Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com has done his usual bang-up job in collecting these post-fight interviews from Toyota Center, the site of "Strikeforce: Houston."

Scott Coker:

More after the jump...

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Strikeforce light-heavyweight champion "King Mo" Lawal spoke with MMAForReal.com's Matt Bishop and Forrest Lynn on Lights Out Radio earlier this week to preview his fight with Rafael Feijao and to talk about his game, the dreaded lactic acid buildup, Chael Sonnen's wrestling ability ("the best in the UFC") and so much more.

On going five rounds and facing adversity:

There's no true way to prepare for five rounds except doing it. You can train all you want. I trained five rounds for Mousasi and I went out there fighting like it was a three-round fight right away. The thing is mentally, I had the mental fortitude to push through it. I don't know if he has that. We'll see. We'll see what happens. If it's going to be a one-round fight, it's going to be a one-round fight. If it's going to be a five-round fight, it's going to be a five-round fight, but in all scenarios, I'm going to win.

On lactic acid buildup and those questioning Shane Carwin:

Lactic acid feels like you're a skinny person trapped in an obese person's body. Your body is aching, you can't move. It's hard to explain. You can't move, you feel heavy. There was one point that the lactic acid was so hard that I tried to punch Mousasi, I was cocking back and I was punching and it felt like I was slapping him. It makes you feel weak, you can't move, you have no explosiveness. It feels like a full-body cramp just about.

I was like, 'What the hell do they know?' A lot of those people talking about Carwin, they aren't even training. If fighting's so easy and all those people are talking about Carwin, then maybe those motherf---ers should go out there and start training, find a gym, go through medicals and turn pro and start fighting if it's that easy to start fighting and what Shane Carwin did was so bad. It was Shane Carwin's first time in a big event like that and when you get that adrenaline dump, you dump everything and the lactic acid just builds up. It's like you're maxing out. Picture yourself maxing out like 10 times. That's what it feels like. You're maxing out as much as you can doing bench presses or squats, heavy squats and maxing out. You're maxing out 10 times and that's what it feels like. You can't go any more.

On fighters like Jon Jones and Phil Davis getting more hype than him, despite him being a world champion:

The only people that believe all that hype is groupies. I don't care what people say because eventually they'll have to respect me. I wish they had open contracts so I could give those boys losses, but it's whatever, man. The truth will come to light and people can believe what they want to believe, but the truth always comes. Popular belief isn't always right. Popular belief for the most part is wrong. The world was flat. Everyone believed that then someone came and said the world was round and that was unpopular but it came to be fact. Popular belief isn't anything. Eventually people are going to have to respect me. I'm just going to go out there and do what I have to do to win and try to be impressive, and we'll see what happens from there.

SBN coverage of Strikeforce: Houston

Strikeforce light-heavyweight champion "King Mo" Lawal spoke with MMAForReal.com's Matt Bishop and Forrest Lynn earlier this week on Lights Out Radio about multiple subjects. In this audio highlight, Lawal speaks about his love for professional wrestling, his entrance Saturday ("I got a robe that makes Ric Flair jealous," he said.) and if he were to be Booker T in an MMA version of the famous WCW tag team Harlem Heat, who would be Stevie Ray?

In this interview, Lawal said he'd leave MMA for pro-wrestling if he could become an MMA legend — someone who changed the game.

He also talks about how former amateur wrestlers like himself, Daniel Cormier and Joe Warren.

"The thing about having a strong amateur background, a world-class background, we get pushed a lot faster. You have people like me, Daniel Cormier, Joe Warren, we're learning on the job. Joe Warren got rushed. We're learning on the job. We didn't have a chance to fight scrubs. I had the chance to fight Mark Kerr in my fourth or fifth fight and that's coming off an injury. Warren fought Kid Yamamoto in his second fight, come on. Bibiano (Fernandes). He's fighting some monsters early in his career."

SBN coverage of Strikeforce: Houston

David St. Martin over at our parent site SBNation.com scored a big interview with Randy Couture, who will fight former boxing heavyweight champion James Toney at UFC 118 in Boston next month.

It's a big month for Couture, as he not only fights Toney, but his latest movie "The Expendables" is released into theaters, as well.

