Muhammed 'Mo' Lawal replaces injured Roger Gracie at Sengoku 5

by Jesse Holland on Sep 27, 2008 11:03 AM EDT

Team Quest prospect Muhammed "Mo" Lawal (0-0) has been tapped to replace the "injured" Roger Gracie at Sengoku 5 on September 28 at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan.

Lawal, a 2002 Division II national wrestling championship at Central Oklahoma and winner at the 2006 U.S. Open and the 2007 Pan American Games will be making his much-anticipated debut against MMA veteran Travis Wiuff (53-11).

Wiuff is going to be a stiff first test for the newcomer. "Diesel" last appeared at Sengoku III where he eroded the iron jaw of Kazuyuki Fujita with an impressive first-round knockout.

Gracie was forced to withdraw from the event after an errant kick during sparring caused what his camp described as "An intermuscular tear to the intercostal muscle between the sixth and seventh left ribs" - an injury World Victory Road is still disputing.

Here is the finalized card for Sengoku 5:

Heavyweight Fight:
Muhammed Lawal (0-0) vs. Travis Wiuff (53-11)

Light Heavyweight Fight:
Xande Ribeiro (0-0) vs. Takashi Sugiura (1-2)

Lightweight Fights:
Ryan Schultz (20-10-1) vs. Jorge Masvidal (13-3)
Kiuma Kunioku (33-22-9) vs. A Sol Kwon (5-3)

Middleweight GP Series 2008 1st Round:
Yuki Sasaki (21-14-1) vs Yuki Kondo (49-22-6)
Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos (16-11) vs Siyar Bahadurzada (13-3-1)
Jorge Santiago (17-7) vs Logan Clark (11-2)
Kazuhiro Nakamura (11-8) vs Paul Cahoon (10-11)

For more on Sengoku 5 click here.

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Comments

With Wiuff have such a spectacular record (53-11), why isn’t he fighting on the big stage? Even if you don’t fight the top guys, having that kind of record against mid-level guys is still pretty impressive. Whats his and Dana’s excuse for not having him in the UFC? Or has he already fought there and got kicked out?

by sinister on Sep 27, 2008 12:52 PM EDT reply actions

He’s had 2 fights there, he lost both. Against Vladimir Matyushenko at UFC 40. And Renato Sobral at UFC 52. Still though i’m surprised we haven’t seen him in UFC more.

by Macho Bullshit on Sep 27, 2008 1:42 PM EDT up reply actions

The problem with Wiuff is that he’s won and lost against mediocre competition. Beating Matt Horwich and Ricco Rodriguez is impressive, but losing to Marvin Eastman, Devin Cole and Alex Schoenauer is not. He’s certainly an above-average fighter, but probably not a contender. I don’t doubt, however, that we’ll see him in the UFC again.

by Hyde on Sep 27, 2008 8:47 PM EDT up reply actions

I hope the rumors about the WVR and DREAM merger are true, because they only have a few good fighters. Gomi, Ribeiro, and Barnett were all together at DREAM.6 and Akiyama spoke about facing Hidehiko Yoshida. Gomi vs. Hansen II, Barnett vs. Fedor, Yoshida vs. Akiyama on NYE would be the greatest thing ever.

by Bill Maher on Sep 27, 2008 2:18 PM EDT reply actions

One can only imagine the pep talk from Lindland: “Okay, Mo. You’re making your debut against a veteran of 64 pro fights. Now go show him something he hasn’t seen before.”

by Hyde on Sep 27, 2008 8:41 PM EDT reply actions