Originally scheduled for Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Henderson, the Roger Gracie vs. Muhammed Lawal fight is the most interesting Strikeforce matchup since Nick Diaz vs. Paul Daley. Both fighters are relatively new to the sport of MMA, but have so much to offer the sport once this bout is complete. Not only is the matchup itself interesting, but so is the buildup to the fight, as well as the potential aftermath.
Lawal is making his return to the cage after suffering his first defeat at the hands of Rafael Cavalcante, and then undergoing knee surgery. With a record of 7-1, Lawal made his name fighting in Japan before coming over to the United States and winning the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight title. A powerful wrestler known for thunderous takedowns and a stifling top game, Lawal is looking to make another run at the title.
His opponent is relatively new to MMA, but is still a legend in his own right. Roger Gracie is considered by many to be the best Gracie to ever compete, and has multiple grappling world championships to certify those credentials. Since coming into MMA in 2006, Gracie has fought only four times, but those submission abilities were on clear display, as he finished each of his opponents by forcing them to tap out. It’s no secret what his game plan is going into each of his bouts, yet no one has been able to stop him from executing his highly technical submission game.
The Lawal-Gracie matchup has major implications, as the winner will likely find himself ushered off to the UFC to become a potential contender to their title. Both fighters have some worth to the UFC, and Zuffa could put mount a successful marketing campaign for either of them.
Lawal was once a part of a heated feud that included Rashad Evans and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. Before Evans and Jackson met in 2010, Lawal and Rampage were going back and forth at each other through their Twitter accounts. Lawal, who is a friend of Evans, often re-tweeted, supported, and “co-signed” comments that the former UFC lightweight champion made about his rival. Jackson fired back, even going so far as to mock Lawal after his first defeat. Since that time, the feud has died down a bit, but UFC matchmakers would quickly find a way to pit these two against each other, restarting the intense war of words outside of the cage, in the hopes that the two fighters would match that intensity in the cage.
Roger Gracie, on the other hand, carries an important name. The UFC, and MMA as a whole, owe a big part of their position today to the work that the Gracie family did in the earliest days of the sport. Since that time, the UFC has not been able to find a suitable Gracie family member to carry that name into the upper echelon of their organization, but Roger may be the person with the ability to do so. And if he did, the UFC’s marketing machine, based on his surname alone, would quickly get behind him, and make sure that the mainstream media knew who he was.
While Lawal and Gracie have a combined 12 mixed martial arts bouts between them, both individuals bring a lot of potential with them into this coming fight. They are near the top of Strikeforce’s talent pool, and with the organization’s purchase by Zuffa, it is just a matter of time before they are both in the Octagon. However, the winner will likely see the bright lights of the UFC much sooner than later.
