NO HOLDS BARRED

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with Jon Strickland of the Billy Wicks Foundation.

While coaching wrestlers and fighters, and after recovering from a series of injuries, he will be returning to the mat to wrestle on the card of the Catch Wrestling Alliance International Invitational: The Rebirth.

This event will take place Saturday, June 7, in Collins Court in the John Wooden Center on the campus of UCLA, at 221 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, California 90095-1612.

This invitational event will be held under catch wrestling rules, where you can only win by pin or submission. His opponent will be Canadian MMA fighter and submission grappler Adam Laporte.

We spoke with Jon Strickland by phone Wednesday.

Since 2008, he said that he has had about eight surgeries, while training other athletes.

"Now it's time to focus on Jon a little bit," he said. "I'm going on 43, so I don't know how much longer obviously that I will be able to continue to step out on the mat and do this. I certainly look forward to the opportunity, and am real appreciative for them having me out to do this."

He also explained why wrestling is so important to him, why he hopes that his young son will eventually wrestle but not compete in MMA, and the similarities and differences between catch wrestling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and no-gi grappling.

Another major topic was what catch wrestling must do to re-establish itself as a major sport. "We're going to have to work together for the betterment of the sport," he said. We thus discussed why a democratically-run governing body is needed for catch wrestling, and much more.

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Labels: alliance, Billy Wicks, catch wrestling, catch-as-catch-can, Eddie Goldman, Foundation, grappling, Jon Strickland, MMA, No Holds Barred, submissions