NO HOLDS BARRED

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with Guillaume Huni, the owner and head instructor of the Kimura BJJ Academy Serbia, and the owner and editor of the news and opinion site BJJ Eastern Europe.

We spoke with him by Skype Tuesday.

While BJJ Eastern Europe is a relatively new site, it has made a major impact in a short time.

"It started about four years ago, 2012, I remember after the Europeans," he said. "I remember I had an idea about making a blog first, just to kind of promote the jiu-jitsu scene in Eastern Europe, because not many people knew what was going on here."

He began interviewing noted instructors in the region, and the site started to grow.

"Slowly but surely it became really, really big," he said. "And then I went to extend further in Eastern Europe. I started following BJJ news. So also I started covering other news from all around the world."

It has since become one of the major go-to sites covering BJJ and grappling.

His own journey to the world of jiu-jitsu and to living in Serbia was an indirect one. He had started training BJJ in Paris, becoming enthralled with it like so many others after watching UFC 1. After meeting his future wife, who was from Serbia, he moved there, began the site, and opened his own academy in Belgrade.

We discussed many of the issues facing jiu-jitsu and grappling, including how the "guard-centric" tendency is bad for these sports; how all the various grappling and wrestling styles and disciplines are just different forms of the same thing; the growth of Luta Livre in Europe and how its social base often differs from BJJ; how jiu-jitsu is slowly making progress internationally with the aim of being included in the Olympics; the enduring appeal of style vs. style matchups; why developing more major events like an international tour is important; the problems caused by rival organizations not working together; how submission-only rules help these sports; 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.

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:

The North American Catch Wrestling Association, a grassroots organization designed to help rebuild the sport of catch-as-catch-can-wrestling. For more information, go to their Facebook page at facebook.com/NorthAmericanCatchWrestlingAssociation.

BJJ Eastern Europe, for the latest Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu news, articles, interviews, competition calendar, European belt rankings, academy directory, and more. For more information, go to BJJEE.com.


The National Registry for Wrestling, whose mission is to increase wrestling's fanbase, to build a registry of all wrestling fans, to serve as a connecting point for all wrestling fans, and to provide TV and Internet listings for wrestling. For more information, go to NR4W.com.

Labels: BJJ, Brazilian, Eastern Europe, Eddie Goldman, grappling, Guillaume Huni, jiu-jitsu, No Holds Barred, Serbia

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman discusses this coming Saturday's welterweight title fight between Danny Garcia and Robert Guerrero, and the urgent need for tournaments in boxing, particularly in the welterweight and heavyweight divisions.

This Saturday, January 23, Danny Garcia (31-0, 18 KOs) faces Robert Guerrero (33-3-1, 18 KOs) for the vacant WBC welterweight title. This fight takes place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, and will be televised live in the U.S. on Fox in English and Fox Deportes in Spanish. This will be the first time the Premier Boxing Champions series (PBC) airs on the Fox network.

We spoke with both Danny Garcia and Robert Guerrero on their January 7 media conference call to get their views on how this fight will go, including their predictions.

With the retirement of Floyd Mayweather and the loss by Wladimir Klitschko to Tyson Fury, both the welterweight and heavyweight divisions are wide open right now. Yet boxing's Wild West anarchy of rival and uncooperative TV networks, promoters, and sanctioning bodies make it very difficult if not impossible for one fighter in each division to emerge as the universally-recognized champion. We discuss why tournaments are especially important now, why the PBC in particular needs to feature them in order to build up stars and bolster mediocre ratings, the reaction to this past Saturday's Wilder-Szpilka and Martin-Glazkov heavyweight title fights, 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:

The North American Catch Wrestling Association, a grassroots organization designed to help rebuild the sport of catch-as-catch-can-wrestling. For more information, go to their Facebook page at facebook.com/NorthAmericanCatchWrestlingAssociation.

The National Registry for Wrestling, whose mission is to increase wrestling's fanbase, to build a registry of all wrestling fans, to serve as a connecting point for all wrestling fans, and to provide TV and Internet listings for wrestling. For more information, go to NR4W.com.

Labels: boxing, Danny Garcia, Eddie Goldman, heavyweight, No Holds Barred, PBC, Premier Boxing Champions, Robert Guerrero, tournaments, welterweight

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with Ken Reed, the sports policy director for the League of Fans.

