via allelbows.com
Recently on twitter there has been a discussion of the recent health issues of former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight champion "King" Muhammed Lawal. Following his fight with Lorenz Larkin at Strikeforce: Rockhold vs Jardine, Lawal removed himself from twitter and the public eye due to a positive test for a substance called Drostanolone. It was on Sunday that several people on twitter started to talk about the whereabouts of Lawal and the rumored health issues he was dealing with prior to his fight with Larkin.
Luke Thomas and R.J. Clifford of SiriusXM's Fight Club had the opportunity to speak with Lawal on their show on Monday to try and get the Strikeforce star to open up about his medical issues. Lawal addressed the rumors and confirmed that he had been dealing with not just another ACL tear but a dangerous bout with staph. The staph had spread to a point that it was amputation was discussed as a way to treat the infection.
Below is a transcript:
Alright here's the thing. All this happened like three weeks ago but I didn't tell nobody. I was in the hospital with people texting me and I was trying to keep it like nothing was going on so there wouldn't be any red flags. But what happened was I had surgery after the fight. I had ACL and microfracture. The ACL wasn't a big deal but the microfracture was a bigger deal in my cartilage. One of the sutures got infected and I had to go to the hospital the day after the Rashad Evans/Phil Davis fight. I got blood taken out of my knee and taken to a lab. I was at my manager's crib...Mike Kogan's crib and all of the sudden my doctor's like 'hey, you've gotta come to the hospital right now'. And this is right after Chael won. So I went to the hospital before the Rashad Evans/Phil Davis fight and I watched the fight at the hospital. Then went into the surgery spot and woke up with the PICC line in my arm and they were telling me I would be in there till Monday. I figured I'd go in there and clear my knee out and I'd be out the same night or the next night but I was in there till Monday. Then they checked out my knee again and took the temperature and the knee was still hot and swelling up. They decided to take me back into surgery to do another flush procedure to get the staph infection out. In twelve days I had five procedures to remove the staph and I'm staph free now. But now they've pushed IV medicine through my PICC line that's connected to my heart through my arm every day for six weeks.
This is the toughest thing I've ever experienced in my life. The harded that I've experienced in my life. Spiritually and emotionally, man I'll put it like this. I'm not religious at all. I was born to a Muslim family. Man this had me thinking I had to purchase the Quran and get back to my faith and start having more talks with Allah. Seeing my teammates come see me, it broke me down a few times man. Coach Mendez came and saw me a lot. Coach Bob, Paul Buentello, Dan Cormier...people on the team. Jermain Ramsey and Jenna...Phil. I just had so many people contact me and come through it was tough man. It pushed me. Mentally I'll be a stronger person. I know I'll be stronger and I'll be a better fighter.
King Mo has experienced one of the scariest moments of his life when he could have lost much more than just his career. Listening to him speak, his voice and words were that of a man with a different outlook on life and one that recognizes how fragile life truly is. I hope that he uses this as a way to motivated himself to be the best person that he could possibly be, not just as a fighter, but also as a man. He has an opportunity to become something much more than an entertaining fighter and hopefully he realizes his potential.
I know I speak for the staff at Bloody Elbow when I say that I hope that Lawal has a speedy recovery.
1 recs | 37 comments
you cant fade king mo's acl!
gspmademegay - February 21, 2012
Hope he is able to recover and make it back into the cage.
(also, it’s a PICC/PIC line if anyone cares to fix it.)
Phildo - February 21, 2012
Thanks...I transcribed this at 4 am.
Brain sort of shuts off.
Matthew Roth - February 21, 2012
there is nothing worse than transcribing medical numbing jumbo.
Phildo - February 21, 2012 via Android app
I love phones
mumbo jumbo
Phildo - February 21, 2012 via Android app
I was reading an article about how a lot of medical transcriptions are now outsourced to India
And it REALLY can fuck things up on people’s charts. Like how the doctor may say fourteen but the non-native English speaking transcriptionist will hear/type it as “forty”.
So all things considered I think there’s a future for you there if you ever get tired of waking up in train yards again.
menckenstein - February 21, 2012
And during my google search for the article I found the same problem is occuring with voice recognition software
Anyone know a good shaman?
menckenstein - February 21, 2012
fuuuuuuuuuuck
Best wishes to Mo. That must suck.
Josh Lee - February 21, 2012
Get well soon Mo,
but no shortcuts this time.
malo - February 21, 2012
Fuck man
Hospitals really have to do something about all the staph they’re giving people, lord knows they bill enough for everything else. Just burn the bedding and charge us for it.
menckenstein - February 21, 2012
Steroid Accusations or not
It sucks to hear about stuff like that for any fighter. Especially in the prime of his career.
Best wishes Mo.
HeadKickLegSweep - February 21, 2012
Guessing he meant "microfracture"
It’s the procedure Greg Oden of the Trail Blazers just had done a third time.
From the mighty Wikipedia…
duck - February 21, 2012
Shit I was wondering what ever happened to Oden. I knew he had his second microfracture surgery and then a year past. Didn’t know he just had to have a third one. Poor kid can’t catch a break.
Anyways, on Mo. Staph is no joke and as terrible I think he is I wouldn’t wish staph on anyone. I knew of a guy who, without insurance, caught a nasty infection and nearly died. He had to get a ton of donations from friends and fighters(he trains at ATT) and from what I understand is still up to his necj in medical bills. Its too bad Zuffa won’t be covering Mo’s bills on this one…
Ricardo Arguello - February 21, 2012 via mobile
if mo isn’t in financial trouble why are people so concerned over who is paying for it?
