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    Default Strikeforce 38;7 januari 2012; Luke Rockhold vs. Keith Jardine

    Middleweight Championship bout: Luke Rockhold (c) vs. Keith Jardine
    Women's Bantamweight Championship bout: Miesha Tate (c) vs. Sarah Kaufman
    Women's Bantamweight bout: Ronda Rousey vs. Alexis Davis
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    Luke Rockhold Slated to Defend Strikeforce Middleweight Title Against Keith Jardine

    Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold is slated to defend his belt against former UFC veteran Keith Jardine on Jan. 7, MMA Fighting has confirmed with sources close to the fight. The title fight is expected to headline the organization's first event at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

    Strikeforce has yet to officially announce the card or any fights signed for it as of Thursday evening.

    Rockhold was expected to meet Tim Kennedy in his first title defense, but according to sources, Kennedy couldn't commit to the fight due to an undisclosed injury.

    Rockhold (8-1) won the title in September when he defeated Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza via unanimous decision. The American Kickboxing Academy member has won his last seven fights in a row.

    Jardine (17-9-2) fought Gegard Mousasi to a draw in his Strikeforce debut in April. This fight would mark his first at 185 pounds. "The Dean of Mean" is 2-1-1 since his release from the UFC in June 2010.
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    The dean of mean op 185lbs? die zal behoorlijk "ripped" zijn

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    Rockhold, Lawler, King Mo, Others Set for Action at Jan. 7 Strikeforce Event

    Strikeforce on Thursday announced four of the five televised bouts slated for its Jan. 7 event at the Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

    The new matchups are Robbie Lawler vs. Adlan Amagov, Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal vs. Lorenz Larkin and Tarec Saffiedine vs. Tyler Stinson.

    And as previously reported, the main event will be middleweight champion Luke Rockhold defending his belt against UFC veteran Keith Jardine.

    "Jardine is a big name who's fought a lot of tough guys in this sport," Rockhold said in a statement. "I'm not going to sleep on him or this opportunity. This isn't just another fight for me, I've wanted my chance to prove I'm a champion and a five-round title defense is the way to do it."

    Rockhold (8-1), undefeated in seven Strikeforce fights, captured the middleweight strap away from Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza by unanimous decision in September. Jardine (17-9-2) made his Strikeforce debut in April, fighting Mousasi to a draw. Jardine will be making his 185-pound debut.

    Lawler (18-8) will be looking to snap a two-fight losing streak. In 2011, Lawler lost both of his fights against Souza and Kennedy. Amagov (9-1-1) made the jump from the Russian MMA scene to Strikeforce in July and has since won two bouts.

    In his lone fight in 2011, Lawal (8-1) scored a first-round knockout over Roger Gracie. Larkin (12-0) won four fights this year, three of which took place inside the Strikeforce cage.

    Saffiedine (11-3) lost to Tyron Woodley in January and then bounced back to beat Scott Smith in July. Stinson (22-7) made his Strikeforce debut in July and earned an impressive KO over Eduardo Pamplona.
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    nou daar zitten we op te wachten zeg

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    King Mo Backs Off 'Cancer Patient' Comments, Wants to Fight Where the Money Is

    In September, "King" Mo Lawal said he viewed Strikeforce as something like "a dying cancer patient," saying he was just waiting for the promotion he's been fighting in since 2009 to die. But Lawal doesn't feel that way anymore.

    With Lawal set to fight Lorenz Larkin on the January 7 Strikeforce card -- the first card on a new agreement between Zuffa and Showtime to keep Strikeforce alive through 2012 -- Lawal now views Strikeforce as alive and well.

    "I was wrong to say it was a cancer patient. The cancer went into remission and Strikeforce is back," Lawal said on Monday's edition of The MMA Hour.

    That doesn't necessarily mean, however, that Lawal will be part of Strikeforce in the long term. Lawal has made no secret that he'd like to be involved in bigger fights (and bigger paydays) in the UFC. And although he said his request for a fight with Rampage Jackson in Japan never came close to fruition, he said he's hoping for big fights and big money next year, after his current contract expires following the fight with Larkin.

    "I've got one more fight on my contract and then my contract ends in February," Lawal said. "King Mo just wants to go where he can get paid and get paid without the check bouncing."

    Lawal said he has no problem remaining with Strikeforce, and he wasn't upset to learn that Zuffa will continue to operate the UFC and Strikeforce separately, rather than absorb Strikeforce fighters into the UFC.

