Bellator’s plans to put on a stacked card for their 131st show on November 15th have taken a hit with Muhammed ‘King Mo’ Lawal’s intented opponent Tom DeBlass being forced to pull out due to a bad laceration to his head.
“sometimes life throws unexpected things our way. Accidental headbutt did just that two weeks before my fight with @kingMofh this cut is deep and bad,” De Blass wrote on twitter. “This cut is taking me out of the fight with Mo. As soon as it’s touched in the fight it will bust open. I know so many of you wanted to see this so I apologize, and I felt so great ,as we know injuries happen in MMA and we fighters take the worst of it. Regarding Mo, we already spoke and he’s one of the most respectful guys I’ve talked too. We already spoke of training together when I’m healed. As far as MMA is concerned I’ll never say never, but I can say right now I’m focusing on competing Jiu-Jitsu and improving my Academy. I have no plans to fight right now. Thank you to my manager Danny Liguori for everything and Bellator for being so awesome, you may see me back in there one day. But for now let’s win some more Jiu-Jitsu title”
So, it looks like the 32 year-old DeBlass is looking to move on from MMA after a respectable 9-2 career record despite currently being on a two fight winning streak in the Bellator cage after an unsuccessful stint in the UFC that saw him pick up his only two career defeats
DeBlass had in fact announced his retirement following that brief spell in the UFC, but then changed his mind after Bellator came calling. With that in mind it’s no surprise that his latest injury setback, which follows on from an injured knee that also forced him out of a fight with King Mo in September, has again led to thoughts of potentially hanging up his gloves.
As for ‘King Mo’, the plan is to attempt to keep him on the Spike TV card if possible, though it remains to be seen what caliber of opponent they’ll be able to come up with on just two weeks notice.
He’s coming off a second round TKO win against Dustin Jacoby who stood in for DeBlass in September, but in general the former Strikeforce light-heavyweight champion’s time in the Bellator promotion so far has been something of a mixed bag, producing a 5-3 record to date.
With Bellator’s weekly format now at an end the promotion see Bellator 131 as a trial run for their new 2015 schedule which will see monthly events backed up by four bigger shows spaced out across the year.
Bellator 131 will be headlined by a light-heavyweight encounter between UFC hall-of-famers Tito Ortiz and Stephan Bonnar, while the co-main event features a lightweight title fight rematch between interim champ Will Brooks and Michael Chandler.
The event airs on the same night as both the injury-riddled UFC 180: Werdum Vs Hunt pay-per-view event in Mexico and WSOF 15: Branch Vs Okami.
