Clark Kent
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12-18-2009 04:15 PM:
Mike Whitehead has been on the edge of breaking through for years now. He's beaten guys like Kevin Randleman, Zak Jensen, Krsyzstof Soszynski and Ben Rothwell. He's also been in there with Tim Sylvia, Brandon Vera, Renato "Babalu" Sobral and Keith Jardine, and yet been labeled as an underachiever. Meanwhile, "King" Mo Lawal, 28, is just 5-0 with "huge" wins over Ryo Kawamura and Mark Kerr, but he's being labeled the next great thing. Whitehead (24-6) doesn't understand that:
"It's sad to say that somebody with five fights can be looked at as somebody who's going to put somebody in trouble with 30 fights. I just don't understand what sport these people are watching," Whitehead told Cagewriter.
Whitehead suggest that Lawal's opponents have been garbage:
"Sure, he's overpowered a couple of Japanese guys he was a lot bigger than. Other than that, he hasn't done anything. He overpowered some guys that he was bigger than, stronger than and more athletic than. These Jaspanese guys had no wrestling whatsoever."
Whitehead said the scenario sucks and it's time to grab some respect. He's certainly not getting it from the oddsmakers, who have installed Lawal as a 6-to-1 favorite.
Lawal was a top level amateur wrestler on the international scene but that was down at 84 kgs, an MMA middleweight. He took this fight at heavyweight. Whitehead insisted on staying at his natural size (255-260 pounds) after a long conversation with his new coach Wanderlei Silva. Whitehead has tried light heavyweight in recent years but the cutdown was bad for his health both physically and mentally. Whitehead has too often entered the cage knowing that he had to hold back just in case he ran out of energy later in the fight. Maybe tomorrow's the night we see the guy, who was labeled "a gym warrior" by Rashad Evans, reach his full potential.
More...
Yahoo! Sports.
Cagewriter is an MMA blog edited by Steve Cofield.
Mike Whitehead has been on the edge of breaking through for years now. He's beaten guys like Kevin Randleman, Zak Jensen, Krsyzstof Soszynski and Ben Rothwell. He's also been in there with Tim Sylvia, Brandon Vera, Renato "Babalu" Sobral and Keith Jardine, and yet been labeled as an underachiever. Meanwhile, "King" Mo Lawal, 28, is just 5-0 with "huge" wins over Ryo Kawamura and Mark Kerr, but he's being labeled the next great thing. Whitehead (24-6) doesn't understand that:
"It's sad to say that somebody with five fights can be looked at as somebody who's going to put somebody in trouble with 30 fights. I just don't understand what sport these people are watching," Whitehead told Cagewriter.
Whitehead suggest that Lawal's opponents have been garbage:
"Sure, he's overpowered a couple of Japanese guys he was a lot bigger than. Other than that, he hasn't done anything. He overpowered some guys that he was bigger than, stronger than and more athletic than. These Jaspanese guys had no wrestling whatsoever."
Whitehead said the scenario sucks and it's time to grab some respect. He's certainly not getting it from the oddsmakers, who have installed Lawal as a 6-to-1 favorite.
Lawal was a top level amateur wrestler on the international scene but that was down at 84 kgs, an MMA middleweight. He took this fight at heavyweight. Whitehead insisted on staying at his natural size (255-260 pounds) after a long conversation with his new coach Wanderlei Silva. Whitehead has tried light heavyweight in recent years but the cutdown was bad for his health both physically and mentally. Whitehead has too often entered the cage knowing that he had to hold back just in case he ran out of energy later in the fight. Maybe tomorrow's the night we see the guy, who was labeled "a gym warrior" by Rashad Evans, reach his full potential.
More...
Yahoo! Sports.
Cagewriter is an MMA blog edited by Steve Cofield.