    "I just hope they can get us good fights and get us paid well," Lawal said. "I'm not disappointed."

    The 12-0 Larkin, who has come up through the Strikeforce Challengers series, represents an interesting challenge for Lawal. If Larkin can pull the upset, it would certainly hurt Lawal's negotiating position as he looks to sign a new contract, but Lawal doesn't see that happening.

    "Get this win, which I will," Lawal said. "And then I'll see what the options are and see what happens."

    http://video.aol.com/aolvideo/aol-sports/mma-hour-episode-no-113-muhammed-lawal/1336405670001
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    Main card (Showtime)
    • Middleweight Championship bout: Luke Rockhold (c) vs. Keith Jardine
    • Middleweight bout: Robbie Lawler vs. Adlan Amagov
    • Light Heavyweight bout: Muhammed Lawal vs. Lorenz Larkin
    • Welterweight bout: Tyron Woodley vs. Jordan Mein
    • Welterweight bout: Tarec Saffiedine vs. Tyler Stinson
    Preliminary card (Showtime Extreme)

    • Welterweight bout: Nah-Shon Burrell vs. James Terry
    • Light Heavyweight bout: Trevor Smith vs. Gian Villante
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    Rockhold vs. Jardine Predictions

    Can a move down to middleweight revitalize the career of Keith Jardine? Or will Luke Rockhold simply be too much for the Dean of Mean? Will King Mo Lawal make a case that he's the top light heavyweight on the Strikeforce roster, or is Lorenz Larkin set for the biggest win of his career? Can Tyron Woodley, Jordan Mein, Tarec Saffiedine of Tyler Stinson put on the kind of performance that gets people interested in the Strikeforce welterweight division again?

    We'll attempt to answer those questions and more as we predict the winners of Saturday night's Strikeforce event below.

    What: Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine

    When: Saturday, the undercard will be televised by Showtime Extreme starting at 8 p.m. ET and the Showtime televised main card begins at 10.

    Where: Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas

    Predictions on the five Showtime televised fights below.

    Luke Rockhold vs. Keith Jardine
    Giving Jardine a Strikeforce middleweight title shot is an odd move: Jardine left the UFC on a four-fight losing streak, fought to a draw with Gegard Mousasi in his only Strikeforce fight, and has never fought at middleweight before. So, yes, the matchmaking here is a little strange. But Rockhold is the promotion's middleweight champion, and Strikeforce needs to find him high-profile opponents, and given the current middleweight depth in Strikeforce, Jardine was about as good as it was going to get.

    So how does this fight go? I have a feeling Jardine is going to be weakened by the weight cut, and that Rockhold will have better cardio and have his way with Jardine on the ground. Eventually I like Rockhold to finish Jardine on the ground.
    Pick: Rockhold

    Robbie Lawler vs. Adlan Amagov
    The matchmaking here is a little strange, too, but the fight itself should be a lot of fun: Lawler and Amagov are both heavy hitters with exciting styles. Lawler has lost four of his six fights since signing with Strikeforce in 2009 and may be fighting for his job, and I think he'll come out focused and ready to finish Amagov quickly.
    Pick: Lawler

    Muhammed Lawal vs. Lorenz Larkin
    Larkin is one of the most fun fighters to watch on the entire Strikeforce roster, as evidenced by a cult following he developed while winning three straight Challengers Series fights. But while Larkin has a 12-0 record with eight wins by knockout or TKO, he's never faced anyone even remotely as good as King Mo. Lawal is so much better a wrestler than Larkin that he can easily grind out a decision on the ground if he chooses to, and the biggest question may be whether Lawal decides to keep it safe and win a decision or take some chances and try to put on a show. I expect Mo to take the latter approach, which means there's a chance Larkin catches him with one of his patented unorthodox strikes, but the much more likely result is that Mo proves he's simply too skilled a mixed martial artist for someone as raw as Larkin.
    Pick: Lawal

    Tyron Woodley vs. Jordan Mein
    Woodley is a great wrestler who's getting better standing up and is now 9-0 in his professional MMA career. Mein has looked good recently and is on a six-fight winning streak, and he might test Woodley's chin. But Woodley shouldn't have much trouble clinching with Mein, taking him down and winning a decision.
    Pick: Woodley

    Tarec Saffiedine vs. Tyler Stinson
    Saffiedine lost to Woodley a year ago and then bounced back with a good win over Scott Smith. Stinson won his Strikeforce debut with a 15-second knockout of Eduardo Pamplona in July, but he's going to struggle trading strikes with Saffiedine.
    Pick: Saffiedine
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    In Strikeforce, Even Champs Face Difficult Questions in Confusing Times

    You can't exactly call Strikeforce middleweight champ Luke Rockhold and former light heavyweight champ Mo Lawal disgruntled, but neither can you call them satisfied. As they sat down alongside Strikeforce's Scott Coker for a little pre-fight Q&A with media members in Las Vegas last week, they did not seem like men who were thrilled about the state of their careers.

