NO HOLDS BARRED

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with Nick Garone, the president of X-Cel Worldwide.

The main topic of our discussion was the second annual Grapple at the Garden.

This event will be held Sunday, December 1, at the world's most famous arena, Madison Square Garden in New York.

For the first time in almost 94 years, when Joe Stecher defeated Earl Caddock on January 30, 1920, to win the world heavyweight wrestling championship, there will be real professional wrestling at Madison Square Garden.

In the main event of Grapple at the Garden 2, four-time NCAA Division I national champion Kyle Dake, the only wrestler to win these championships in four different weight classes, will take on another former NCAA Division I national champion, Bubba Jenkins, who was also a freestyle wrestling junior world champion and is currently a professional MMA fighter. This match will be held under freestyle wrestling rules and is being promoted in association with X-Cel Worldwide.

The co-main event, just announced, is a match between Frankie Edgar, a former UFC lightweight champion and Division I All-American wrestler at Clarion, and Phillipe Nover, who is the current Ring of Combat MMA lightweight champion and will represent the Renzo Gracie Academy.

The card also has numerous college wrestling dual meets, involving Army, Bloomsburg, Boston University, Cornell, Drexel, George Mason, Hofstra, Illinois, Maryland, Penn, Princeton, and Rutgers, as well as four local wrestling programs including Stevens Institute of Technology and NYU in an NCAA Division III matchup, and a match between NCWA men's club teams from Stony Brook University and Westchester Community College.

The card also includes the Renzo Gracie Academy vs. Team Joe Warren, with numerous MMA fighters such as "King" Mo Lawal and Joe Warren himself wrestling; top USA Wrestling senior clubs from the New York Athletic Club and the Titan Mercury Wrestling Club; a team USA vs. team Canada in two women's freestyle wrestling matches with 2012 world champion and three-time world medalist Adeline Gray of the U.S. vs. Canadian World Team member Erica Wiebe, and 2012 world silver medalist Helen Maroulis of the U.S. vs. Canadian World Team member Jillian Gallays; the finals of the Beat The Streets PSAL Thanksgiving Dual Meet Invitational in high school wrestling; and the finals of the inaugural Grapple at the Garden middle school championship, produced in association with the Metropolitan Wrestling Association.

The full card, which of course is subject to change, can be seen here.

We spoke with Nick Garone by phone Sunday.

"One of the things that is so exciting about this opportunity is the venue," he said. "The venue is just second to none. It's the Mecca. It's the most famous arena on earth, in the world. People know it from all around the world, from China, to London, from California to Maine, everybody knows Madison Square Garden."

The event is also aimed at a broad audience.

"We really don't want to attract just wrestling people," he said. "Wrestling fans are going to be into it. Wrestling fans are going to come out and they're going to support. We really want people to appreciate the great athletes that this sport produces."

As for the athletes, he added, "This is giving them an opportunity to make a little money in their own sport, give the sport publicity, and as well be a good will ambassador for their style of wrestling."

We also discussed that while many Division I college wrestling programs have been dropped in recent years, there has been an actual growth of the number of college wrestling programs overall, that the sport of wrestling is growing in the U.S. on the grassroots level, 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:

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Labels: Bubba Jenkins, college, Eddie Goldman, Frankie Edgar, freestyle, Grapple at Garden, Kyle Dake, Madison Square Garden, Nick Garone, No Holds Barred, real professional wrestling, X-Cel Worldwide

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with the only college wrestler ever to win four NCAA Division I national championships in four different weight classes, Kyle Dake.

Now that his college wrestling career is over, besides aiming to wrestle in the Olympics, he is very much involved in many aspects of the sport of wrestling. He is currently serving as a volunteer assistant coach at his alma mater, Cornell, as well as appearing at various wrestling events and wrestling camps, and preparing to compete in international wrestling competitions.

He will be returning to action in a freestyle wrestling match in the main event of the second annual Grapple at the Garden on Sunday, December 1, at the world's most famous arena, Madison Square Garden in New York. His opponent will be another former NCAA Division I national champion, Bubba Jenkins, who was also a freestyle wrestling junior world champion and is currently a professional MMA fighter.

We spoke with Kyle Dake by phone Tuesday.

"It's a great time to try to be a professional wrestler, because there's so many opportunities," he said. "It's unfortunate that when I say professional wrestler, 99 percent of the population thinks of WWE, WWF, things like that."

He continued, "I think of myself as a professional, I really do. It's my job to be the best that I can be. I don't think of myself any different than, say, a UFC fighter, or a basketball player, or a baseball player. I'm trying to reach the peak of wrestling."

We also discussed his full-time training at Cornell, the need for wrestling to adapt to what fans want to see, his preference for remaining in wrestling rather than transitioning to MMA or grappling, and much, 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.

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Labels: college, Cornell, Eddie Goldman, freestyle, Grapple at Garden, Kyle Dake, Madison Square Garden, No Holds Barred, real professional wrestling

Labels: college, Cornell, Eddie Goldman, folkstyle, freestyle, Grapple, Greco-Roman, Kyle Dake, Madison Square Garden, NCAA, No Holds Barred, wrestling

Labels: college, Coyte Cooper, David Taylor, Eddie Goldman, Kyle Dake, NCAA, No Holds Barred, NWCA All-Star Classic, wrestling