King Mo: New Bellator management is ‘night and day’

In May of last year, Muhammed Lawal stuck his then boss Bjorn Rebney with a nickname that was not soon forgotten.

“Bjorn, you know what’s up man,” said Lawal. “Ya dick riding ass you know I won that fight, cut me if you don’t like it!”

A month later it was not ‘King Mo’ that was cut, it was Rebney. Under the direction of new CEO Scott Coker, Bellator MMA management is kinder, gentler, and more successful. Tournaments are gone, and the first Tentpole Event was the most viewed of the year.

“It’s night and day,” said Lawal to Shaun Al-Shatti for MMAFighting.com. “Night and day. Even the media coverage. You can see it all, how people treat us now. We have more respect.”

“You see it in the crowd now. You can see it in the media. People saw Bjorn, but I don’t think they really respected him. Everyone looked at him like [he was fake], kinda like they didn’t feel like he was honest and they felt like he was always hiding something. But Coker, when he says something, it means something. He doesn’t really get out in the public that much, so when he speaks, it actually means something.

“When people asked [Rebney] a question, he really never answered them. He just answered them by dancing around. He was a politician.”

“Coker brings a credibility to the organization. I like it, and I think everybody else does too.”

The second Tentpole Event is ‘The British Invasion’ coming Friday, live from Uncasville, CT.

Main Card (Spike, 9:00 p.m. ET)

Emanuel Newton (c) vs. Liam McGeary

Paul Daley vs. André Santos

Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou vs. Linton Vassell

Cheick Kongo vs. Muhammed Lawal

Michael Page vs. Curtis Millender

Prelim Card (Spike.com 6:45 p.m. ET/3:45 p.m. PT)

Matt Bessette vs. Josh LaBerge

Raphael Butler vs. Josh Diekmann

Jesse Juarez vs. Brennan Ward

Tamdan McCrory vs. Jason Butcher

Bobby Flynn vs. Neiman Gracie

Marvin Maldonado vs. Blair Tugman

Prel Dark Bout (approx. 11 p.m. ET)

Michael Mangan vs. Dean Hanco