NO HOLDS BARRED

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with American MMA fighter Brock Larson.

Riding a four-fight winning streak, including bouts in the middleweight and welterweight divisions, his next fight will be for the inaugural ONE FC welterweight championship. His opponent will be the Japanese fighter Nobutatsu Suzuki.

This fight will headline the ten-fight ONE FC: War Of Nations card on Friday, March 14. It will be held at the Stadium Negara in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. ONE FC: War Of Nations will be televised live in Asia on Star Sports, and will be streamed live to the rest of the world as an online pay-per-view for just US$9.99, at http://www.onefc.livesport.tv.

Brock Larson is known primarily as a grappler, and won his previous fight in ONE FC by unanimous decision over the dangerous kickboxer and MMA fighter Melvin Manhoef last April.

Nobutatsu Suzuki is known primarily as a striker, and won his ONE FC debut last May with a first-round TKO over veteran MMA fighter Phil Baroni.

Thus, the Brock Larson-Nobutatsu Suzuki title fight has all the makings of a classic grappler vs. striker battle.

We spoke with Brock Larson by phone Thursday.

Speaking about fighting in Asia, the Minnesota-based fighter said, "The culture over there is so much different. It's a little refreshing, just in the sense that it's just different. I've fought the same place for so long, and it's kind of nice to go and get a kind of a new look. With the rules and everything, it just kind of re-energizes me a little bit, with all the knees on the ground and the stomps, and everything kind of takes a little bit of the cheaps out of it, as far as everything in the States go, and makes it a little more real, forces you to pay attention more and keep moving. You can't just sit there."

He continued, "Asian fans are top-notch, and Matt Hume is a really good guy. And being the matchmaker over there, I think they hit a home run with him. And I just think altogether they put together a pretty good program over there."

We also discussed his upcoming fight with Nobutatsu Suzuki and why he expects to win, his previous fight with Melvin Manhoef, the role of grappling in MMA, the possibility of a future fight with the unbeaten Ben Askren, his training at American Top Team, 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.

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: Brock Larson, Eddie Goldman, grappling, Malaysia, MMA, No Holds Barred, Nobutatsu Suzuki, One FC, War Of Nations