NO HOLDS BARRED

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with Victor Cui, the CEO of ONE Championship.

Only a bit under four years old but already established as both the largest MMA promotion in Asia by far and one of the largest in the world, ONE Championship has another ambitious schedule set for the remainder of 2015 and more plans for expansion in 2016.

To find out the details, we spoke with Victor Cui by Skype Saturday.

"We've been able to grow exponentially every year and to really tap the new markets," he said, noting the support ONE Championship has gotten from sponsors, governments, and media.

"This last half of the year is definitely packed. We announced our next six events," he said.

So far, this is the schedule for ONE Championship for the remainder of 2015:

ONE: DYNASTY OF CHAMPIONS (SHANGHAI), 1 September in Shanghai, China

ONE: ODYSSEY OF CHAMPIONS, 27 September in Jakarta, Indonesia

ONE: TIGERS OF ASIA, 9 October in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

ONE: BATTLE AT THE GATES, 7 November in Macau, China

ONE: PRIDE OF LIONS, 13 November in Singapore

ONE: SPIRIT OF CHAMPIONS, 11 December in Manila, Philippines

But wait, there's more!

"We've got several others that I'm going to announce in the upcoming weeks that we're going to add to that schedule," he revealed.

"So it's a busy, busy year for us."

Their most recent event, on July 18, marked the promotion's debut in the country of Myanmar. On that card's main event, ONE Championship's bantamweight champion, Bibiano Fernandes, who is known as a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specialist, successfully defended his belt with a third-round TKO victory against Finnish fighter Toni Tauru, ending the fight with a three-punch combination.

Their next card, on September 1 in the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai, China, will see the promotion's debut in that city, which is both the largest in China and in the world. On that card's main event, ONE middleweight champion Igor Svirid of Kazakhstan will defend his belt against the unbeaten challenger Vitaly Bigdash of Russia.

We also discussed the organization's growth, their building of "Asian heroes" and regional and national champions, how they navigated between the government and anti-government rebels in Myanmar, plans to expand to even more countries in Asia in 2016, and much more.

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

Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.

You can also listen to No Holds Barred via Stitcher through iOS or Android devices or on the web, at http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/no-holds-barred-with-eddie-goldman.

The PodOmatic Podcast Player for iOS is available for free on the App Store.

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:

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 AmericanTopTeam.com.

Defense Soap, an effective, deep penetrating body soap with natural antifungal, antiviral, and antibacterial soap ingredients. Defense Soap is the best cleansing body soap for men and women athletes who are involved in contact sports such as MMA, wrestling, grappling, jiu-jitsu, and judo, to help their antifungal, anti-ringworm, anti-jock itch strategy. Check out their web site, at DefenseSoap.com.

Labels: Asia, Eddie Goldman, MMA, No Holds Barred, ONE Championship, Victor Cui