NO HOLDS BARRED

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and grappling legend Ricardo Liborio, who is the co-founder and head instructor of American Top Team.

Now at age 48, he competed in the ADCC Stars Superfight on August 29 at the 2015 ADCC Submission Fighting World Championship, which was held August 29-30 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The ADCC Submission Fighting World Championship is the most important and prestigious grappling tournament in the world, and as always featured competition in no-gi grappling.

His opponent was fellow 48-year-old Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and grappling legend Ze Mario Sperry, who had defeated Renzo Gracie at ADCC 2011 and Fabio Gurgel at ADCC 2013 in those Stars Superfights.

This time, however, the result was different, as Ricardo Liborio, an underdog and giving up size, was able to emerge victorious in a grueling match which needed two overtimes to determine a winner by decision.

We spoke with Ricardo Liborio by phone Wednesday.

"What really differentiates Mario is his ability of wrestling," he said, knowing that this match would be very tough.

"And Mario's a very big strategist," he said. "He works a lot on people's mistakes. And especially when the people do the wrong shot, and he is very good at capitalizing on it. He goes for the front headlock, and the front headlock he spins to the back, and usually people don't take the pressure, or feeling pressed on the back, they pull guard for grappling."

Noting that this had been Sperry's strategy against Fabio Gurgel and Renzo Gracie, he said, "I trained a lot of wrestling. I trained a lot of wrestling. This is what's key for me. The reality is I trained even more wrestling than I trained ground, because I knew this was going to be something like this."

He elaborated on his wrestling training, which included working with, among many others, Mo Lawal and Steve Mocco, both of whom had been U.S. national champion wrestlers, and Antoine Jaoude, who had been a Brazilian national champion wrestler.

We also discussed more on this match itself, how this was an incredible "journey to get where I was," how training for competition after not having competed for many years benefited his health, plans to compete next year in a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu masters' match, how more spectators can be brought to grappling, why he thinks that No Holds Barred is "pure art," and much, 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.

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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:

MMA World Expo. The mixed martial arts community comes to New York City December 12 and 13, 2015, for the sixth annual MMA World Expo, featuring two days of the Renzo Gracie Open 2015 no-gi and gi Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournaments, MMA fighters, seminars with world-class trainers, vendors, panel discussions, catch wrestling competition, and much more. The MMA World Expo takes place Saturday, December 12, and Sunday, December 13, 2015, at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City.

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.

Gracie Tournaments, featuring regional, national, and world competitions in submission-only Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. For more information, go to GracieWorlds.com.

Labels: ADCC Stars Superfight, Eddie Goldman, grappling, Mario Sperry, No Holds Barred, Ricardo Liborio, wrestling