Mo Lawal: “I was in pain and damn near dying.”

Strikeforce light heavyweight Muhammed Lawal has faced some stiff opposition in his career as both a Mixed Martial Artist and collegiate wrestler but none of those fights compare to the one he fought a few weeks ago inside a hospital. Lawal, who intentionally kept his situation on the down-low, found himself in the midst of a serious medical situation due to a staph infection.

While the 31-year old former champion had dealt with staph infection before, this particular case involved a knee he had recently undergone an operation on.

“I had an ACL replacement again, but that wasn’t a big deal. I think what got me was the micro-fracture surgery. The micro-fractures got infected with staph, and I ended up in the hospital for about twelve days,” said Lawal in an interview with CagePotato. “I didn’t want people to know I was in the hospital, so if people texted me, I didn’t tell them. I was in pain and damn near dying. They gave me morphine. It was crazy. I was trying to keep it normal, and get back to the people that were texting me, telling them that I was okay, so that it wouldn’t get out that I was in the hospital.”

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He said he first noticed things were wrong during the UFC on FOX 2 weekend when his leg felt “hot” and he had developed a number of lumps in his knee. Lawal spoke to his doctor who drained the knee, tested the “Ghostbusters ectoplasm” out, and discovered the infection. Lawal was then rushed to the hospital where he underwent five separate procedures before things were finally resolved.

PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE