Although not unaccustomed to losing, as he has lost several–though not many–matches in is long and storied wrestling career, that spans from collegiate wrestling to competition overseas.

After his first and only loss to current Strikeforce 205-pound champion Rafael “Feijao” this past Saturday, where the Brazilian Blackhouse stablemate floored the wrestling standout with knee-hook combo before ending the bout with elbows in succession to the head while a prone Muhammed attempted to lock up a single leg, manager Ryan Parsons confirmed with Sherdog.com that his fighter is undergoing some heavy-duty surgery.

With two surgeries being accounted for, Mo will have his left knee operated on, repairing his anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments, Parsons believes that his fighter will be sidelined for up to 9 months. Mo, though a true competitor, intended on fighting one more time before the surgery, but his manager insisted.

“Mo wanted to take one more fight, but we decided that this injury should be attended to first,” said Parsons after King Mo was observed by his physician just yesterday.

Some may remember Mo having had ACL surgery not all that long ago. After opening up his career with three consecutive TKO finishes under the Sengoku banner, Mo went to his first decision against Japanese veteran Ryo Kawamura in March of 2009.

It was later learned that Lawal tore his ACL during the contest and was later operated on, and made his return just five months later against Mark Kerr under the M-1 banner.

So, what does Lawal’s absence do to the 205 pound picture for Strikeforce? Immediately, Gegard Mousasi looks like the next logical step, since he is a draw with the fans of Strikeforce, relevant, and back on his winning ways since his loss to Mo, where he recently earned a first round submission win over UFC veteran Jake O’Brien.

Mike Kyle could also be up next for the Brazilian, who will undoubtedly want to exact revenge on the only man to legitimately defeat him convincingly.

So, who deserves the next crack at the title, and is Lawal’s injury hurting him or Strikeforce more in the long run?

Lawal had crouched low out of his corner; and, Kerr threw a low kick. Lawal caught Kerr’s low kick and dumped Kerr on his stomach, beginning the onslaught of punches that ended the fight.

For Lawal, the “W” is Pyrrhic as the talented light heavyweight wastes time versus opponents, like Kerr, who don’t develop his talent.

French middleweight “Psycho” Karl Amoussou (12-2-1) dominated late replacement for “Goat” Nick Thompson (38-11-1), American wrestler John Doyle (7-8), tapping Doyle in a rear naked choke at 3:15 of round one. Amassou tripped Doyle to the ground with a hard leg kick to start the fight; but, Doyle hugged Amoussou’s leg and crawled into the Frenchman’s full guard. Amoussou swept into full mount and tagged Doyle’s head with punches as Doyle went into the desperation roll, back-to-stomach, back-to-stomach. One roll too many and Doyle found himself wrapped in Amoussou’s rear naked choke.

Middleweight “Spartan” Lucio Linhares (12-3) avenged his loss to Mikhail Zayats (8-4) when he tapped him in a rear naked choke at 1:00 of round one. Linhares staggered Zayats with a right hook to the ear. Zayats crumbled; and, Linhares pounced into the choke hold to end the fight.

Lightweight Daisuke Nakamura (18-9) defeated Frenchman “Hurricane” Ferrid Kheder (11-3) by three-round unanimous decision. Nakamura popped Kheder’s proboscis with a rising left jab and lunging straight right rounds one through three, first etching a crease in the bridge of Kheder’s nose, then leaving him snorting blood from both nostrils. In round three, the referee paused the fight unnecessarily to have the doctor look at the bloody mess. In round two, however, “Hurricane” spun a three-four combo over the straight shots from Nakamura, tagging the Japanese veteran in the head. But, Kheder longed for a brawl that Nakamura danced around. When Kheder closed in to exchange, Nakamura either landed a knee to the short rib or pulled guard, which Kheder pulled out of. At the end of round three, Nakamura pulled guard and Kheder finally played along, falling into an arm triangle as the final bell rang. Too little, too late.

Heavyweights Alexey Oleinik (6-4-1) and Rogent Lloret (6-1-1) fought to a draw. Llorent consummated the contest with a left high kick that opened a slit on Oleinik’s right eye brow early in round one. But, Oleinik answered with a slam, swept near the end of the round by Llorent. Oleinik consistently put Llorent on his back hard throughout the fight, but Llorent fed Oleinik uppercuts and knees during the in-coming and had a sweep to answer most of Oleinik’s slams. Whether Oleinik or Lloret was in top position on the mat, they played paddy-cake, neither doing damage to the other. A draw is about right.