    Instead, they seemed more like people who were making the best of a bad situation. They were dealing with it. They were getting by. They didn't have much choice.

    It's a tough time to be a Strikeforce fighter. If you complain too loudly about being stuck in Zuffa's second-tier organization, you risk the wrath of an upper management that is still trying to pretend that it's a first-tier organization. If you stay too quiet, you risk becoming the closed mouth that never gets fed a top contender.

    As Rockhold put it when he made the case for bringing some UFC fighters over to compete in Strikeforce: "You don't want to get distracted from what you're doing, but you've got to try and build those fights and let people know that we're legit."

    Especially when you examine the alternatives, you have to admit that he has a point.

    Take Rockhold's current situation, for example. He's the new 185-pound champ after taking the belt from Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza in front of a depressingly small crowd in Cincinnati this past fall. Now, for his first title defense, he gets journeyman fighter and UFC castoff Keith Jardine in a January 7 bout that will mark Jardine's debut at 185 pounds. If Rockhold does nothing -- if he plays the role of the quiet company man and acts like he's happy to be taking a fight that can do almost nothing positive for his career at this point -- where will that leave him?

    When talking to reporters, Rockhold did his best to put a positive spin on the match-up, but even he had to admit that it was "far-fetched."

    "I was definitely just dumbfounded by that one," Rockhold said. "It didn't make much sense. But I started to think about it outside of the box a little bit, and this is my first main event. He does have a big name, so it brings some name value to the card, and it'll bring some eyes and some ears to the card. Me beating him will show me to the rest of the public."

    That is, if the public is watching. The last time Rockhold fought was at the "Barnett vs. Kharitonov" event in September, which even Coker said was "something that I would say is below what would be acceptable for our standards" as far as the live gate went. The event featured a night full of great fights, but both Showtime and Zuffa took a hands-off approach to promoting it, resulting in a dismal rating on the TV side and an embarrassing live crowd.

    Most fighters will tell you that stuff like low ratings and empty seats don't bother them; they're simply there to fight and win. But then, most fighters feel compelled to lie about things like that, if only to avoid making their employers look bad. One fighter who rarely feels such an obligation is "King" Mo, who also notched a victory on that same fight card in Cincinnati, and who has never shied away from some real talk.

    "When I fought for the belt on CBS I thought, okay, people are going to be watching," Lawal said. "When [Rockhold] was fighting 'Jacare' people didn't give him a chance, but I thought it may be the perfect time to promote this fight, as well as Daniel Cormier and the guys in the heavyweight tournament, so the world could see the talent we have in Strikeforce and they could see my boys at AKA do some work. When I saw the arena I was like, man, this is a joke. I was kind of mad."

    Maybe anger is the only rational response. After all, the fighters at or near the top of the Strikeforce organization are elite, proven athletes. If guys like Rockhold and Lawal were free agents whose contracts had just expired in an organization Zuffa didn't already own, you better believe the UFC would be eager to snatch them up and inject some new blood into the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions. But because Zuffa has a contract with Showtime -- and because Showtime seems to want to continue airing Strikeforce, though without putting significantly more effort into making it a success -- some quality fighters are stuck playing to smaller crowds and taking on lesser-known opponents.

    Coker -- ever the optimist when it comes to the brand he built from the ground up -- stressed the benefits that Showtime's free preview weekend could bring to this card, noting, "Instead of being in 20 million homes...you're going to be in 70 or 75 million homes."

    Then again, with a 10 p.m. ET start time on Saturday, you're also going up against the end of the Lions-Saints NFL playoff game that starts at 8 p.m. ET. You're also sandwiched between a UFC pay-per-view and frantic streak of UFC events that runs all the way through January and February before pausing for a breath. If you're an MMA fan -- even a hardcore fan who knows enough to know why Rockhold-Jardine is an odd pairing for a main event title fight -- you're probably more likely to sit out a Strikeforce event than you are to miss Carlos Condit-Nick Diaz or the UFC on FOX.

