After a tough loss in his last fight, Muhammed Lawal announced it was time for him to move to the middleweight division.

And yet, here Lawal (21-7 MMA, 10-5 BMMA) is, preparing to meet Liam McGeary (12-3 MMA, 9-3 BMMA) in a light heavyweight bout at Bellator’s debut event in Hawaii.

So how, exactly, did we get here? Lawal explains – as best as he can, anyway.

“It’s crazy because Bellator hit me up, and they were like, ‘You’re going to fight Liam, I think Oct. 30, or Nov. 30,’ so I’m like, ‘Cool, whatever. All right,’” Lawal this week told MMAjunkie Radio. “Then, they said, ‘Hey, Mo, things changed. Could you fight (Lyoto Machida) at 195 or 190?’ And I was like, ‘Cool! When?’ They’re like ‘Dec. 15.’

“I was like, ‘OK, that’d be kind of tough, because I’m fighting Liam two weeks before. But, you know what? I can weigh in right, fight Liam, beat him, and then cut the rest of the weight down.’ And they’re like, ‘Well, no, we’re just going to move your fight to Dec. 15.’”

Whatever the process behind the scenes was, fact is that Machida ended up paired with former Bellator middleweight champion Rafael Carvalho in the co-headliner in Hawaii.

And “King Mo,” who comes off a loss to Ryan Bader at Bellator 199, got re-booked against McGeary after a planned Bellator 185 meeting fell through due to injury. Bellator’s Hawaiian debut takes place Dec. 15 at Neal S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu. The card streams on DAZN.

Whatever happens, there are reasons why an eventual descent to middleweight could be of interest for Lawal. After all, he happens to have history with the division’s current champion, Gegard Mousasi. “King Mo” took a decision over Mousasi back in 2010 under the defunct Strikeforce banner, and the champ has already expressed interest in a rematch.

Gallery Photos: Best of Muhammed 'King Mo' Lawal view 21 images

Would that interest Lawal at all?

“I’d definitely love to fight Mousasi again,” Lawal said. “He’s hot. He’s on fire, man. But I’ve just got to make sure I can make this weight.”

The good news is that Lawal thinks he can hit the 185-pound mark. He is currently working with a nutritionist, who’s running tests on his body, but says there’s still some fine-tuning to do.

“The weight is not where it should be, but we can make some adjustments to get some of this muscle off,” Lawal said.

Either way, it looks like Lawal has some options. He’s open, for instance, to the idea of returning to Japan’s Rizin “if they hit me up.” Lawal owns three wins there – including one over wrecking ball Jiri Prochazka, who’s been on a six-fight tear since Lawal dispatched him in 2015.

“I like what they’re doing with Kyoji (Horiguchi), they’re pushing Kyoji,” Lawal said. “I kind of like what they’re doing. It’s a different take to MMA. A different alternative. I like it, though.”

Lawal’s sole loss in Rizin it turns out, is against striking legend Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, who finished him in the second round of a heavyweight meeting in 2016. If you’ve been following so far, you probably know Lawal’s response to that idea.

“I’ll dance with anybody,” Lawal said. “Whoever wants to fight, we can fight. I got into this to get paid, to fight and have fun. As long as I’m doing three, or one in three, cool. I’m happy.”