NO HOLDS BARRED

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with lifelong martial artist, former UFC and Battlecade Extreme Fighting matchmaker, TV commentator, and our senior correspondent, John Perretti.

This is the 1000th show for No Holds Barred as a podcast, and we used this occasion to discuss the past, present, and future of the combat sports.

We spoke with John Perretti, who is in Kyoto, Japan, by Skype Wednesday (Tuesday, New York time).

"You've done a magnificent job, and there's nobody more informed than you. And we disagree not very frequently. Congratulations," he said.

We mainly focused on not only what has gone wrong over the past two decades and more in the combat sports, but what must be done right in the present and future. That, of course, led us directly into a discussion of the prospects for various styles of grappling and wrestling to succeed as popular spectator sports.

Referring to his landmark, if financially unsuccessful, grappling show in October 1997 called "The Contenders", he still noted the potential for grappling and wrestling, including catch wrestling, events.

"Being someone who promoted a catch wrestling-style with 'The Contenders', and the precursor of Abu Dhabi [Combat Club World Submission Fighting Championships], I've always thought that it was a viable alternative," he said.

And despite the fact that "it wasn't promoted properly and all the mistakes that I made that we've spoken about a thousand times, it did appear, even though no one watched it. It was real."

We discussed some of the historical lessons of our experiences in the combat sports, how catch wrestling has to grow while not being "absorbed" into the sleazy world that has ruined and corrupted so many of the combat sports, what type of organization catch wrestling will need, the need for rules which provide compelling action while avoiding the "snooze factor", and much, 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: 1000th show, catch, Contenders, Eddie Goldman, grappling, John Perretti, MMA, No Holds Barred, wrestling