Bellator 90 was supposed to be easy work for King Mo who was facing Emanuel Newton in the semi-finals of the organization's light heavyweight tournament. Unfortunately for King Mo, things did not go quite as he planned and he lost by TKO in the first round.
Losses like these are what defines a fighter going forward. They can either start to doubt themselves, or use it as fuel for their fire, making sure that it doesn't happen again in the future.
Jeff Mayweather serves as the boxing coach for King Mo. The two have become close over the past year, with Mo greatly improving his striking over that time. One of the best wrestlers in MMA, he is no longer the one dimensional fighter many thought he was previously.
Asked what he thought about the strategy Mo employed in his fight, Jeff Mayweather quickly took some of the blame on himself.
"I may have got Mo too much into the mindset of a boxer. He's been doing so well with boxing, but wrestling is his strength. He is still one of the best boxers in MMA, but he lost site of the fact that he's a world class wrestler."
Mayweather also added that Mo sensed he wasn't performing too well on his feet in this fight and was preparing to change things up a bit.
"He did say that right before the punch came that he was getting ready to take the guy down. He said he could tell that he wasn't as effective as he wanted to be, but things happened and he never got the chance."
The positive side of things for King Mo is that Bellator and Spike have invested heavily in him, and his success is key to theirs. Therefore, they will be sure to give him every opportunity to right the ship as quickly as possible. No doubt that suits Mo just fine, as he likely will be eager to get the taste of this loss out of his mouth.
Jeff Mayweather will still be an essential part of his improvement going forward, but as Mayweather said himself, King Mo just needs to remember that he has much more in his arsenal than just boxing.
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