Strikeforce's Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal suspended nine months, fined $39K for failed steroid test

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal appeared in front of the Nevada State Athletic Commission on Tuesday to answer for a failed steroid test from his bout with Lorenz Larkin in Strikeforce in January, and as expected he was handed an official suspension by the Commission.

Lawal tested positive for the anabolic steroid Drostanolone, which Lawal's camp traced back to an over the counter supplement he had been taking. Lawal claimed the supplement was purchased several years ago, as the supplement had since been taken off of shelves because of the presence of this anabolic agent.

At Tuesday's hearing, the NSAC officially overturned his victory over Larkin to a "No Contest", suspended him for nine months, fined him 30% of his purse as well as taking back his win bonus.

The nine month suspension is retroactive to the date of the fight, January 7, so Lawal will be eligible for return as of September of this year. The fine amounted to a total of $39,000 - $15,000 from his win bonus, and $24,000 from the percentage fine from his purse.

Penick's Analysis: Lawal accepted his punishment, and his suspension is actually less than was probably expected, but the NSAC absolutely doesn't play around with fines. They fined Thiago Silva a significant amount last January, around 40% of his purse, and did the same for Karo Parisyan a few years back as well. That's a significant amount of money that Lawal has now lost because of this failed test, and should be a sign to fighters that you need to know what you're putting in your body. If you get popped for something like this the monetary punishment is worse than anything else.

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