NO HOLDS BARRED

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with the world's top-ranked MMA fighter in the women's 115-pound division, American Top Team fighter Jessica Aguilar.

Her next fight will take place Saturday, October 5, against grappling legend and MMA pioneer Megumi Fujii, in what is billed as Fujii's retirement match. This will be at the Vale Tudo Japan 3rd event at the Ota City General Gymnasium in Ota, Tokyo, Japan.

This fight will be a rematch of their bout in May 2012 at Bellator 69, in which Jessica Aguilar defeated Megumi Fujii by a close, unanimous decision.

Although Jessica Aguilar had been fighting for Bellator MMA and had a six-fight winning streak, Bellator recently decided to close its women's divisions and thus released all women fighters, including her. Now she is a free agent, and has signed a one-fight deal to fight in Vale Tudo Japan.

We spoke with Jessica Aguilar by phone Sunday about this fight and her career.

"This is the best fight that I could even imagine," she said. "It's bigger than the first time around. And then going back to Japan and for her retirement bout. It's just such a great matchup. And the timing is perfect. I'm a free agent now, so this opportunity is huge for me."

We also discussed the "honor" of fighting in Japan, why the Japanese MMA fans are "great" and "the best MMA fans ever", where she might end up fighting after this fight, the growth of women's MMA, her plans on returning to grappling competition, and much more.

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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.

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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/.

Labels: Bellator, Eddie Goldman, grappling, Invicta, Jessica Aguilar, Megumi Fujii, MMA, No Holds Barred, Vale Tudo Japan, women