Strikeforce
Rafael "Feijao" says "King Mo" Lawal's failed steroid test scrapped planned Strikeforce rematch for vacant title on March 3
Jan 25, 2012 - 11:25:24 AM Rafael "Feijao" says "King Mo" Lawal's failed steroid test scrapped planned Strikeforce rematch for vacant title on March 3

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Strikeforce's March 3 event in Columbus, Ohio will be headlined by a Women's Bantamweight Championship bout between Miesha Tate and Ronda Rousey; but that fight certainly wasn't Strikeforce's first choice as the night's main event, and it may not have even been the second choice.

The Heavyweight Grand Prix Finals bout between Daniel Cormier and Josh Barnett was being targeted for the March 3 headliner, but a hand injury to Cormier kept that fight from happening that soon. Now, Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante says he was in talks to rematch Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal for the vacant Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Championship in that slot. However, that was before Lawal tested positive for the steroid drostanolone out of his January 7 fight with Lorenz Larkin.

"I [was supposed to] fight King Mo," Feijao said in an interview with Tatame.com. "It wasn't official yet, but that was the talk, but he was caught using steroids and things got complicated. It would be the main event on March 3, worth the belt. Now he was caught and I don't know what happens next."

Cavalcante knocked Lawal out in August of 2010 to capture the title, but was then knocked out himself by Dan Henderson in March to lose the belt. He's bounced back with a win over Yoel Romero last September, but has been on the sidelines since then.

"I was surprised that an athlete at his level was caught doing steroids," he said, noting this situation makes things murky for his next fight. "I still don't know about it neither who my next opponent would be. I'll tell you this: things just got complicated."

Penick's Analysis: Considering Cavalcante defeated "Mo" already, that fight would have made more sense as for a vacant title fight than a "Mo"-Gegard Mousasi rematch, so it makes sense that they would have been targeting this fight. However, Lawal also had a knee injury that he's now healing from out of the Lorenz Larkin fight, so I don't think he would have been ready for March 3 anyway. They could have been in early talks about the possibility, but I don't know how close to finalized it could have gotten before Lawal's steroid test result came out last week. Is Mousasi hadn't already have been booked against Mike Kyle on the March 3 card, a Mousasi-Cavalcante fight would make sense as well. Because Mousasi is booked and Lawal is gone for the foreseeable future, Cavalcante's kind of left hanging in limbo.