When you talk sports with Mo Lawal ( http://molawal.com ), who just won his second straight U.S. national freestyle wrestling championship at 185 lbs./84 kg, don’t expect the discussion to stick to just one discipline. Although his greatest notoriety is in the world’s oldest sport of wrestling, and he is one of wrestling’s most colorful and entertaining athletes,Mo also avidly follows many other combat sports, in particular boxing and mixed martial arts, which he points out are all ”cousins.”
On this week’s edition of NO HOLDS BARRED, Eddie Goldman speaks with Mo Lawal. We discuss his victory at the 2006 U.S. National Wrestling Championships and his preparation for the U.S. World Team Trials in May and the World Championships in September in China. We discuss the new international wrestling rules. We also discuss the development of Real Pro Wrestling leagues in the U.S., in which Mo was also a champion last season, and in Iran. And we discuss boxing and its relation to wrestling, as well as mixed martial arts.