawal could be sidelined up to nine months while he recovers.

Sherdog.com reported the news this afternoon.

“I tore my ACL,” Lawal told Heavy.com on Monday night. The former champion also told Heavy that he wasn’t sure how or when the injury happened.

Lawal underwent knee surgery in 2009 after tearing his ACL during a bout with Ryo Kawamura.

Lawal controlled much of his fight with Cavalcante, but was dropped to the canvas after taking a pair of knees and a right hook. Cavalcante secured a TKO win shortly after with a flurry of elbows.