Dutchman Jessie Gibbs (5-0) won a unanimous decision over heavyweight Brit Rob Broughton (9-4-1) in a snoozer that drew the boo-birds for both fighters. Gibbs had a nifty telegraphed-right-kick-into-straight-right technique that caught Broughton flush twice in the second round and again in the third, but Broughton walked through the punches. Gibbs also landed a hard right elbow to Broughton’s liver while in half mount in the first round. If much else landed, it must’ve been while I was dosing off; but, Gibbs earned the decision.

Polish heavyweight Michal Kita (6-2) won a first-round submission by G’n’P at 1:50 when American Lloyd Marshbanks (12-8) tapped out with a dislocated right shoulder with Kita on his back wailing right hooks into Marshbanks’s noggin. Marshbanks had shot and ate a left. Kita sprawled and tagged Marshbanks again, then swiveled to his back and punished Marshbanks until Marshbanks called it quits.

Breakthrough gets started at 7:30 PM local time at Memorial Hall in KC and the meat of the of the card will be broadcast on HDNet at 10:00 PM EST. Outside of the United States, the entire card will be streamed via the Internet. Details are available at M-1 Global’s website. Tickets starting at $25 can be purchased at Ticketmaster and there’s a buy-one-get-one-free offer.

Fighters.com asked Mousasi to explain the exhibition sparring format last Thursday. “It’s just like a light sparring,” he said, and added that the exhibition won’t turn competitive in front of thousands in Kansas City. “We are not animals. We can control ourselves.”

Coming off a unanimous decision over Pancrase veteran Ryo Kawamura (9-3-2) at Sengoku Seventh Battle in Tokyo last March, Lawal will fight late replacement forty-year old “Smashing Machine” Mark Kerr (14-10).

Kerr replaced Lawal’s original opponent, forty-three year old former UFC champion “Predator” Don Frye (20-7-1).

Frye told MMA Junkie Sunday, “I didn’t drop out; I walked away. Here’s the deal: [The event] didn’t just move from LA. It went from the Staples Center to the LA Convention Center. From the LA convention center to the Hilton in Las Vegas. From the Hilton in Las Vegas to an Indian casino on the Oklahoma-Texas border. From the Indian casino on the Oklahoma-Texas border to an Indian casino up in Tulsa, which is North Oklahoma. And from there up to Kansas City.

“So you know, after four or five times changing the venue, and then we asked [M-1 Global Chief Operating Officer Joost Raimond] ‘Hey, what are you doing for advertising? Are you sending a photographer out to Don’s house?’ He says, ‘No, we’re just going to use stock photos off the Internet.’”

“So at that point we said, ‘You know what? You just ain’t got your shit together. We’re walking away.’”

Raimond had released a statement saying, “Don Frye had a signed contract with M-1 and part of that signed commitment allowed us to change the venue if needed. From our perspective, Don should still be in this fight. However, for reasons that we aren’t exactly sure of, he has backed out. Don still has not provided us with a clear reason as to why he is refusing to fight. It just doesn’t make sense because the old Don Frye was willing to fight anyone, anywhere, and at anytime. Perhaps the fire is gone and he underestimated the challenge that ‘King Mo’ presents?”

Kerr will bring his four-fight losing streak into the ring in Kansas City. He was tapped out in a rear naked choke by “Snowman” Jeff Monson (28-8) at Vengeance Fighting Championship in Concord, North Carolina last September. He’s 2-9 in the last nine years.

Linhares will rematch Red Devil Sport Club’s Mikhail Zayats (8-3). Zayats won the original two-round contest by UD in St. Petersburg at M-1 Challenge 4 in June 2008.

Linhares comes off a 1:25 KO of countryman “BBMonstro” Valdir Araujo (1-1) at M-1 Challenge 16 in Kansas City last June.

Zayats lost a unanimous decision to Alexander Machado (3-1) at M-1 Challenge 15 in Sau Paulo last May.

Perhaps Frye is to blame? M-1 Global Chief Operating Officer Joost Raimond thinks so, saying Monday, “Don Frye had a signed contract with M-1 and part of that signed commitment allowed us to change the venue if needed. From our perspective, Don should still be in this fight. However, for reasons that we aren’t exactly sure of, he has backed out. Don still has not provided us with a clear reason as to why he is refusing to fight. It just doesn’t make sense because the old Don Frye was willing to fight anyone, anywhere, and at anytime. Perhaps the fire is gone and he underestimated the challenge that ‘King Mo’ presents?”

