NO HOLDS BARRED

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with MMA fighter and U.S. Marine Corps veteran D'Juan Owens.

He is a founder of the organization Fighting for Uganda.

We spoke with him by phone Friday.

"It's relatively new," he said of Fighting for Uganda. "It's just starting to get off the ground. Things have really been rolling."

In short, "We're a humanitarian organization that travels to Uganda bi-yearly to teach self-defense, MMA, and jiu-jitsu."

We discussed what his trips to Uganda so far have focused upon, including both self-defense instruction and lectures about what to do and not to do in self-defense situations.

One of the key features of this instruction is that it emphasizes grappling.

"When it comes to self-defense situations, when it comes to one-on-one situations, grappling is by far, head and shoulders above any other martial art," he said. Besides making weight disparities less of a factor, grappling can serve the ends of neutralizing an attacker and then getting away.

"It's ultimately about getting away. That's how you win," he said.

"We always want to get into a dominant position from a grappling perspective. But we can neutralize and get away, more so than the exchanging of strikes, unless, again, that person is neutralized."

We also discussed more on the situation facing the people of Uganda, plans for Fighting for Uganda to get 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, fundraising activities, how this work is related to the Hip Hop Chess Federation and the Breakdance Project Uganda, and much more.

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Labels: D'Juan Owens, Eddie Goldman, Fighting for Uganda, jiu-jitsu, MMA, No Holds Barred, self-defense