    This is just one of many problems for Strikeforce fighters. As the UFC cranks up the dial on its own events schedule from 'intense' to 'insane,' something's got to give. It's only reasonable that Strikeforce would be the first to get thrown overboard when resources get scarce. The top fighters will quickly run out of top opponents, and the public will continue to regard the UFC champs as the de facto MMA champs. Meanwhile, all Rockhold can do is beg for the UFC to send him a contender and let him prove himself, but without annoying the powers that be in the process.

    "All the top ten guys or whatever are in the UFC," Rockhold said. "I'd love to see some of the guys jump over, because I don't think we get enough credit in Strikeforce. I think we've got 'Jacare,' me, and [Tim] Kennedy -- I think all three of us can beat anybody in the top ten. I think if they want to build Strikeforce...a huge thing would be to bring over a top contender from the UFC and throw him in the mix here with all of us."

    Of course, when you pan over to Coker for his response on the likelihood of any of that happening, you get an answer that tells you everything you need to know: "You have to talk to Dana about that one."

    And Uncle Dana, if you haven't noticed, is sort of busy with this whole UFC thing at the moment. Strikeforce fighters? They can leave a message at the beep.
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    Strikeforce Main Event Breakdown: Luke Rockhold vs. Keith Jardine

    A few months ago, Luke Rockhold was given an opportunity to fight for the Strikeforce middleweight title, a decision that many saw as a head-scratcher. Rockhold seized his chance, out-working Ronaldo Souza to capture the belt despite his major underdog status. The placement of Keith Jardine as his first challenger is a similarly puzzling choice, and one that could lead to another surprising champion.

    Unlike Rockhold when he got his chance, Jardine comes into the bout as a known commodity, a respected veteran who had a long UFC stint that was marked by inconsistency best illustrated by back-to-back fights in 2007. The first came at UFC 71, when he was knocked out by then little known Houston Alexander in just 48 seconds. Just four months later, he rebounded to shock Chuck Liddell in a decision win.

    Jardine's ability to surprise persists. Last April, he signed on short notice to face vaunted fighter Gegard Mousasi, a winner of 17 of his last 18 fights, and gamely fought him to a draw.

    The prevailing sentiment regarding Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine is that the challenger can cause some matchup troubles for the champ due to his unique style, but Rockhold (8-1) brings with him some inherent issues to address.

    For one, he is very comfortable switching stances. Against Souza, for example, he fought most of the bout as a southpaw, but one fight prior to that, he dropped Paul Bradley twice with right hooks from an orthodox stance. He also knocked down Cory Devela with the same punch, leading to the finish. That type of unpredictability adds an extra element to preparation, and gives more dimension to an already diverse attack.

    Though six of his eight career wins have come by submission, Rockhold's striking game has progressed well in his days at American Kickboxing Academy. One of his best attributes is his ability to mix things up.

    Rockhold is equally adapt at punching and kicking, and often uses kicks as a lead striking maneuver instead of setting them up with his hands, a tactic that can make an opponent wary of wading forward. Against Souza, for example, he threw almost 90 kicks in the five-round bout.

    Rockhold has shown an ability and willingness to trade with any of his opponents, and his chin has proven to be solid. Jacare knocked him down once, and rattled him on at least two other occasions, and Rockhold showed very good recovery skills.

    On the ground, he may be at his best. The jiu-jitsu brown belt usually looks to take his opponent's back and look for the rear naked choke. Defensively, he performed superbly against the world-class grappler Souza, never finding himself in real trouble despite being taken down five times.

    Jardine, though, is a lot more interested in looking for ground strikes than a tapout. Like his standup, his ground attack is unorthodox, featuring looping right hands that come in the same motion as a pitcher throwing a fastball.

    It will be interesting to see how Jardine (17-9-2) approaches Rockhold. Will he want to take him to the mat or go at him standing up? In the past, that wouldn't have been a difficult question to answer. For the vast majority of his UFC run, Jardine rarely tried to take the fight to the mat. In his last four UFC bouts, for example, he tried only three takedown attempts total. But in his most recent fight against Mousasi, he did a complete 180, trying an astounding 13 takedowns (and completing six). That relative success largely helped him salvage a draw in a fight in which he was otherwise soundly outstruck.

    Like Rockhold, Jardine is generous with his kicks, but he tends to go low and attack the legs instead of head-hunting. His punching tends to come from unusual angles and combinations conclude with him falling away from his opponent.

