NO HOLDS BARRED

(Photo by Paula Romero)

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman presents interviews from the Ultimate Absolute 2 grappling tournament, held Saturday, February 25, in New York, and previews the Arnold Grappling Championships, which will be held March 3-4 in Columbus, Ohio.

Right after his victory in the 16-man, single elimination Ultimate Absolute 2, which featured the lightweight division, we spoke with multi-time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion Celsinho Venicius about his latest triumph. We also spoke with Rolles Gracie right after this event about his first-round stoppage victory over Bob Sapp at the ONE FC card on February 11, and his future plans. And we spoke with Rob Constance (AKA Black Rob), the main organizer of the Ultimate Absolute, about the success of this event, and the plans for a submission-only, open-weight tournament in the next Ultimate Absolute later in the year.

For the first time, the expert or advanced no-gi divisions of the men's and women's adult divisions at the Arnold Grappling Championships will be held under ADCC rules and be a qualifier for the ADCC North American Championships later this year. We spoke by phone Thursday with organizer Brett Boyce of the World Grappling Circuit and ADCC North America about this important grappling event and its significance.

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ONE Fighting Championship. ONE FC is Asia's largest and most prestigious mixed martial arts event. ONE FC features the best Asian fighters and has initiated the ONE Asia Partnership Network, which includes most of the major MMA promotions and MMA gyms in Asia. For more information, go to their web site, at ONEFC.com.

DARE Championship. Based in Thailand, DARE is a mixed martial arts event where fighters from all over the world compete to become the DARE Champion. DARE is one of the first MMA promotions in Thailand, and has been televised in many countries and online. For more information, go to their web site, at DareFightSports.com.

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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.