Apparently, there's going to be some more black on black crime... or not

So, this blog's favourite fighter, Rampage Jackson, seems to have landed himself in the press again.

Thankfully, he managed not to hit anyone with his car this time.

It seems as if 'Page has beef with up-and-coming MMA star Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal. For those of you who don't know, Lawal is a young, flamboyant, America MMA light-heavyweight from Tennessee, with an amateur wrestling background, who's decided to kickstart his career by fighting in Japan, rather than suffering the slings and of smaller American promotions and UFC undercards. Stop me if this sounds at all familiar.

So, apparently Rampage and Mo were in a van a couple weeks ago, on their way to a Nevada Wal-Mart to do a signing for Cage Fighter, their mutual clothing sponsor. Then this happened.



Over the weekend, Rampage commented on the tiff in his blog, which can be read here. (My favourite part is the bit where he calls Mo "butthurt." I'm not even 100 per cent sure what that means, but I'm pretty sure it's a gay joke.)

Not one to back down from a fight, especially with someone who's way, way more famous -- and therefore press-worthy -- than him, Mo has snapped back, saying that Rampage started it, and that 'Page needs to stop picking out-of-octagon fights with youngsters like him and worry about his upcoming bout with former light-heavyweight champ Rashad Evans. He also questioned 'Page's tendency to take pot shots at other African-American fighters.

"He's playing himself. He keeps playing himself by talking down on other black fighters, and saying 'black-on-black crime.' It isn't funny. Black-on-black crime is so serious. He can joke about it to make a commercial, but it isn't funny. Vernon Forrest was shot to death this weekend. Black people are killing each other, and he's joking about that?"

(You can read the whole thing here. If this whole "black-on-black crime" thing has you confused, refer to my earlier post, here.)

My question is this, do Rampage and Mo not realize that they're basically the same dude? Right down to the shaved head and little beard? Of course they do, that's why they're beefing so hard. They occupy the exact same market space, and that's probably scarier than any rear naked choke.

Oh, that and Mo has his first fight on North American soil versus the 187 year-old Don Frye at the end of next month. I'm sure this little blowout has nothing to do with his desire to create a buzz around that.