    Statistically, neither fighter has a big edge. According to FightMetric, Rockhold historically lands strikes at a 38 percent rate, barely better than Jardine's 37 percent. Rockhold is marginally better defensively, avoiding 67 percent of his opponent's strikes, while Jardine avoids 61 percent.

    Much will depend on Jardine's approach. Rockhold really doesn't care to look for takedowns -- he's tried only one in his last four fights -- so it's probably up to Jardine to push the fight in a different place. If it stays standing, I'd give Rockhold the edge due to his ability to switch stances, keep a strong pace, and take a shot.

    Two other things to consider are Jardine's cut to middleweight and his conditioning. After a decade of fighting, this is his first time competing at 185 pounds, a move that may or may not agree with him. He had some stamina issues against Mousasi, and though that fight was on short notice, it was at his usual weight. The extra stress in the weight cut could negatively impact him, or perhaps his power will transfer better as a middleweight. Either is possible. Anyway, it's not like Rockhold is a small middleweight. He's 6-foot-3 and sturdy, so Jardine is not going to outsize him in any meaningful way.

    Overall, Rockhold is a faster and more dangerous fighter than Jardine at this point of his career. In his win over Souza, he showed he can handle himself against a veteran on the ground, and his standup should have him scoring more points as the fight goes along. Jardine's always had the upset formula in his bag of tricks, but this is a fight Rockhold should win, and I'm calling a five-round decision win in his first title defense.
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    Keith Jardine Gets Strikeforce Title Shot, but Weight Cut Not Easy

    Keith Jardine will fight Luke Rockhold for the Strikeforce middleweight title on Saturday night, which is surprising for two reasons: One, Jardine's recent record wouldn't seem to warrant a title shot. And two, Jardine is not a middleweight.

    But while Jardine admits that having to get down to 185 pounds at the weigh-in on Friday afternoon makes him uneasy, he's adamant that he's a worthy opponent for Rockhold.

    "I've never been down to 185, since my freshman year of high school probably," Jardine said at Thursday's pre-fight press conference.

    Asked how much he weighed right then, about 24 hours before the weigh-in, Jardine wouldn't give a number but said, "I'm big."

    Jardine has only fought in Strikeforce once, a draw with Gegard Mousasi last year, and his record over the last three years is 2-5-1, with the two wins coming against lightly regarded opponents on small shows. So a lot of MMA fans are questioning why Jardine is fighting for a belt. Jardine said he anticipated that reaction, but he's frustrated by those who believe he's unworthy of a fight against Rockhold.

    "I say 'Screw you, whoever says that,'" Jardine said. "It's been a long trip to get to this point. I'm just so thrilled and honored to be here. I'm glad that Luke took this fight. I'm grateful for that."

    Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker defended the promotion's decision to make Jardine the first challenger to Rockhold, who won the Strikeforce middleweight belt by defeating Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza in September.

    "The thing about a veteran like Keith Jardine is he's already been in all the wars, he's already seen all the fights, and the battles that he's been through, to me, justify and warrant the title fight with Luke Rockhold," Coker said. "In MMA anything can happen."

    Perhaps Coker is right: If Keith Jardine becomes the Strikeforce middleweight champion on Saturday night, that really would show that anything can happen in MMA.
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    The Re-Education of 'King' Mo Lawal

    Mo Lawal can admit it now: things didn't go the way he thought they would when he first walked though the doors of the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, Calif. in the spring of 2011. What happened was simple, really. He came in with all the swagger you'd expect from a man who goes by the moniker of "King" Mo, and then he found out the hard way that he wasn't the only MMA royalty on those mats.

    Or as he put it: "I got beat up."

    And we're not talking just normal bumps and bruises, either. We're talking good old-fashioned butt-whoopings. One right after another, after another, after another.

    For the former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion, a man who had racked up seven straight wins in just a year and a half of professional competition, this wasn't just a surprise -- it was a travesty. It was a challenge to everything he thought he knew about himself and his abilities. It was unacceptable. And he had his best friend and former Oklahoma State wrestling teammate, Daniel Cormier, to thank for it.

    Cormier convinced Lawal to come up to the Bay Area gym after he heard that his old friend wasn't totally satisfied with the training he was getting down in Orange County. Lawal had recently suffered the first loss of his career in a Strikeforce 205-pound title defense against Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante in August of 2010, and now he was looking for a new home after rehabbing a knee injury.

    "I was asking him to come up here," said Cormier. "I heard he was looking to move and we talked a lot. I told him it was the best place for him."

    After weeks of going back and forth, Lawal finally made the move. But when set foot on the mats after being out of action for a while, he was in for a rough welcome.

