Mighty Mo (kickboxer)

Mighty Mo made his K-1 debut on February 15, 2004 at "K-1 Burning" event in Japan against Hiraku Hori. He knocked out Hori at 1:22 in 4th round by right hook. After losing in semifinals at his first 8-man tournament in Las Vegas against fellow American Dewey Cooper, Mighty Mo made a huge comeback four months later at the Battle of Bellagio II, winning his first K-1 GP Championship by knocking out Brecht Wallis in 2nd Round at the tournament finals.

After a year off from K-1, he made his comeback on March 4, 2007 at Yokohama, Japan. His opponent was Choi Hong-man (218 cm) from Korea who had never been knocked out before on his K-1 career until Mighty Mo (185 cm) managed to land his trademark right overhand punch, winning the fight by KO at 0:50 KO in 2nd round. At that time, he held the record for the "Biggest height difference wins (33cm)" resulting in a KO in favor of the shorter in K-1 history and possibly in kick-boxing as well as in boxing in history (Nicolai Valuev, 213 cm, is only 28 cm taller than Ruslan Chagaev - 185 cm). But on December 31, 2007, at the K-1 Dynamite Tournament in Osaka, the record was surpassed by Danish Karate fighter Nicholas Pettas (180 cm), who was able to KO the 217 cm Korean Kim Young-hyun (37 cm height difference).

On April 28, 2007, Mo entered the K-1 World GP 2007 in Hawaii tournament as a heavy favorite. He knocked out all three of his opponents and earned himself a spot in the K-1 World GP 2007 Elimination in Seoul, Korea.[5]

On June 23, 2007, Mighty Mo lost to defending K-1 Super Heavyweight Champion Semmy Schilt by unanimous decision at the K-1 World GP in Amsterdam. Semmy used his reach to keep Mighty Mo at bay, and Mo was unable to get in close enough to land his devastating overhand right. Rumors surfaced that Mo was nursing a knee and hand injuries from his previous fights. He had fought 7 times in the last 4 months.[6]

At the K-1 Final Eliminations 2007 on September 29, he faced Choi Hong-man again and lost by unanimous decision. During the fight, he was kicked in the groin and was inexplicably ruled a knockdown by the referee. He was quoted in the post-fight interview: "I feel I was robbed. I should have won. There was a lot of favoritism here. He must have picked up a new technique-a kick below the belt. So next time I'll wear a thicker cup. And next time I want to fight somewhere else."

In his next three fights he went 1-2, losing to Paul Slowinski and Keijiro Maeda before defeating Justice Smith on August 9, 2008.

Mighty Mo had replaced Andrei Arlovski at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2010 in Seoul Final 16 held in Seoul against Romanian Raul Catinas and won by unanimous decision.[7] As a result, Mo was the only American to make it into the K-1 World Grand Prix 2010 Final on December, 11th. His quarterfinal opponent was Peter Aerts who beat him via TKO in the first round.

Mighty Mo was knocked out by Russian Sergei Kharitonov at the United Glory World Series Finals in Moscow on May 28, 2011.

As of October 2011 Mighty Mo is currently on a six fight losing streak in Kickboxing, all but one by knockout.

He was next set to face Rick Roufus in Las Vegas on October 22, 2011.[8] However, he was not medically cleared to compete.

He rematched Raul Cătinaş, the last man he was able to defeat, in a non-tournament bout at the SuperKombat World Grand Prix 2012 Final in Bucharest, Romania on December 22, 2012 and lost on a unanimous decision.[9][10]

Mo made his professional MMA debut in October 2003. He won his first three MMA fights all by knockout over a period of three and a half years.

Mo was originally supposed to face Mu Bae Choi in a MMA match at K-1 Dynamite!! USA on June 2 in Los Angeles, California. But Choi was replaced in the last minute by Ruben "Warpath" Villareal.[11] Mighty Mo dominated Villareal, forcing the referee, Herb Dean, to stop the fight at 1:33 of the first round.

Mo next faced K-1 kickboxing champion Semmy Schilt at the Fields Dynamite!! 2008 2008 event in an MMA bout, in which Schilt defeated Mighty Mo in the first round by triangle choke.

In 2009, Mo signed with the DREAM promotion in Japan. He was set to fight Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipović at DREAM 10 but Cro Cop pulled out after re-signing with the UFC.

Mo instead made his debut against Josh Barnett at DREAM 13 on March 21, 2010 and lost via submission in the first round.

In 2013, Mo refocused his efforts on MMA and signed with Bellator MMA. He made his debut in September 2013 at Bellator 100 where he defeated Dan Charles by TKO. Mo returned just over a month later at Bellator 106 where he defeated Ron Sparks by submission.

In March 2014, Mo entered the Bellator Season Ten Heavyweight Tournament. He faced fellow kickboxer Peter Graham in the opening round at Bellator 111 on March 7, 2014. Mo won the fight via submission in the third round. In the semifinals, Mo faced Russian fighter Alexander Volkov on April 11, 2014 at Bellator 116. He lost the fight via knockout in the first round.

Mo was released from the organization on August 25, 2014.[12]

On October 9, 2015 at Road FC 026 in Seoul, South Korea, Mo defeated Mu Bae Choi by 1st-round KO in 37 seconds. On December 26 at Road FC 027 in Shanghai, China, Mo defeated Mu Bae Choi by TKO at the 3:46 mark of round 1, in a rematch of their Road FC 26 match up.

On April 16, 2016 at Road FC 030 in Beijing, China, Mo defeated Hyun Man Myung by neck crank in round 3 to win Openweight tournament semi-finals. On September 24 at Road FC 033 in Seoul, South Korea, Mo defeated Hong Man Choi by KO in round 4 to win the Road FC Openweight Championship. On September 25 Mo signed an exclusive contract with the Road FC. On December 10 at Road FC 035 in Seoul, South Korea, Mo retained his Openweight Title with a first-round KO of Carlos Toyota.

Mighty Mo entered the Valor Bare Knuckle 1 Heavyweight Tournament, VBK:1; this was the debut event for Ken Shamrock's newly founded bare-knuckle boxing organization. Mighty Mo defeated Sokoudjou by 3rd round TKO and entered the finals against Mark Godbeer. Unlike Godbeer, Mighty Mo had not been able to quickly defeat his prior opponent (Godbeer quickly knocked out his first opponent in less than a minute). He lost via TKO after he was unable to get up in time to answer the 10 count[13]; Mighty Mo appears to have gotten up just after 10 was called and thus the referee stopped the fight.

• Bellator MMA
  • Bellator Season Ten Heavyweight Tournament Semifinalist
• Universal Above Ground Fighting
  • U.A.G.F. Heavyweight Championship (One time)
• Road Fighting Championship
  • Road FC Openweight Champion (First; current)
  • Two Successful Title Defenses
  • 2016 Road FC Openweight Tournament Winner

• K-1
  • K-1 World Grand Prix 2010 in Bucharest 3rd Place
  • 2007 K-1 World Grand Prix in Hawaii Champion
  • 2004 K-1 World Grand Prix in Las Vegas II Champion

• Valor Bare Knuckle
  • VKB:1 Heavyweight Tournament Finalist[13]

• • North West Toughman Champion