“If I get past Mo, then I’m pretty sure my next fight would be for the title”

By Kelsey Mowatt

Although Strikeforce’s Lorenz Larkin knew that a high profile fight was coming, due his three consecutive wins with the promotion and an overall record of 12-0, it sounds like the 25 year-old didn’t anticipate the big name bout that he’s been assigned. Recently, Strikeforce announced that Larkin will take on the promotion’s former light-heavyweight champion “King Mo” Lawal on January 7th, and the prospect is understandably excited about the opportunity.

“I felt honored,” said Larkin, who will face Lawal on the main card of the upcoming Showtime broadcast. “I’ve only fought three times with the organization, so to then fight Mo, who is the ex-champion. There’s three top guys in my division; there’s Mo, “Feijao” (Cavalcante) and (Gegard) Mousasi. So it’s like, for them to even consider me for a fight with anyone of those guys is a huge honor. It makes me feel like I’ve achieved something.”

Since arriving in Strikeforce this past April, Larkin has scored wins over Scott Lighty, Gian Villante and most recently Nick Rossborough, to work his way into the upper tier of the division.

“If I was to get past Mo, then I’m pretty sure my next fight would be for the title, which is crazy,” Larkin told FCF. “Realistically, I didn’t really see this happening because I came from nowhere. I didn’t have any kind of name; nobody had ever heard of me before I even got into Strikeforce…Just to get three fights, even on my third fight I was headlining the Challengers card, which that alone was crazy for me. To be in title contention now is weird, but it shows how far you can come in this game.”

Of course in Lawal, Larkin will face one of the sport’s rising stars, who after transitioning into the sport from wrestling had won the Strikeforce title inside of two years. It will be interesting to see how the January 7^th bout plays out, as while Larkin has drawn praise for his striking, the former boxer points out that Lawal has also scored some notable knockouts.

“You know anybody that goes against Mo should be concerned about his wrestling,” said Larkin, who has recorded 6 KO wins and 2 TKO victories in 12 bouts. “He has a good pedigree and he has a big resume. The thing is that I’m trying not to think about it too much, because I don’t want to get too focused on his wrestling and forget about his hands.”

“Everyone talks about his wrestling, but look what he did to Mike Whitehead; look what he did to Roger Gracie,” Larkin added. “He has a knockout punch, so it’s not something to take lightly. So we’re kind of working on everything.”

While Larkin is looking forward to the challenge and opportunity that Lawal presents, the California fighter reports that by the time the fight game together, there was only about four weeks left to prepare.

“I thought it was going to be end of January, maybe in February,” said Larkin about his next fight, which was confirmed just recently. “I’m making the best of it though; I’ve been hitting it hard for a few days now…There’s no excuses; I took the fight so I’m going to do my best to be prepared for the fight.”

The fight’s announcement came right around the time that Strikeforce and Showtime reached a new broadcast deal for 2012, meaning that for the time being, fighters like Larkin will remain with the promotion.

“Strikeforce has taken good care of me and I’m getting a lot of eyes on me with this organization,” said Larkin. “I have no reason to leave.”

Photo via Strikeforce.com