Bellator’s stacked card for its debut in Hawaii later this year continued to get even better with the addition of another big fight, and I’ll give my thoughts on this new matchup in today’s MMA odds and ends.
King Mo vs. Liam McGeary, Bellator Hawaii
A light heayvweight bout between Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal and former Bellator light heavyweight champion Liam McGeary will take place at Bellator Hawaii, which is set to take place Saturday, December 15 at Neal S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu. Bellator president Scott Coker himself announced the bout via Twitter. The addition of King Mo vs. McGeary strengthens what already looks to be a stacked card featuring Bellator women’s flyweight champion Ilima-Mei Macfarlane vs. Valerie Letourneau, former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida’s Bellator debut against former Bellator middleweight champion Rafael Carvalho, and a welterweight tournament quarterfinal bout between prospects Niemann Gracie and Ed Ruth. The card is set to stream live on DAZN and with the quality of the matches added to the card so far, this event could be a big hit for Bellator’s new steaming service.
King Mo (21-7, 1 NC) is coming off of a brutal TKO loss to Bellator light heavyweight champion Ryan Bader having been knocked out in just 15 seconds back at Bellator 199 in May. Prior to the loss to Bader, King Mo was coming off of a win over Quinton “Rampage” Jackson that earned him a title shot, but he was knocked out by Mirko Cro Cop in RIZIN in his fight prior to that, so Mo has taken a lot of damage lately. Although Mo’s 10-5 overall in Bellator, he’s now 37 and looks like he’s on a decline after being such a quality light heavyweight for so many years. McGeary (12-3) has fallen on hard times as of late as he’s been stopped in his last two fights against Linton Vassell and Vadim Nemkov. Overall it wasn’t that long ago that McGeary was a champion in Bellator, and although he has a 9-3 record in the promotion, he’s now 35 years old and looks to be on the decline as well. As far as this matchup goes, it’s a tough one as both guys have been glass cannons as of late, but I still have to fade King Mo. I give Mo the edge in wrestling and striking in this fight and although McGeary has a great ground game I think you have to slightly lean towards Mo in this one.
