Strikeforce
Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal still battling staph infection, underwent seventh surgery this week
Feb 29, 2012 - 10:15:14 AM Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal still battling staph infection, underwent seventh surgery this week

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal's battle with staph infection isn't done just yet. The former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion nearly lost his leg to the infection following ACL surgery in January, and he's had to have several procedures since to try to clear it out.

Additionally, he's had a peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) line pumping antibiotics into his system 24-hours a day. However, on Monday, Lawal had to undergo a seventh procedure on Monday, and he's now been switched to a twice a day antibiotic regimen.

"I'm just trying to stay positive and hoping this medicine works," Lawal said in an interview with MMAjunkie.com. "If this medicine works, I can't wait to get back in the cage."

Lawal believes the anesthesia needed for his surgery made him more susceptible to infection, and that's what contributed to how badly this hit him.

"I naturally have a low white-blood-cell count, which most black athletes do, and I guess that with the anesthesia made my system worse," he said. "They say anesthesiology helps cause infection because it lowers your white-blood-cell count and your immune system."

Finally, Lawal cleared up rumors that he had been in financial peril because of these medical issues. He had a prior health plan that had superseded the UFC's injury insurance, because the knee injury was a preexisting condition. That meant that his out of pocket expenses were only $1,400 of an initial $96,000, and one of his sponsors in MMA Elite has helped him through financially as well.

"I've got it taken care of," he said. "People make it seem like I've got $100,000 in debt, but it's not true. I made sure I had a plan going into this thing..."

Penick's Analysis: It's good to hear that he's not stuck in serious debt because of these medical bills, but that doesn't mean he's not in a rough spot. Seven surgeries in a month is a really rough series to go through, and with him being hooked up to machines continuously and having to keep fighting this infection it's been a rough month for him. Hopefully he can make his recovery quickly from here, and hopefully this can be the last of the surgeries he'll need to undergo for this issue.