Ostentatious former NCAA wrestling champion “King Mo” won a unanimous decision over Pancrase veteran Ryo Kawamura (9-3-2) at Sengoku Seventh Battle in Tokyo last March. He’ll fight for the first time in his home nation at Breakthrough.

Kerr was tapped out in a rear naked choke by “Snowman” Jeff Monson (28-8) at Vengeance Fighting Championship in Concord, North Carolina last September. He’s 2-9 in the last nine years.

Lawal has the tools and charisma to fight to the top of the middleweight or light heavyweight divisions, but must seek fights versus other contemporary contenders even if it means smaller paydays now.

In non-tournament action, forty-four-year old original Ultimate Fighter challenger Patrick Smith (15-13) submitted 417-pound “Butterbean” Eric Esch (10-6-1) with strikes.

And, “The Russian Bear” Oleg Taktarov (16-5-2) also won by submission over “The Titan” Mark Kerr (15-7).

The tournament featured one-round fight-offs into the semi-finals.

Wiuff drew Brazilian Marcel Pereira (0-1) and pummeled the jits player on the mat over five minutes for the unanimous decision.

The tourney had commenced with an Alexey Oleinik (7-4) front-choke submission of “The Tank” Sherman Pendergarst at 4:18.

Chris Tuscherer (13-1) had dominated Tony Sylvester (10-2) for a unanimous decision.

And, former UFC Heavyweight Champion “Suave” Ricco Rodriguez (28-9) had taken George Bush (5-1) down at will to score a UD.

The second round also featured one-round fight-offs pairing Oleinik versus Tuscherer and Wiuff versus Rodriguez.

Again, Tuscherer dominated his opponent in G’n'P fury for a unanimous decision; and, Wiuff similarly overwhelmed the veteran Rodriguez, also for a UD.

In the three-round tournament final, Tuscherer didn’t do more than frustrate the seemingly fresher Wiuff.  Wiuff closed out round one with a left-right combo that bloodied Tuscherer.  Rounds two and three were fought mostly on the mat, with Wiuff unloading ground’n'pound in spurts while Tuscherer was somewhat effective tying him up.

At the final bell, Wiuff took all three judges’ cards 30-27 twice and 29-28.

In the event’s “Masters Superfight” main event, Smith shredded Bean’s pillar-like legs with kicks that eventually fell the massive man.  Esch was helpless on his back as Smith beat him to verbal submission at 3:17 of round one.

After absorbing a massive right from Kerr in the other “Masters Superfight”, Taktarov swept into a side kneebar to tap “The Titan” at 1:50 of round one.

The night had popped-off at the end of a “Philly Badass” Lamont Lister (4-3) overhand right that dropped Russian Oleg Savitsky (1-2) in a tournament alternate bout.  “Badass” finished him on the mat for a 33-second TKO.

In the other tourney alternate bout, Bryan Vetell (4-3) won a one-round unanimous decision over Antwain Britt (3-1).

“Bob Meyrowitz [YAMMA Pit Fighting CEO] is just pissed off right now,” Rusich said about the situation.

Goodridge was knocked out in the second round last Sunday by Mu Bae Choi (7-2) in KHAN, a South Korean MMA promotion.

NJSACB told Five Ounces of Pain it intends to protect Goodridge’s health and safety after the KO.

“Gary is embarrassed about [the KO],” Rusich related.  “Apparently he beat the guy up pretty good in the first round and the guy just wouldn’t go away.”

Goodridge is also scheduled to headline a 19 April King of the Cage card in Los Angeles versus Team Oyama’s Tony Lopez (5-2).

Rusich stated, “He’s probably not going to be allowed to fight then either.”

No one at the California State Athletic Commission was available this afternoon to comment on Goodridge’s eligibility.

The NJSACB also told Five Ounces of Pain that the announced main event between “The Russian Bear” Oleg Taktarov (15-5-2) versus “The Titan” Mark Kerr (15-6) has not yet been sanctioned either.

The fighter under review, Kerr, comes off a 29 March keylock submission victory over Chuck Huus (0-1) in Caged Combat Championship Fights.

Monday YPF announced that “Suave” Ricco Rodriguez (27-8) would join the eight-man heavyweight tournament.

Rodriguez returns from a 16 February split decision loss to “Junior” Antonio Silva (10-1) in EliteXC.

The promotion also revealed details of “The YAMMA”, a sloped fighting surface that Meyrowitz hopes will “keep the fighting more explosive and continuous.”