King Mo Lawal reportedly considers WWE while Bellator and Super Fight League show interest

Tired of actually getting punched in the face for a living? Wanting to put your entertainment hat on instead of that sparring headgear? Having issues with an athletic commission?

Have no fear, WWE is here!

Brock Lesnar recently retired from mixed martial arts (MMA) and he's already reportedly signed a one-year deal with the popular pro wrestling promotion, potentially to debut at tonight's WrestleMania 28 event.

But another fairly high profile fighter is reportedly expressing interest in making the jump to the scripted entertainment world -- Muhammed Lawal. And it's not even the first time he's flirted with the idea.

The Wrestling Observer has the details:

Lawal immediately expressed interest in going to WWE. He's had interest in the past. He was recruited years ago by Gerald Brisco, and at the time said he would be interested in going in 2008 because he first wanted to go to the Olympics. However, he lost in overtime in the finals at the Olympic trials. He had interest in both WWE and MMA after the Olympics but made the call to do MMA, feeling he could always do WWE after a few years of MMA, but couldn't do it in the other direction.

Lawal grew up in Tennessee as a big fan of Jerry Lawler (hence the "King" gimmick) and several of the WCW stars like Ric Flair, Booker T and Arn Anderson, was in OVW briefly years ago. In a discussion with Shad Gaspard, Gaspard told him that he wished he stayed in fighting and had a career there before pro wrestling and encouraged Lawal to do the same. Lawal had always said when he grew up that his goal was to win an Olympic gold medal in wrestling (he came up slightly short), then win a world championship in fighting, and follow that by winning a world championship as a pro wrestler.

With his natural charisma and athletic ability, it's not crazy to think that Lawal could make the jump over, spend some time at a developmental territory, and make the jump to the main roster to appear on TV, all within about one year.

Then again, he still has options in MMA, if he wants to stick around the fight game. The real one.

MMAFighting.com got comments from Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney and Super Fight League CEO Ken Pavia, both of who expressed interest in signing Lawal to their respective promotions.

Rebney says he anticipates talking to him in the near future:

"He's too talented of a fighter. He has too much athletic ability to ignore. There were obviously pieces from his game that were missing that got exploited, but he's an incredible athlete, a talented fighter, a charismatic personality. Look at him and what he was able to accomplish in a series of fights. So yeah, I'd absolutely talk to him, and I anticipate I will be talking to him."

Pavia, meanwhile, is making it sound as though he'll be doing his very best to get "King Mo" fighting under the SFL banner:

"I have the utmost respect for King Mo. He's a true student of the game and is exceedingly intelligent. Most importantly, he understands that we are entertainers and this is entertainment. He just gets it. It goes without saying that the SFL would love to have King Mo fight in our organization. We'll use best efforts to make that happen."

And, of course, it's not entirely impossible that Lawal could simply end up in the UFC, as long as he apologizes long enough and loud enough.

What's your best guess for where Lawal is headed, Maniacs?