    "I remember him struggling early on," Cormier said. "His timing was off. He hadn't fought in almost a year. He just wasn't himself."

    His first day of sparring, as Lawal remembered it, he went up against his buddy Cormier. He started off getting the worst of it, and things only deteriorated from there as his cardio showed the effects of his injury layoff.

    "I was kind of getting beat down," Lawal said. "I'm not going to lie."

    The next day of sparring, Lawal got matched up with a tall, lanky surfer kid by the name of Luke Rockhold -- a middleweight who Lawal took one look at before deciding that his fortunes in the gym were about to change.

    "I was like, yes! I'm going to smash him!" Lawal said. The way he saw it, Rockhold was a pretty boy who wasn't going to like getting hit in the face. He was, in Lawal's eyes, "a fake Ken doll."

    But before they strapped on the gloves, Cormier tried to warn his friend that it might not be as easy a sparring session as he thought.

    "I told him, Luke is a guy you have to watch out for. He goes a thousand percent all the time."

    Lawal wasn't convinced. This guy? The one who looks like he stepped out of an Abercrombie & Fitch catalog? He was the one who was going to give a former Strikeforce champ and NCAA All-American a hard time? Please.

    "I was like, I can't wait till I spar with Luke," Lawal said. "I'm going to put them thangs on him."

    A few rounds later, Lawal found out what Cormier was talking about. Rockhold popped right back up after Lawal took him down. He fired off kicks that seemed to come from odd angles and yet always found an open target. Lawal found himself getting punched, kneed, and kicked in places he thought he'd been defending well.

    "I got beat up," Lawal said. "...I got exposed. Because I came from training in Orange County, which was a good camp, some good guys out there, but the whole level of intensity, I felt like I was in Holland or something. I was like, these guys are trying to knock me out."

    Cormier had tried to tell him what he was in for, but maybe it was something he had to experience for himself to understand. That's how it was for Cormier when he first joined the team, he said.

    "Other guys may train hard and spar hard, but it's different here, where you have so many top guys and they're all there every single day. I think that's probably the biggest thing. There's a core group of guys who are here every day, and they're all mostly top ten in the world. It's a daily grind. You don't go to the gym and not have to deal with Luke Rockhold, [Josh] Koscheck, [Jon] Fitch, Cain [Velasquez] -- they're all there every time you step on the mat. There's no easy days."

    Cormier knew his old friend would benefit from those daily battles, but he also had selfish reasons for enlisting him, he admitted.

    "I just know that my best years, whether it was wrestling or whatever, Mo was right there close to me. The comfort that I have training with that dude, his ability to talk you up when you're having bad days, just having a friend around helps so much."

    Still, it wasn't just himself he was trying to help by bringing Lawal onto the team, Cormier said.

    "I knew it would be good for him, but I also knew it would be good for Luke. We didn't have that many smaller guys for him, so Luke had been sparring me and Cain. That's not a good day for any [middleweight]."

    With Lawal now on the AKA roster, Rockhold had a sparring partner closer to his size who could help him improve his wrestling, and Lawal had one who would force him to work on his stand-up skills. It was a symbiotic relationship that benefited them both, even if it resulted in the two of them showing up places with matching cuts and bruises when they traveled together to promote their respective fights on Saturday night's Showtime card in Las Vegas.

    "I'm going to be real with y'all," Lawal said while sitting next to Rockhold at a recent media Q&A at the MGM Grand. "This man right here is a top three middleweight in the world. You see my eye? I've got a little black eye, that's because of him. He kneed me in the face and punched me."

    Rockhold just shrugged and smiled before showing off his own battle wounds courtesy of Lawal and explaining that "iron sharpens iron."

    Which is kind of the whole point, as you can tell when you glance around the room at a place like AKA. The mats are crowded with UFC and Strikeforce fighters, former and current champions who make sure that there are no days off inside those walls. And that, Lawal said, is exactly what he needed. That's why unbeaten prospect Lorenz Larkin is in trouble once the cage door closes on Saturday night, he explained.

    "He's undefeated. He's a tough, young kid, hungry like me, but I'm starving," Lawal said. "I'm an Ethiopian right now."

    That's the good part about taking your beatings in the gym. There, no one's watching. No one's keeping score. There, the pounding is intended to make you better, or at the very least tougher. It's on Saturday night, when the cameras are rolling and the crowd is cheering, that you find out if it worked.
    Be a Warrior, not a Worrier

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