Former NCAA champs Askren, Lawal winners at weekend MMA events

Poster for M-1 Breakthrough, featuring Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal

UFC 102 wasn't the only MMA event this past weekend.  Former college wrestling champs Mo Lawal, Ben Askren and Mark Kerr all competed Friday night in non-UFC mixed martial arts events... with two of the three victorious.

"King Mo" Lawal clobbers Kerr.  At M-1 Breakthrough in Kansas City, Kansas Friday night, it was a battle of two NCAA champs: 2002 NCAA Division II champ Muhammed Lawal, taking on 1992 NCAA Division I titlewinner Mark Kerr.

Lawal, now known as "King Mo", is fairly new to MMA, having competed exclusively outside the US until Friday's event. By contrast, Kerr is a long-time MMA veteran who had been known as "The Smashing Machine" and "The Specimen."

Friday night, Lawal got a TKO in just 25 seconds. Here's how  Maggie Hendricks described it in her Cagewriter blog: "... the entrances took longer than the fight. "King Mo" Lawal knocked out Mark Kerr in a mere  25 seconds with a single leg takedown and a bevy of punches while on Kerr's back. As he is known to do, Lawal had an elaborate entrance, with rose petal throwers and dancers. After the fight, Kerr had a hard time getting up but did walk out of the ring under his own power." 

For Mark Kerr, a two-time NCAA All-American at Syracuse University (who had defeated Randy Couture in the finals at the 1992 NCAAs), was a last-minute substitution for Don Frye, another MMA veteran and former collegiate wrestler. This was Kerr's fifth straight loss since March 2008. For Lawal, who won his 2002 NCAA D2 title for Central Oklahoma University, and was a 2003 NCAA D1 All-American for Oklahoma State, it was his fifth straight MMA victory... and his first in North America.

Askren comes out on top.  Two-time NCAA Division I champ and 2008 Olympian Ben Askren notched a victory Friday night by submitting Matt Delanoit at 1:15 of the first round at the Ballroom Brawl in West Des Moines, Iowa.  Here's how Askren described it in his blog at his website: "Last night I had the third fight of my career and a much tougher opponent than the first two,  I wasted little time in getting it to the ground and then worked a north-south choke which is one of my favorite positions."

Askren, who was a four-time NCAA All-American (and four-time finalist) while at the University of Missouri, was recently hired as an assistant coach at Arizona State. His professional MMA record now stands at 3-0.

Resources

MMA Examiner Eddie Graveline's coverage of M-1 Breakthrough

InterMat MMA writer Tony Nguyen's report on Ben Askren's August 28 match

Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal official website

Ben Askren official website

College Wrestling Examiner: Ex-college wrestlers score victories at UFC 102