Phildo - February 21, 2012 via Android app
That's what happens when people can look past the capitalist ideologies schools try to teach them.
juanchoD - February 21, 2012
still seems like a non issue to me.
one guy said the insurance wouldn’t pay. then mo said he was happy with the insurance and having no issue with paying for it.
zuffa can’t make the insurance pay for it, and it is paid for. what is there to be upset or even talk about?
Phildo - February 21, 2012 via Android app
Yes Comrade! We must fight capitalism!
Communism is a glorious system, comrade!
MicahtheCynic - February 21, 2012
I love how people forget
about socialist democracies like Sweden and immediately jump to conclusions whenever I bash the obviously bad parts of a capitalist/libertarian system. Just to clear the air.. and I know politics are a no-no here, I do NOT like communism. It is not feasible, especially considering how globalized and modern society is today. BUT, I do not agree with people saying that the government shouldn’t provide for the people that keep it in power.
That is all.
juanchoD - February 21, 2012
financial trouble or not
this is probably going to end up being $90k~ in bills.
Thats a pretty penny to anyone
Ricardo Arguello - February 21, 2012
and do we know zuffa didn’t pay? or the hospital that did the first operation? or wherever he got staph? it other insurance?
Phildo - February 21, 2012 via Android app
Per Robert Joyner:
mania article
Ricardo Arguello - February 21, 2012
Isn't that speculation from someone like Front Row Brian?
menckenstein - February 21, 2012
no
Joyner is a MMA writer for SI and Gross reported that Mo had to pay out of pocket. See the article linked in the post. Front Row Brian does chime in saying that MO paid minimally.
Anyways this was just in answer to Phildo who was asking how do we even know Mo had to pay.
Ricardo Arguello - February 21, 2012
this is where gross and joyner need help with their reporting. they claim the insurance won’t pay and then jump to mo paying out of pocket. this leads me to question the whole thing, especially when compared to mo’s statements.
Phildo - February 21, 2012 via Android app
though
Front Row Brian claims Mo had to pay a minimal amount.
same article
Ricardo Arguello - February 21, 2012
thats terrible
hope he has a speedy recovery.
elmojo - February 21, 2012
I got on Mo on Twitter a while back...
…about how it was crazy to me that when he was doing press he seemed like he had a split personality. He’d do this “I’m the angry guy from the streets” tough talk and sound stupid unless somebody talked to him about wresting – then there’s all this intelligent, high-level analysis about second efforts and leverage. I mean, he’s clearly a VERY intelligent fighter with a lot to offer the sport, but he spends half his time trying to what? Be another Chael Sonnen?
Needless to say, because he’s got to sound “street” on Twitter he said I sounded “bitch-made” and started testing if I was a real fan by asking me trivia questions.* When I got those right he got annoyed and then blocked me. Oh well. :-)
(Ones that anyone here could answer – I think one was, “what recent heavyweight match featured a fighter going for a half-guard lockdown?”)
jemaleddin - February 21, 2012
You should have sent him this image:
MicahtheCynic - February 21, 2012
Maybe next time!
Oh wait… blocked is forever. :-(
jemaleddin - February 21, 2012
Kevin Randleman and the Hideous Hole
Don’t get me wrong, I sincerely do not want this thread to become a treasure trove of vomit-inducing staph infection pics…
But that hole in Randleman will always haunt me whenever staph is mentioned. It just seems impossible to recover from that kind of damage.
I’m pro anything that sees fighters getting faster diagnoses and the treatment needed to prevent that level of damage. I’m afraid there will be a death from MRSA / staph in a matter of time. I think back to the Hammer House and Lion’s Den days, and I’m amazed none of those guys had to have something amputated.
All injuries in MMA need to be treated; we learned in HS football and wrestling that every muscle injury received heat, cold, massage and stretching, that you had to move oxygen through the blood to the wounded area to speed recovery and prevent further damage. It seems this stuff needs to be 101 for fighters, as well.
RobtWeaver - February 21, 2012
Having had staph before (his seems worse than mine was)
Your body just becomes completely drained of energy through recovery, hope he is able to make it back soon
19Miles - February 21, 2012
ZombieProphet had a fucking GNARLY staph infection
I remember seeing the pics on Sherdog and wanting to bleach my eyes.
menckenstein - February 21, 2012
ugh staph infections
I’d rather swallow a spider. speedy recovery to King Mo!
mollcutpurse - February 21, 2012
Staph on the skin vs Staph infection INSIDE A JOINT is another. It will F’ up a joint real fast. That’s why the have to treat it like an emergency with high dose IV antibiotics. Otherwise you’d end up needing complete joint replacement and potential recurrent infections of the joint for the rest of your life.
It seems like they were able to contain it to the knee and hopefully prevent him from getting sepsis or anything like that during the hospital stay.
Robust23 - February 21, 2012
Staph infection is no joke
thats for sure. Hope Mo has a speedy recovery.
NickaG - February 21, 2012
Lets not worry as much about staff as the micro fracture surgery.
Has any big MMA fighter successfully come back from that? It’s a devestating surgery compared to normal ligament surgeries(acl, mcl, lcl), and has been viewed as a career changer or ender in other sports. The only athlete i know of that has had microfracture and recovered near 100% is Amare Stoudemire.
Iwasfn47 - February 21, 2012
hopefully he still has his killer instict, after Brock got humbled by nature he was never the same
also best wishes to Mo on a speedy recover
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - February 21, 2012
You must Login with your SB Nation account and be a member of Bloody Elbow to post a comment.