("Fay-jeow?! I said I wanted to fight Fay-dor.")

Further proving our theory that Scott Coker and co. are just throwing darts at their roster lists to come up with match-ups, Fiveouncesofpain is reporting that recently crowned Strikeforce light heavyweight champ Muhammad Lawal (7-0) will take on Rafael Cavalcante (9-2) August 21 in Houston, Texas.

2-1 in his last three outings, Cavalcante, who suffered the second loss of his career in the form of a TKO at the hands of controversial journeyman Mike Kyle in his Strikeforce debut last June, hasn’t exactly been running through top-tier competition. His last five wins have come opposite Antwain Britt (11-4), Aaron Rosa (13-3), Travis Galbraith (18-7), Wayne Cole (16-16) and John Doyle (10-14) — none of whom could be considered a contender.

The problem is, Strikeforce doesn’t have anyone else to face Mo.


Dan Henderson, who recently said he will likely stay at 205 for the foreseeable future is a former teammate of Lawal’s, eliminating him from consideration for the bout. Renato Sobral who last month stated that he was dropping down to 185 and looked great at that weight in his win over Robbie Lawler is a current King Mo’ training partner and good friend of the champ. Both fighters have said that they have no desire to face each other, despite Coker’s insistence. 

Really, if you look at the promotion’s shallow 205-pound talent pool, there aren’t many other options, unless they bring Gegard Mousasi (28-3-1) back for an immediate rematch, which might shoot them in the foot if he pulls an Alistair Overeem and doesn’t defend the belt for an extended period of time.

Roger Gracie (2-0) is likely being groomed for a title shot if he can remain active for an extended period of time and string together a few more wins in the promotion, but in terms of title contenders to the belt that Bobby Southworth held for nearly two years before it was passed between Babalu, Mousasi and Mo in a span of 245 days, there are no immediate suitable candidates.

On the bright side, at least we’ll finally have the opportunity to hear Gus Johnson overuse and over-annunciate both "Feijao" and "King Mo" during the same bout.