Emanuel Newton: 'King Mo' was being cocky in Bellator 90 semifinal

Whether it was cockiness or confidence that inspired Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal's lowered hands, Emanuel Newton saw an opening and took it.

"I think it was cockiness more than anything," Newton told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). "He was so – I'm not going to say full of himself – buthe in his mind, there was no way I was going to beat him."

This past Thursday, Newton (20-7-1 MMA, 3-1 BFC) delivered the latest of three major upsets in the Bellator Season 8 light-heavyweight tournament when he knocked out Lawal (9-2 MMA, 1-1 BFC) in their semifinal-round bout.

Tournament favorites Lawal, Renato "Babalu" Sobral and Seth Petruzelli all fell short in the tournament, which gave the spotlight to up-and-coming fighters such as Newton, who called it his biggest win to date.

Lawal had just finished throwing a right hand when Newton spun and hit him with a spinning backfist (watch it below). Lawal wound up in Newton's arms as he toppled to the mat, where the referee immediately stopped the bout.

"It's just a part of my arsenal," Newton said. "I throw the spinning backfist from an awkward position, like a retreating move."

Critics say Lawal wasn't defending himself properly throughout the bout and exposed himself to counters by keeping his hands low. Newton said the boxing-influenced style works for the ex-Strikeforce champ, but it was a bad fit for his taekwondo-inflected moves.

"The (Floyd) Mayweather style, I think that he's long, so I feel that it really works for him," he said. "But when we would exchange and he backed up, his hands were down. And I was even thinking, 'Man, I'm either going to throw a spinning backfist or a spinning hook kick, and it's going to land.' It just happened that the spinning backfist came first.

"I just think everyone that has been following Mo said, 'You're going to destroy this guy.' But I think once we got in there and we started mixing it up, I saw him start to get a little hesitant to really come in and throw everything at me."

Newton anticipates a return to the cage in early April, where he'll meet fellow Season 8 finalist Mikhail Zayats.

Newton, 29, said a new striking coach has changed his approach to the game and made him a more dangerous fighter. At the same time, he believes he still has much to learn.

"In my eyes, I'm still a white belt," he said.

http://www.mmajunkie.com/news/2013/02/emanuel-newton-king-mo-was-being-cocky-in-bellator-90-semifinal

Great job by the Hardcore Kid. I like Mo but he was eating punches all the time with those hands down, not a good idea. I thought we already learned with Overeem that being cocky and pretending you won before the fight even starts does not end well.

Like I said before it´s nice to see the underdog get a win. This is why tournaments are great for combat sports and also sports in general.