NO HOLDS BARRED

(Photo by Rich J. Hundley III/Showtime)

On this audio edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman speaks with boxers Luis Del Valle and Dat Nguyen, who headline the Boricua Invasion card on Saturday, June 11, and also analyzes the stalling of legislation to re-legalize mixed martial arts in New York.

Boricua Invasion I and II take place Friday, June 10, and Saturday, June 11, both at Roseland Ballroom in New York. Boricua Invasion I will be televised on ESPN2 Friday Night Fights, while Boricua Invasion II will be televised on Showtime.

In the main event of Boricua Invasion II, Luis Del Valle (12-0, 10 KOs), originally from Bayamon, Puerto Rico, will face Dat Nguyen (17-1, 6 KOs), originally from Vietnam, in a 10-round featherweight bout. We spoke with both of them at the prefight news conference in New York on Wednesday. We discussed the importance of boxing to Puerto Ricans, their careers and goals, and what to expect Saturday night.

While this innovative pair of boxing cards on successive nights and on two television networks is moving forward, legislation to re-legalize mixed martial arts in New York appears less than likely to pass before the legislature adjourns on June 20. We discuss some of the reasons why, including the negative image of gambling casinos and those associated with them in New York and the stubbornness of the near-omnipotent 67-year-old Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, and how supporters of MMA must continue this battle.

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The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", by Ian Carpenter.

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M-1 Global. Founded in 1998, M-1 Global has staged over 100 mixed martial arts events worldwide including the M-1 Selection tournaments and M-1 Challenge events, in Eastern and Western Europe, North America, and Asia. While discovering and developing the world's next generation of superstar fighters, M-1 Global's greatest asset is the number one heavyweight in mixed martial arts history, Fedor Emelianenko. Make sure to catch their shows from around the world, including on Showtime in the U.S., and visit their web site, M-1Global.com, and the M-1 Facebook page for news, videos, and live streaming events.

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American Top Team. Whether you're a beginner or a champion, train with the champions in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, boxing, wrestling, grappling, and mixed martial arts at American Top Team. Check out their web site at http://americantopteam.com/.

The American Sambo Association, which is committed to becoming the premier association in the U.S. dedicated to the advancement of Sambo. Sambo is a form of sport, self-defense, and combat established in the former Soviet Union during the early twentieth century. For more information, go to ussambo.com.