NO HOLDS BARRED

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman discusses the new film "Concussion", a dramatization of the battles of Dr. Bennet Omalu to bring to public attention the connections between head trauma, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), and NFL football.

In this film, Dr. Omalu is very ably played by Will Smith.

This stunning film, which is a must-see, premieres in the U.S. December 25.

Everybody in America, and everwhere else when it comes out, should see this film.

Dr. Omalu also recently wrote an opinion piece entitled "Don't Let Kids Play Football".

Also discussed are the establishment of the Bennet Omalu Foundation, which aims to fund research, raise awareness, provide care, and find cures for people suffering from CTE and traumatic brain injury; how this will all affect the future of the contact and combat sports; 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.
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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: Bennet Omalu, concussion, contact sports, CTE, Eddie Goldman, film, football, Foundation, NFL, No Holds Barred, Will Smith

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with Jon Strickland of the Billy Wicks Foundation.

While coaching wrestlers and fighters, and after recovering from a series of injuries, he will be returning to the mat to wrestle on the card of the Catch Wrestling Alliance International Invitational: The Rebirth.

This event will take place Saturday, June 7, in Collins Court in the John Wooden Center on the campus of UCLA, at 221 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, California 90095-1612.

This invitational event will be held under catch wrestling rules, where you can only win by pin or submission. His opponent will be Canadian MMA fighter and submission grappler Adam Laporte.

We spoke with Jon Strickland by phone Wednesday.

Since 2008, he said that he has had about eight surgeries, while training other athletes.

"Now it's time to focus on Jon a little bit," he said. "I'm going on 43, so I don't know how much longer obviously that I will be able to continue to step out on the mat and do this. I certainly look forward to the opportunity, and am real appreciative for them having me out to do this."

He also explained why wrestling is so important to him, why he hopes that his young son will eventually wrestle but not compete in MMA, and the similarities and differences between catch wrestling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and no-gi grappling.

Another major topic was what catch wrestling must do to re-establish itself as a major sport. "We're going to have to work together for the betterment of the sport," he said. We thus discussed why a democratically-run governing body is needed for catch wrestling, and much more.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link doesn't work, please try another.

No Holds Barred is also available on mobile phones and iPads through Stitcher.

Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.

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:

ONE Fighting Championship. ONE FC is Asia's largest and most prestigious mixed martial arts event. ONE FC features the best Asian fighters and has initiated the ONE Asia Partnership Network, which includes most of the major MMA promotions and MMA gyms in Asia. For more information, go to their web site, at ONEFC.com.

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 http://americantopteam.com/.

Labels: alliance, Billy Wicks, catch wrestling, catch-as-catch-can, Eddie Goldman, Foundation, grappling, Jon Strickland, MMA, No Holds Barred, submissions

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with Jon Strickland of the Billy Wicks Foundation and head coach of American Carny Style Catch as Catch Can Wrestling.

Based in South Carolina and now retired as a wrestler, Jon has been involved with many aspects of wrestling his whole life. He started learning about catch wrestling in the early 1980s, later trained under catch wrestling legend Billy Wicks, and wrestled in college.

The non-profit Billy Wicks Foundation was set up to preserve the catch wrestling legacy of Billy Wicks and "to spread catch wrestling" worldwide, he said in this phone interview, which was recorded Thursday. It will be "working with underprivileged children here in the rural South and southern Appalachia, and trying to get these kids interested in wrestling, starting out at an amateur level."

Catch wrestling, he said, where you can win by pin or submission, is currently experiencing "almost a boom". There are more and more tournaments and people training in it than in recent memory, and more and more grapplers from many other styles, including Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, becoming interested in training and competing in it, he observed.

He also had been involved as a coach for MMA, but now focuses on catch wrestling and grappling. He had a fighter on an amateur MMA card in August 2012 in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, but that show was cancelled after a fighter named Tyrone Mims fell ill and was taken to a local hospital. About an hour later, Tyrone Mims passed away. His death was the second in MMA in the U.S. in 2012, and the second in South Carolina, which only legalized the sport in 2009. Although the coroner's report would say that the cause of death of the 30-year-old Mims was "undetermined", it was obviously directly related to his MMA fight.

Arguing that the current unified rules of MMA have actually "made it more dangerous by the way they've done it," he said that the current emphasis on striking in MMA makes it questionable to say that MMA is safer than boxing.

"I don't know what the stats are. I haven't looked at them. But personally, I do not want my son fighting in MMA. That's it. I would try anything I can do to discourage that," he said.

"It's not putting down these guys. I got a lot of respect for them. If guys want to do it, that's great for them. I just know I don't want my loved ones, my family, doing it."

We discussed the risks stemming from blows to the head and brain injuries in MMA, as well as why he prefers submissions to striking. "I prefer wrestling," he said.

He also noted that wrestler and trainer Farmer Burns, who trained world heavyweight wrestling champion Frank Gotch in the early 1900s and played a key role in the development of amateur wrestling in Iowa, has not received proper credit. Burns, he said, is the "Godfather of American Grappling", and should be recognized as such.

We also discussed how the growth of catch wrestling around the world requires that the budding catch wrestling organizations work together; why he would like to see more major submission wrestling shows like "The Contenders", which was held in 1997; why "MMA has peaked"; some of the history of catch wrestling, including the experiences of the old carnival shows or "carny wrestling"; the devolution of the sport of professional wrestling last century into staged shows; and much more in this lengthy interview.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link doesn't work, please try another.

No Holds Barred is also available on mobile phones and iPads through Stitcher.

Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.

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:

ONE Fighting Championship. ONE FC is Asia's largest and most prestigious mixed martial arts event. ONE FC features the best Asian fighters and has initiated the ONE Asia Partnership Network, which includes most of the major MMA promotions and MMA gyms in Asia. For more information, go to their web site, at ONEFC.com.

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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 http://americantopteam.com/.

The First Annual Liberty Bell Classic East Coast King of Catch Tournament, organized by the North American Catch Wrestling Association in conjunction with Scientific Wrestling. This catch wrestling tournament will take place Saturday, August 31, 2013, at the Klein JCC, 10100 Jamison Ave., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19116. No points! No politics! Only submissions and pins win! For more information, go to http://nacwa.weebly.com.

Labels: Billy Wicks, boxing, carny, catch wrestling, catch-as-catch-can, death, Eddie Goldman, Foundation, grappling, Jon Strickland, MMA, No Holds Barred, submissions