5 Lessons Learned From Bellator 123

2. King Mo Took A Win, But Still Has A Ways To Go

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIiLAhgEJBM King Mo was scheduled to fight Tom DeBlass at Bellator 123. Deblass, who has won his first two fights in Bellator, was an undefeated 7-0 in Ring of Combat before jumping to the UFC, where he wound up going 0-2. He then jumped to Bellator, and got back to his winning ways. Unfortunately, he had to withdraw from the bout with Muhammed Lawal, a.k.a. King Mo, due to injury. His replacement, Marcus Sursa, was also injured, and so Mo was lined up with Dustin Jacoby, another former UFC fighter. While Mo did employ his wrestling in the bout, he opted to rely mainly on his rather sloppy, hands low, swing wildly striking style, and against Jacoby, it worked - he tagged Jacoby once, then after a few more wild attempts again, eventually getting him on the ground up against the fence and unleashing some ground and pound til the ref stepped in to wave the fight off. It was a win, and a win over an okay fighter, but wasn't enough. It certainly didn't warrant the belt-around-the-waist gesture Mo was making after the fight. He's got a long way to go before managing a win over Emanual Newton, Rampage Jackson, or perhaps even Tito Ortiz. Even Stephan Bonnar would give him fits. Speaking of Tito Ortiz and Stephan Bonnar, they showed up in a very staged face-off after the Mo fight that ended in a shoving match. That, and Mo flipping the bird to several fans who boo'd him, might just be a tell-tale sign of where Scott Coker's Bellator is going: full on pro wrestling style spectacle.