NO HOLDS BARRED

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with catch wrestlers Chris Crossan, Amin Nazer, and Flash Carter.

They will all be competing this Saturday, October 3, in the second event held by Legit Pro Wrestling (LPW).

Legit Pro Wrestling 2, also known as the Legit Pro Wrestling World Open, will be held at the Billingham Synthonia Theatre Suite, Billingham, TS23 1LH Stockton-on-Tees, United Kingdom. Video of the matches from this event will be recorded and later posted online.

We spoke with Chris Crossan, Amin Nazer, and Flash Carter by Skype Thursday.

Discussing the format of this event, Chris Crossan, who also is an organizer of it, said, "We've got a four-man tournament, a world open, with current world champion Nicholas Caggia from New Jersey." Nick Caggia won that belt at the catch wrestling open tournament organized by the Snake Pit U.S.A. held at the 2014 MMA World Expo in New York.

Also in this open tournament will be LPW U.K. open weight catch wrestling champion Amin Nazer, Lee Chadwick, and European grappling champion Phil Clegg. There will also be a U.K. light heavyweight title match between catch wrestler and former MMA fighter Ian Jones and British sambo champion Chris Hoban, and a U.K. heavyweight title match between U.K. combat wrestling champion Martin Jenkinson and Chris Crossan, as well as several other matches.

The format of these matches, said Chris Crossan, will be "no holds barred." All submissions, including chokes, are legal. The matches are two out of three falls and can only be won by pin or submission, with three seconds required for a pin. Each fall has a 12-minute time limit, and there are no judges, meaning that there can be draws if no one wins any of the three falls, although many matches have been completed in much shorter times.

He explained that Legit Pro Wrestling is open to anybody from any group or style, how LPW plans to run consistent events, the need for better organization in catch wrestling, how the worked "wrestling" of groups such as WWE gives real wrestling a bad name, and much more.

Amin Nazer was born in Dagestan, Russia, and his family moved to Iran when he was very young. At about the age or 9 or 10 they moved to the U.K., and it was there he started training at around 12 or 13 with Chris Crossan in many styles of grappling and wrestling. Now 20 and in college, he is improving as a wrestler, and we discussed this tournament as well as his future.

Flash Carter, also based in the U.K., is only 17 but has already built up a record of 3-0 in catch wrestling. At LPW 2, he will be facing Martin Wilby, the head coach at The Lab in Darlington, who is a pro MMA fighter and the current NAGA U.K. Champion and also U.K. BJJ champion at brown belt. Flash Carter plans to move to the U.S. next year, and to the wrestling hotbed of Oklahoma. Asked what attracted him to catch wrestling, he said, "It's no holds barred." We discussed his match, his future plans, and 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:

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: Amin Nazer, catch wrestling, Chris Crossan, Eddie Goldman, Flash Carter, Legit Pro Wrestling, No Holds Barred, World Open