NO HOLDS BARRED

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with wrestling and grappling coach and official, Clint Kingsbury.

After working since 2006 as the Domestic Development Manager for the Canadian Amateur Wrestling Association, also known as Wrestling Canada Lutte, and being based in Ontario, starting in July he will move to the Canadian province of New Brunswick to serve as the High Performance Coach at Lutte New Brunswick Wrestling.

He also has been a key figure in developing and officiating the grappling, Pankration, and amateur MMA programs for FILA, the international wrestling federation, and has been a FILA representative.

In recognition of all his work, Clint was awarded by FILA a Gold Star, its highest honor, at FILA's 2013 grappling, Pankration, and amateur MMA world championships in London, Ontario, Canada, two weeks ago.

But FILA has also announced that after this year's planned competitions, including at SportAccord's World Combat Games in October, they are shutting down their grappling and amateur MMA programs.

We spoke with Clint Kingsbury Wednesday by Skype about his plans and how he sees wrestling and grappling developing.

With FILA basically abandoning grappling and amateur MMA, especially just as these are rapidly expanding around the world, the people and countries who have been thus far been involved with FILA "don't want to just give up," he said in this interview.

"There is a band of countries that I believe that are going to stick together, and they're going to work as a cohesive group to try to create a new international federation that will hopefully carry on the grappling and the amateur MMA. Maybe separate, maybe together, I'm not quite sure."

He continued, "But definitely these countries are saddened that there is a potential loss of these styles, so I believe that there will be that unite, and they will come under one banner again and look forward for recognition with SportAccord and maybe the IOC one day."

We also discussed how the grappling, Pankration, and amateur MMA world championships went; his moving to New Brunswick; wrestling's battle to remain on the Olympic program; the present chaos in international wrestling with different countries using different rules; the growth of catch wrestling; and much, much more.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link doesn't work, please try another.

No Holds Barred is also available on mobile phones and iPads through Stitcher.

Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", which is also available on iTunes by composer Ian Snow.

No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:

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.

Beezid.com - Penny Auctions. Your #1 source for exciting auction shopping and outstanding deals on just about anything! Top rated, most trusted auction site online. Where do you shop? Beezid.com - Penny Auctions.

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/.

Labels: Amateur MMA, Canada, Canadian Amateur Wrestling Association, Clint Kingsbury, Eddie Goldman, FILA, grappling, IOC, Lutte, No Holds Barred, Olympics, Pankration, SportAccord