When Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal was first contacted about his interest in a Bellator MMA heavyweight tournament to crown a new champion, the 205-pound contender didn't hesitate to react.

"Bellator knows, anytime there is a tournament involving heavyweights or light heavyweights, throw me in there," Lawal, a co-host of CBS Sports' "In This Corner" podcast, said on Tuesday's MMA episode. "I didn't need to ask any other questions about opponents or anything, I said just throw me in there."

A veteran of past tournaments with both Bellator and Rizin in Japan, the 36-year-old Lawal is "old school" enough where the opponent or weight class doesn't matter to him -- he just loves to fight. For money. In fact, he refers to himself as a "money weight" fighter.

But once Lawal saw the eight names who signed on for 2018's Bellator MMA World Grand Prix tournament, one jumped out above all the rest: Russian heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko.

"My main goal in this tournament is to win it, and before that, it's to fight Fedor," Lawal said. "That's my main goal. Fedor is a legend. I respect him, I love Fedor. If I couldn't fight him, I would reach out to his people and come to Russia to train with him for a month or have Fedor come to American Top Team [in Florida]. Let's train, let's bang it out, let's spar. That's me. But the best thing to do if I can't get that is to fight him. Why not fight Fedor?"

Emelianenko, 41, is scheduled for a first-round tournament matchup in April against former UFC champion Frank Mir in Chicago and, by the way the bracket is set up, wouldn't face Lawal (21-6) until the finals.

But just because his longterm focus is on facing Emelianenko (36-5), that doesn't mean Lawal is looking past his first-round matchup in April against current Bellator light heavyweight champion Ryan Bader in Sacramento. If anything, it has inspired him.

"I'm going to beat Ryan Bader, I'm going to punish him," Lawal said. "Trust me, I've already got things set up for my camp and I'm going to beat Ryan Bader."

Lawal, a former collegiate standout at Oklahoma State, has a bit of prior history with Bader when they wrestled in the quarterfinals of the National Duals in 2003. Lawal remembered, "I did my thing. I beat him pretty handily because we smashed Arizona State. It was not even close and we ran through him."

With his eyes on both Fedor and the elusive Bellator heavyweight championship (last defended by Vitaly Minakov in 2014 before he was stripped due to inactivity two years later), the Bader fight has Lawal inspired to throw caution to the wind.

"I'm just looking forward to having some fun and whipping some ass this time," Lawal said. "I've been thinking; I'm towards the end of my career but it's time to bring the dog out. It's time to be aggressive and be in kill mode. When I fight Bader, you'll see some wrestling and you'll see some hands, but I'm not going to back up. If Bader wants to stand and bang, we can stand and bang. I don't care. We can make it a wrestling match but my thing is, let's make this a fight."

One thing Lawal is hoping against is seeing his longtime training partner Roy Nelson across from him in the semifinals, should he defeat Matt Mitrione.

"I don't know what is going to happen with that," Lawal said. "I hope it's not Roy but at the same time I hope it is Roy because I want Roy to win. That's my boy, that's my sensei. I don't want to fight Roy."

Lawal, who won the 2015 Rizin Grand Prix before losing the next year via TKO to Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic, briefly shared his thoughts on the other three first-round matches in the tournament.

Chael Sonnen vs. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson

"This is a toss up, 50/50. I could see Chael wearing Quinton down with wrestling and smothering him and getting him tired. At the same time, I could see Quinton landing a good shot and stunning or scaring Chael into taking bad shots and capitalizing on Chael's mistakes.

"With the layoffs, they are on the same footing. Chael is a little younger and probably fresher but Quinton has that power. Chael has to be careful with his entrance level on his shots and be aware of where Quinton's hands are."

Matt Mitrione vs. Roy Nelson

"I actually helped Roy train for their first fight [2012 in UFC] and Roy knocked him out in the first round in Las Vegas. Mitrione's wrestling has gotten better and his jiu-jitsu has gotten better, but it's not good enough to beat Roy as far as the ground game.

"It's going to be interesting because, in the standup, I feel like Matt Mitrione has the variety advantage but then the power advantage goes straight to Roy. On the ground, the advantage is clearly in Roy's favor but then the size and the athleticism and the dimensions and intangibles are in Matt Mitrione's favor."

Fedor Emelianenko vs. Frank Mir

"Frank Mir hasn't fought much in the last three years. I think that he will be in shape, my only thing is what style is he going to come with? People forget he can kick and has a good karate game. He can throw a few good punches together, but his speed is an issue.

"The intangible in this fight will be Fedor's speed. Does he still have it? Honestly, we haven't seen it much in the past few years. I feel like Fedor and Frank Mir have the same gas tank. Fedor can be hit and he makes mistakes on the ground because he doesn't respect jiu jitsu. He has no respect for jiu jitsu. I don't see it going to the ground, I see someone getting knocked out. They both can land one punch but who would you rather get hit by? I would say Frank Mir.

"I think Fedor is the biggest wild card. Every dog has one good tournament left. I think Fedor, knowing this is going to be his last hurrah, is going to come guns blazing."