League of Fans is a sports reform project started by activist Ralph Nader.

Ken Reed is also the author of the book How We Can Save Sports.

We spoke with him by phone Thursday.

League of Fans, he explained, is "an effort to look at contemporary sports issues." It is "kind of a sports policy think tank. We look at sports issues from youth sports to concussions to financing of professional stadiums, etc." They seek to "look at ways that we can enhance the positive and mitigate the negative. It's certainly not anti-sports."

Sports are hampered by "ego and greed and 'profit at all cost', 'win at all cost', and those types of issues. So those are the kind of things we try to focus on and limit those factors as much as possible."

We focused a lot on the issues of concussions, head trauma, and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). These are major problems which have not only endangered the future of sports like NFL football, but, he said, must be considered when deciding whether or not to participate in sports like youth football, both by parents and their children.

We also discussed how we expect the popularity of American football to decline over the next several decades because of these problems, how some sports without intentional head blows need to be modified to minimize the danger of head trauma, what we can do to fight for safe youth sports, and much more.

In addition, we open with a brief summary of some of the major issues about sports corruption which have been covered on No Holds Barred since this show started almost ten years ago, in March 2006.

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:

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

The National Registry for Wrestling, whose mission is to increase wrestling's fanbase, to build a registry of all wrestling fans, to serve as a connecting point for all wrestling fans, and to provide TV and Internet listings for wrestling. For more information, go to NR4W.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: concussions, CTE, Eddie Goldman, football, Ken Reed, League of Fans, NFL, No Holds Barred, sports, youth

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with martial artist and catch wrestler Qin Yunquan.

She is an instructor for women's and children's self-defense at the Kapap Academy Singapore.

She has also just been invited to join the new Singapore-based body image movement, Rock The Naked Truth.

We spoke with her by Skype Thursday (Wednesday New York time).

Before she was involved in martial arts and combat sports, at the age of 17 she suffered from anorexia, and weighed just 37 kg (about 81 pounds). Now an active freestyle and catch wrestler as well as a self-defense instructor, we discussed her transformation and involvement with Rock the Naked Truth.

"I was invited to the Rock the Naked Truth movement," she said.

"It was started off by Cheryl Tay, who is also a former anorexic victim herself, or a patient herself. The reason why she started the movement is that she wanted to spread the awareness that people should not be ashamed of their body type. People should not be ashamed of their appearances. Just be who you are, be comfortable who you are."

She continued, "Don't be subjected to people's scrutiny. I think that's the objective of Rock the Naked Truth."

We discussed how this movement helps both men and women to get in shape, to be happy about it, and to combat low self-esteem.

Qin Yunquan's journey is also a story with many lessons for all. She went from being, in her words, a "chubby" teenager, to becoming anorexic, to straightening herself out and finding a calling in martial arts and teaching women's self-defense. She also has wrestled as part of the Singapore national wrestling team. We discussed how her academy values every martial arts system, including the Kapap unarmed combat system, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, catch wrestling, and many more.

In addition, we discussed the upcoming March 20 catch wrestling tournament in Singapore, the grappling scene there, 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:

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

The National Registry for Wrestling, whose mission is to increase wrestling's fanbase, to build a registry of all wrestling fans, to serve as a connecting point for all wrestling fans, and to provide TV and Internet listings for wrestling. For more information, go to NR4W.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: body image, catch wrestling, Eddie Goldman, Kapap Academy, No Holds Barred, Qin Yunquan, Rock Naked Truth, Singapore, women's self-defense

Note: The link to a December 2007 article I wrote, 'It's Time for Federal and State Investigations of UFC Contracts,' no longer works, but it is still available on the Internet Archive. Here it is reposted, with the new link:

It's Time for Federal and State Investigations of UFC Contracts
Submitted by:E.Goldman / Sr. Editor
Posted on : 12/27/2007

The battle between mixed martial arts fighters and the promotional company Zuffa, the parent company of the UFC, is heating up, and very publicly.

