‘King Mo’ evens score with ‘Rampage’ Jackson at Bellator 175

Bellator star Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal once again believed he had done enough to beat Quinton “Rampage” Jackson when their rematch of their 2014 fight went to the scorecards on Friday night.

The judges agreed with him this time.

Lawal, the former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion, won 29-28 on all three scorecards in the heavyweight main event of Bellator 175 in Rosemont, Ill.

The first round went according to plan for Lawal, who promised to take down Jackson early and often in the rematch.

Things changed in the second round when Jackson was able to stay on his feet and land several big punches.

“I tried to stick to the game plan, but everyone has a plan until they get hit in the face,” Lawal said. “In the second round, I got hit a few times. One time i was cross-eyed. I was seeing like four Quintons.”

Lawal was able to recover enough to grind out the third round on all three cards. He had to wait until the scores were read before he could truly exhale, a lesson he learned from the first fight against Jackson when Lawal was convinced he had won until the official announcement was made.

The loss snapped a five-fight winning streak for Jackson, the former UFC light heavyweight champion. Lawal has gone 9-2 since the loss to Jackson.

Also on the card, rising star Emmanuel Sanchez won all three rounds against Marcos Galvao a day after missing the featherweight limit at weigh-ins.

Heavyweight Sergei Kharitonov knocked out Chase Gormley in the first round and Noad Lahat submitted Lloyd Carter in the second round of a 148-pound catchweight bout.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-277-8028. Follow @adamhilllvrj on Twitter.