NO HOLDS BARRED

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman speaks with one of the legends of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Rodrigo "Comprido" Medeiros.

In 1999 and 2000, Comprido won the black belt absolute division in the Mundials, the jiu-jitsu world championships, and owns the record of the fastest submission in a black belt final. He now is primarily instructing other athletes at the FLO Mixed Martial Arts academy in Palatine, Illinois, near Chicago.

Comprido recently joined a growing number of people in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu who are calling for the institution of drug testing in that sport to combat cheating. He particularly gained much attention addressing this issue squarely in his "Open letter to all practitioners of BJJ".

We spoke with Comprido Monday afternoon by Skype about his open letter and this important issue. He explained how he actually witnessed an athlete die from steroids during the 2000 Mundials. He believes that steroid use in jiu-jitsu is still a major problem, and he wants this martial art and sport cleaned up. We discussed why this is essential for the health of the athletes, for making the sport fair, and for setting an example for the youth. We discussed how the athletes, fans, media, and everyone else must speak up on this issue, and much more.

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