Here are few excerpts from the interview:

How do you feel about James Toney's comments hyping up the fight? He's really gone off the radar on some of the interviews he's done lately.

I've only heard stories. I haven't really watched or listened to any of it, and I don't intend to. It all boils down to fight night walking out there and doing what you've trained to do. That's all that really matters. The rest of it's just a bunch of crap.

I wanted to ask you what you thought about Fedor's recent loss to Fabricio Werdum. I know that's a fight you've been very intrigued by for years now, has that feeling soured since the loss?

I kind of got over that fight quite a while ago. The clock is ticking, so I cant spend a lot of time trying to facilitate that fight into happening. It didn't look like it was ever going to happen, so I kind of had to put that to rest and put it where it belonged. Just focus on getting back to competing and doing what I wanted to do. He's still a guy I would love to fight, and he's a great fighter regardless of his loss to Werdum. Everyone loses in this sport. Nobody is going to walk around undefeated forever. I think he summed it up best by saying that 'those who have never fall, will never stand up.' It was a pretty interesting commen.

Can you tell me about your role in 'The Expendables?' Was it a stretch playing him or did you fit right in?

I play a character named 'Toll Road.' He's a college educated warrior, basically, and he's part of this group of mercenaries. He's more of the cerebral type, but when push comes to shove he's perfectly capable and comfortable with breaking your neck. He runs around quoting Nietzsche and has a great mind, but at the same time is very physical.

I felt great about it. You have to find ways to relate to the characters you get to play. Put it in terms and in a context that speaks to you. Whether it's killing someone or whatever he's doing, find a way within you to tell the truth. I felt pretty comfortable playing Toll Road. I enjoyed his character and thought he was an interesting guy to play.

Check out the rest of the interview here.

Chea!  We in first place playa's and playette's!  We came in first place in the light heavyweight division for the UFC 115 event over on MMA Playground so congrats on opening up strong for this season.  Individually it was pretty tight as 11pts separated the top 5 spots.  SaevusAntistes68 held down first place with 65pts with mickdawdx81 and noahagenda holding down second place with 59 pts a piece.  Rrlawler held down the final trophy position with 58 pts.  

In the betting portion of the game Noahagenda took home first place with a winnings in the amount of $2,721.  Slickrick00 took second with a total of $2, 170, and 3PA took home the final trophy spot with a total of $1,765.  The final totals can be found after the jump.  It's not too late to join the game.  All you need to do is register an account over on MMAPlayground and drop your username in the comments section, but make your username the same as your name here on MMA For Real if at all possible.  If you are a part of another fight camp, just leave that camp and let me know you want to join ours. 

SBN coverage of UFC 115: Liddell vs. Franklin

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NEW YORK (June 2, 2010) - Can Scott "Hands Of Steel'' Smith, aka "The Comeback Kid,'' do it again?

On Saturday, June 26, at HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., on SHOWTIME®, Smith will attempt to make it two consecutive victories over Cung Le in a middleweight (185 pounds) rematch of one of the most incredible Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) comeback victories of all-time.


The eagerly anticipated return bout between Smith (17-6), of Elk Grove, Calif., and Le (6-1), of San Jose, will take place on an already-stacked STRIKEFORCE and M-1 Global fight card that features the world's No. 1 heavyweight and pound-for-pound MMA fighter, Fedor "The Last Emperor" Emelianenko (31-1),against two-time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion and top-ranked superstar Fabricio "Vai Cavalo" Werdum (13-4) in the main event.


The universally recognized No. 1 female fighter in MMA, Cris Cyborg will defend her STRIKEFORCE 145-pound belt against Jan Finney, marking the first time in history that both the No. 1 male and female fighters will compete on the same card.

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ST. LOUIS - MMAForReal.com's Matt Bishop caught up with Strikeforce middleweight Robbie Lawler following the Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery weigh-in Friday at Scottrade Center. Lawler discussed his upcoming 195-pound bout with "Babalu" Sobral and his recovery from his last fight.

ST. LOUIS — MMA For Real's Matt Bishop caught up with Strikeforce light-heavyweight champion "King Mo" Lawal on Thursday to talk about Mo's new life as champion, if his belt ever was stolen, if he'd fight Fedor Emelianenko and a bunch more.

SBN coverage of Strikeforce St. Louis: Heavy Artillery