Fight correspondent Marcos Villegas caught up with UFC veteran Kenny Florian and discussed the recent release of Zuffa fighter, Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal after his negative Twitter comments towards Nevada State Athletic Commission authorities. The verbal tirade was a result of a hearing the commission was having due to Lawal testing positive for Steroids after his win over Lorenz Larkin.
During the hearing one of the panelists asked the light heavyweight, “do you speak and understand English?’ This is not only rude but insulting to anyone, regardless of their profession. Lawal responded via twitter and it ultimately got him released from the ZUFFA roster. When asked about the situation Florian commented, “I don’t care who you are, when you are asked something like that – you’re gonna get upset. I think he has learned from his actions, what he said was not best at the time and I hope to see him fighting soon, if not Strikeforce than the UFC.”
In the past year, other fighters have found themselves in chastisement by UFC brass for twitter remarks: Rashad Evans made jokes about the Penn State student abuse scandal when he was preparing for his bout with Penn State alum, Phil Davis; Miguel Torres, always comical with his tweets was fired for jokes he made about women and rape – he has since apologized and been re-activated on the Zuffa roster.
When asked about a “code of conduct” for fighters Florian responded. “Sure..it is really unfortunate for a guy like King Mo, I like him as a person…sometimes though, we are all going to be victims of our own emotions.”
