Mighty Mo (kickboxer)

Mighty Mo
Born Siala-Mou Siliga
October 8, 1970
Pago Pago, American Samoa, United States
Other names Mighty Mo
Nationality American [1]
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight 120.2 kg (265 lb; 18 st 13 lb)
Division Heavyweight
Style Kickboxing, Boxing
Stance Orthodox
Fighting out of San Bernardino, California
Team Aguirre Fighting System
Trainer Franklin Aguirre
Years active 2003 - present (MMA)
2004 - present (Kickboxing)
Professional boxing record
Total 3
Wins 2
By knockout 2
Losses 1
Kickboxing record
Total 40
Wins 20
By knockout 12
Losses 20
By knockout 10
Mixed martial arts record
Total 10
Wins 6
By knockout 4
By submission 2
Losses 4
By knockout 2
By submission 2
Other information
Children Mighty Mo Jr., Son
Boxing record from Boxrec
Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog
last updated on: December 22, 2012

Siala-Mou Siliga (born October 8, 1970), often billed as 'Mighty Mo'[2] is an American kickboxer, boxer and mixed martial artist, who competed in the Heavyweight division of Bellator MMA.[3] He is the K-1 World Grand Prix 2004 in Las Vegas II and the K-1 World Grand Prix 2007 in Hawaii tournament champion. In mixed martial arts, he has competed for K-1 Hero's, DREAM, and also participated in the Dynamite!! USA and Dynamite!! 2008 events.

Biography and career

Kickboxing

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.[4]

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.[5]

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.[6] As a result, Mo was the only American to make it into to 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.[7] 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.[8][9]

Mixed martial arts

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.

Dynamite!!

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.[10] 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 event in an MMA bout, in which Schilt defeated Mighty Mo in the first round by triangle choke.

DREAM

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.

Bellator MMA

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 10 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.[11]

Titles

MMA accomplishments

Hero's

Boxing record

Boxing record

Legend:       Win       Loss       Draw/No contest

Kickboxing record

Kickboxing record

Legend:       Win       Loss       Draw/No contest

Mixed martial arts record

Res. Record Opponent Method Event Date Round Time Location Notes
style="background: #ffdddd; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-no2" |Loss 6–4 Alexandru Lungu TKO (punches) RXF 15 December 15, 2014 1 0:52 Bucharest, Romania
style="background: #ffdddd; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-no2" |Loss 6–3 Alexander Volkov KO (head kick) Bellator 116 April 11, 2014 1 2:44 Temecula, California, United States Bellator Season 10 Heavyweight Tournament Semifinal
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win 6–2 Peter Graham Submission (cobra choke) Bellator 111 March 7, 2014 3 2:31 Thackerville, Oklahoma, United States Bellator Season 10 Heavyweight Tournament Quarterfinal
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win 5–2 Ron Sparks Submission (americana) Bellator 105 October 25, 2013 1 2:52 Rio Rancho, New Mexico, United States
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win 4–2 Dan Charles TKO (punches) Bellator 100 September 20, 2013 3 1:26 Phoenix, Arizona, United States
style="background: #ffdddd; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-no2" |Loss 3–2 Josh Barnett Submission (kimura) Dream 13 March 22, 2010 1 4:41 Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
style="background: #ffdddd; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-no2" |Loss 3–1 Semmy Schilt Submission (triangle choke) Dynamite!! 2008 December 31, 2008 1 5:31 Saitama, Saitama, Japan
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win 3–0 Ruben Villareal TKO (punches) Dynamite!! USA June 2, 2007 1 1:33 Los Angeles, California, United States
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win 2–0 Kim Min-Soo KO (punch) Hero's 8 March 12, 2007 1 2:37 Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win 1–0 Mark Smith KO (knee to the body) UAGF 4: Ultimate Cage Fighting October 12, 2003 2 2:36 Upland, California, United States

See also

References

External links