Fedor Emelianenko, considered by most observers to be both the top heavyweight and pound-for-pound mixed martial arts fighter in the world, recently gave an interview to Sherdog.com in which he explained his reasons for not signing a contract to fight in UFC. He is quoted as saying:

"The contract that we were presented with by the UFC was simply impossible, couldn't be signed -- I couldn't leave. If I won, I had to fight eight times in two years. If I lost one fight, then the UFC had the right to rip up the contract. At the conclusion of the contract, if I am undefeated, then it automatically extends for an as yet unspecified period of time, though for the same compensation.

"Basically I can't leave undefeated. I can't give interviews, appear in films or advertising. I don't have the right to do anything without the UFC's agreement. I could do nothing without the OK from the UFC. I didn't have the right to compete in combat sambo competition. It's my national sport. It's the Russian sport, which in his time our president competed in, and I no longer have the right to do so. There were many such clauses; the contract was 18 pages in length. It was written in such a way that I had absolutely no rights while the UFC could at any moment, if something didn't suit them, tear up the agreement. We worked with lawyers who told us that it was patently impossible to sign such a document." (http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles.asp?n_id=10538)

Thursday's Los Angeles Times has an article reviewing the growing number of disputes between top UFC fighters and the Zuffa management. UFC president Dana White, commenting about the dispute which led now-former UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture to announce his resignation from that company, is quoted as saying, "You don't resign from a contract. It's a four-fight deal, and we're going to aggressively protect our rights." (http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-ufc27dec27,1,3824043,full.story)

We now have both a top fighter and the UFC president going on the public record stating that UFC fighters are essentially required to sign contracts from which they "couldn't leave" or can't or "don't resign."

Since being accepted as a legitimate sport by most state athletic commissions in the U.S., and with most promotional companies more or less complying with the regulations of these commissions, the business side of the mixed martial arts has largely escaped the scrutiny of government officials. While much needed attention by some of these commissions has been given to the ongoing doping scandals in MMA, and even though much more needs to be done to deal with that particular plague, almost nothing has been done to guarantee the rights of the fighters in the contractual process.

Now numerous major figures in MMA have come out in favor of the formation of a fighters' union, including both Randy Couture and the now-retired legendary referee Big John McCarthy (as he recently did on my show, No Holds Barred).

The time has come for both federal and state agencies in the U.S. to examine the legality of these UFC contracts. Even if they are technically legal, they also must be compared to the federal requirements for boxing contracts mandated by the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act, which was enacted in 2000.

While that act only regulates boxing, one of the selling points most MMA promoters have made for their sport to be legalized and regulated by the state commissions was that they were more than willing to comply with all the rules and regulations which boxing promoters were required to follow.

The Ali Act reads, “Open competition in the professional boxing industry has been significantly interfered with by restrictive and anti-competitive business practices of certain promoters and sanctioning bodies, to the detriment of the athletes and the ticket-buying public. Common practices of promoters and sanctioning organizations represent restraints of interstate trade in the United States.” (http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h106-1832)

In MMA, the situation is actually worse than boxing, as there are as yet no independent sanctioning bodies, and promotional companies like Zuffa do their own matchmaking, designation of champions and challengers, etc.

Of course, the state commissions have been disgracefully lax in enforcing the Ali Act, and efforts to create a national boxing commission of some sort to do so have not been successful.

For MMA, perhaps an appropriate time to examine these contracts will be the expected attempt in 2008 in New York to override a 1997 state law which outlawed “combative sports” such as NHB/MMA.

The issue of the relative safety of MMA has long been resolved by the public record of this sport in regulated events. Now the time has come for the political focus to be shifted onto the “restrictive and anti-competitive business practices of certain promoters” in MMA.

The alternative is to let the structure of MMA congeal into one far worse for the fighters than even boxing is.

https://web.archive.org/web/20071228231636/http://www.adcombat.com/Article.asp?Article_ID=14555

Labels: Eddie Goldman, MMA, Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act, UFC

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with Bellator MMA and American Top Team fighter King Mo Lawal.

King Mo is fresh off a major victory, having won the 2015 Rizin FF World Grand-Prix heavyweight tournament. To do so, he had to win three fights. On December 29, 2015, in the opening round of this eight-man tournament, he scored a knockout over British fighter Brett McDermott. Just two days later, on December 31, he won two more fights. In the semifinals, he defeated Teodoras Aukstuolis of Lithuania by unanimous decision. In the finals, he scored a knockout over Jiri Prochazka of the Czech Republic at 5:09 of the first round to win the tournament. This inaugural Rizin event was held at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

We spoke with King Mo by phone Tuesday.

