NO HOLDS BARRED

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

After winning a unanimous decision on December 16 at Bellator 169 in Dublin, Ireland, against Olympic gold medalist judoka Satoshi Ishii, King Mo will be making a quick return to action, also on the road.

Last year he won the Rizin Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament at Rizin's two-day end of the year show in Japan, and this year he returns in the second round of the Rizin Fighting World Grand Prix 2016 open weight tournament.

His opponent in this round will be MMA veteran Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic. This fight will take place Thursday, December 29, at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. The finals will take place Saturday, December 31.

We spoke with King Mo by phone Thursday.

Despite the quick turnaround for this fight, he is confident that he will defeat Cro Cop and advance in this tournament.

"I'm just going to go out there and handle business," he said. "I got a game plan we're working on right now, implement it, and get that 'W'.

"If I can stop him, I'm going to stop him. If I have to grind him out for a few rounds, I'll grind him out."

As for his fight with Ishii, he said Ishii is basically a martial artist, and, "He's not a fighter. He's an athlete that fights."

We discussed the logistics of how it was decided after the Ishii fight on such short notice that he will be fighting in this Rizin tournament in Japan, how he is prepared to fight three times in two days if he goes to the finals again, what was billed as the final fight for Bernard Hopkins, and much more.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link does not work, please try another.

No Holds Barred is available at Google Play Music.

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 here.

The PodOmatic Podcast Player app is available for free, both for Android at Google Play, and for iOS 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 sponsored by:

The Boxing Tribune, boxing's independent media. Unlike every other major boxing website, The Boxing Tribune is not funded or owned by promoters, managers, or networks, and is fully independent and free to write the truth. For independent boxing news and views, go to http://boxingtribune-news.com.

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.

Labels: Bellator, Bernard Hopkins, Cro Cop, Eddie Goldman, Grand Prix, King Mo, MMA, No Holds Barred, Rizin, Satoshi Ishii

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with Jerry Millen, senior vice president of the Rizin Fighting Federation.

Rizin's next show will take place Sunday, September 25, featuring the opening round of their 2016 open weight MMA tournament. The second round will take place Thursday, December 29, with the finals at the traditional Japanese MMA New Year's Eve show, on Saturday, December 31. All these shows are scheduled to take place at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, with international television and streaming availability to be announced soon.

We spoke with Jerry Millen by phone Thursday.

Discussing this open weigh tournament, all of whose participants have not yet been announced, he explained that it will feature a mix of veteran fighters and potential rising stars.

"Cro Cop's fighting, obviously. We haven't announced his opponent yet," he said.

"Also, there's a bunch of young, up-and-coming fighters that we've signed at Rizin, and also from various promotions, who will be fighting. Jiří Procházka, guys like that, really strong, young MMA talent coming up, who'll be fighting on the 25th to earn a spot to move up to December 29th, which will actually begin the eight-man portion of the tournament, where Wanderlei Silva take place." After being the victim of a hit-and-run car accident recently, Wanderlei had surgery and is now rehabbing, he added.

"Cro Cop hopefully will move on," he said, setting up a potential New Year's Eve tournament final of Cro Cop vs. Wanderlei.

A key reason for using veterans such as Wanderlei and Cro Cop is to bring back the old fans of Pride, he said. Much of MMA, and especially UFC, are becoming "homogenized," he argued. "It needs to be fun again." At the same time, as Rizin strives to become "Pride 2.0", it will develop young fighters who may one day become the new Cro Cops, Sakurabas, etc.

In addition, we discussed the upcoming MMA debut of three-time world wrestling champion Miyuu Yamamoto. She is scheduled to make that debut on the September 25th Rizin event against an opponent to be announced. Also on this card will be her son, Erson Yamamoto, making it the first time in MMA history where a mother and son will be fighting on the same card.

We also discussed the prospects for seeing Fedor Emelianenko in Rizin again, how Rizin operates as a federation and cooperates with numerous MMA promotions all over the world, how long Dana White might last with the UFC under their new ownership and management, and much more.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link does not work, please try another.

No Holds Barred is available at Google Play Music.

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 here.

The PodOmatic Podcast Player app is available for free, both for Android at Google Play, and for iOS 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 Boxing Tribune, boxing's independent media. Unlike every other major boxing website, The Boxing Tribune is not funded or owned by promoters, managers, or networks, and is fully independent and free to write the truth. For independent boxing news and views, go to http://boxingtribune-news.com.

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: Cro Cop, Eddie Goldman, Japan, Jerry Millen, Jiří Procházka, Miyuu Yamamoto, MMA, No Holds Barred, Rizin Fighting Federation, Wanderlei Silva