His approach to this tournament, he said, was "to go out there and try to take no damage, have good defense, and get my takedowns" when he wanted.

On the advice of former UFC heavyweight and Pride Grand Prix champion Mark Coleman, who also was an NCAA Div. I wrestling champion and 1992 U.S. Olympic freestyle wrestler, he was able, under Rizin's rules, to fight while wearing wrestling shoes. King Mo said Mark Coleman told him, "You're a wrestler. I wore wrestling shoes when I won it. You wear wrestling shoes and you'll win it."

He also said, "I knew my boxing will be on point because I sparred with Michael Hunter," a 2012 U.S. Olympian who is currently 10-0 as a pro. "I sparred with Eddie Chambers," a former heavyweight title challenger. "I went to Philly for a day actually, and sparred with Eddie Chambers for 30 minutes." He also continued his training with Jeff Mayweather.

"I was ready, man. I was ready. I felt sharp."

We discussed each of his three victories in the Rizin tournament, as well as the Rizin rules, their use of a ring rather than a cage, and fighting three fights over three days.

In addition, we discussed how his plans for fighting in 2016 in Bellator and/or Rizin have yet to be determined; the wide-open heavyweight division in boxing with the Wilder-Szpilka and Glazkov-Martin fights coming up January 16 as well as the ascension of Anthony Joshua; his use of social media; 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.

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:

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

The National Registry for Wrestling, whose mission is to increase wrestling's fanbase, to build a registry of all wrestling fans, to serve as a connecting point for all wrestling fans, and to provide TV and Internet listings for wrestling. For more information, go to NR4W.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: Bellator, boxing, Eddie Goldman, King Mo Lawal, MMA, No Holds Barred, Rizin, wrestling

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with Jake Shannon of Scientific Wrestling.

We spoke with him by phone Wednesday.

2016 promises to be another year of advancement for the reviving sport of catch wrestling, with Scientific Wrestling and other groups already scheduling numerous events, training camps, and seminars. But the sport is still small and lacks strong organizations.

We discussed how to deal with this, and how also to prevent the type of corruption that is plaguing much of world sport today.

With these types of problems in mind, Jake Shannon said, "I've tried to treat catch wrestling as more of an open-source kind of endeavor by just letting anybody contribute, trying to keep everybody honest, trying to keep everybody upright, upbeat, and focused on the goal of promoting catch wrestling as a sport and participating and putting on events and things of that nature."

He continued, "My view is keeping the model kind of open-source, distributed, a loose federation of people all working together with like-minded goals and keeping each other honest, and that kind of stuff."

There were many highlights in 2015 for catch wrestling, most notably the match between the two-time East Coast King of Catch Wrestling, Thomas Velasquez, and the West Coast King of Catch, Travis Newaza, for the 2015 North American Heavyweight King of Catch championship. This match was won by Thomas Velasquez two falls to one, getting two pins after being submitted in the first fall. It took place December 12, 2015, at the North American Catch Wrestling Association event at the MMA World Expo in New York, and was the top catch wrestling match in 2015 (with video hopefully coming soon).

"If there is anything for me personally that marks catch wrestling in 2015, was everybody kind of just started to focus on moving forward," said Jake Shannon. "I'm hoping we can take that leverage into 2016 and really showcase the sport to everybody."

We also discussed the pressing need for catch wrestling to get good sources of funds and revenue; the important role of catch wrestling coaches like Josh Barnett and Wade Schalles, who will be conducting a series of training camps this year; how catch wrestling's rules of winning by pin or submission makes it attractive both to fans and to athletes from all grappling and wrestling styles and disciplines; the importance of the upcoming catch wrestling event in July in Humboldt, Iowa, which is Frank Gotch's hometown; 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.

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:

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

The National Registry for Wrestling, whose mission is to increase wrestling's fanbase, to build a registry of all wrestling fans, to serve as a connecting point for all wrestling fans, and to provide TV and Internet listings for wrestling. For more information, go to NR4W.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: catch wrestling, Eddie Goldman, grappling, Jake Shannon, No Holds Barred, scientific