Monday, January 23, 2012
No Holds Barred: King Mo Lawal and Mike Kogan Discuss Steroids and Supplements
On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman speaks with mixed martial arts fighter and former elite freestyle and college wrestler "King" Mo Lawal, and his manager, Mike Kogan.
On Tuesday, January 17, the Nevada State Athletic Commission announced that "King" Mo has tested positive for the banned steroid drostanolone, also known as Masteron, following his January 7 Strikeforce fight, a TKO victory over Lorenz Larkin. Since then, both "King" Mo and Mike Kogan have maintained that he has never knowingly taken any performance enhancing drug.
After carefully reviewing the supplements he had been taking, all purchased through public retailers, and investigating the history of all of them, they now believe that this positive drug test was the result of taking a mislabeled over-the-counter supplement. They plan to name publicly this supplement as soon as possible.
We spoke with both "King" Mo Lawal and Mike Kogan by phone late Sunday night about this terrible situation. They stressed that they have nothing to hide, want to be one hundred percent transparent, and will abide by the decision of the Nevada State Athletic Commission when they have a hearing on this matter, which will probably be in March. "King" Mo described how this mess has affected him, although he said that the outpouring of support for him and his background in wrestling have helped him get through this. He also said that he is willing to work with VADA, the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association, which conducts random and unannounced urine and blood tests of athletes, unlike the weaker testing done by the various athletic commissions. We discussed what could be done to deal with this problem of unregulated supplements being so widely available, the need for some type of independent certification and testing of these supplements, what fight promotions can do in the battle against doping, and more.
In addition, we open with a commentary on one of the key sources of this problem: the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA), which prohibits the U.S. Food and Drug Administration from testing and approving these types of supplements before they reach the market. This law, passed by politicians of both major U.S. political parties following extensive lobbying by the supplement industry, never should have been passed and needs to be changed now before it does any more harm to the public, athletes of course included.
You can play or download No Holds Barred here. You can also download No Holds Barred here. If one link does not work, please try another. The show is in MP3 format, so may take some time to download.
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", by Ian Carpenter.
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/.
Labels: doping, drugs, Eddie Goldman, King Mo Lawal, Mike Kogan, MMA, No Holds Barred, PED, steroids
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
No Holds Barred: Mike Kogan of FEG USA
On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman speaks with Mike Kogan, Director of FEG USA.
FEG (Fighting and Entertainment Group) is a worldwide combat sports organization based in Japan, and the parent company of the K-1 kickboxing and Dream mixed martial arts promotions.
Last week at a news conference in Tokyo, what may become one of the most significant developments in the world in the combat sports was revealed.
At this news conference, FEG Inc. Director and CEO Sadaharu Tanikawa announced a partnership with the Shanghai-based investment bank Puji Capitals. He said its purpose is to "win in the world market and become the world's greatest fight sport company. To recreate or even eclipse the success of soccer's World Cup, we will bring in investors from all over the world and partner with businesses all over the world. We have formed a business entity called an SPV (special purpose vehicle) in order to create an organization like soccer's FIFA and to take the UFC and WWE head on."
Also at this news conference, Dream Event Producer Keiichi Sasahara said, "When you think of international standard in fightsport UFC may come to mind, but we plan to replace them in that respect. The numbers 20 or 30 billion have been mentioned and I think fighting sport definitely has that kind of potential. I'm sure the fans are wondering what kind of effect the partnership will have on K-1 and Dream."
We spoke with Mike Kogan Tuesday afternoon by phone to find out more specifics about what this will all mean for the combat sports. In a lengthy and candid interview, he explained how this new partnership will benefit both K-1 and Dream, but also how it will affect them differently, as K-1 already has a large international presence while Dream needs mainly to focus on Japan. He elaborated on these plans to hold a version of the World Cup, which for now will be for K-1. He presented his views on the structure of mixed martial arts, and why mixed martial arts is not a sport but "a promoter-driven fight entertainment."
We went into depth on the plans of FEG to "become the world's greatest fight sport company" and what this means for both K-1 and Dream, for Japan, North America, and the rest of the world, and much more.
You can play or download No Holds Barred here. You can also download No Holds Barred here. If one link does not work, please try another. The show is in MP3 format, so may take some time to download.
The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", by Ian Carpenter.
Make sure to visit the official boxing forum for No Holds Barred, the MySpace Boxing Forum.
No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:
BJJMart.com, your premier source for all Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gear, videos, books, and much more.
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/.
Bragging Rights Corner, for news and always independent opinion about the sport and business of boxing. Check out their web site at http://www.braggingrightscorner.com.
FightBeat.com, for news, results, interviews, and free exclusive videos from the worlds of boxing and mixed martial arts.
FEG (Fighting and Entertainment Group) is a worldwide combat sports organization based in Japan, and the parent company of the K-1 kickboxing and Dream mixed martial arts promotions.
Last week at a news conference in Tokyo, what may become one of the most significant developments in the world in the combat sports was revealed.
At this news conference, FEG Inc. Director and CEO Sadaharu Tanikawa announced a partnership with the Shanghai-based investment bank Puji Capitals. He said its purpose is to "win in the world market and become the world's greatest fight sport company. To recreate or even eclipse the success of soccer's World Cup, we will bring in investors from all over the world and partner with businesses all over the world. We have formed a business entity called an SPV (special purpose vehicle) in order to create an organization like soccer's FIFA and to take the UFC and WWE head on."
Also at this news conference, Dream Event Producer Keiichi Sasahara said, "When you think of international standard in fightsport UFC may come to mind, but we plan to replace them in that respect. The numbers 20 or 30 billion have been mentioned and I think fighting sport definitely has that kind of potential. I'm sure the fans are wondering what kind of effect the partnership will have on K-1 and Dream."
We spoke with Mike Kogan Tuesday afternoon by phone to find out more specifics about what this will all mean for the combat sports. In a lengthy and candid interview, he explained how this new partnership will benefit both K-1 and Dream, but also how it will affect them differently, as K-1 already has a large international presence while Dream needs mainly to focus on Japan. He elaborated on these plans to hold a version of the World Cup, which for now will be for K-1. He presented his views on the structure of mixed martial arts, and why mixed martial arts is not a sport but "a promoter-driven fight entertainment."
We went into depth on the plans of FEG to "become the world's greatest fight sport company" and what this means for both K-1 and Dream, for Japan, North America, and the rest of the world, and much more.
You can play or download No Holds Barred here. You can also download No Holds Barred here. If one link does not work, please try another. The show is in MP3 format, so may take some time to download.
The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", by Ian Carpenter.
Make sure to visit the official boxing forum for No Holds Barred, the MySpace Boxing Forum.
No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:
BJJMart.com, your premier source for all Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gear, videos, books, and much more.
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/.
Bragging Rights Corner, for news and always independent opinion about the sport and business of boxing. Check out their web site at http://www.braggingrightscorner.com.
FightBeat.com, for news, results, interviews, and free exclusive videos from the worlds of boxing and mixed martial arts.
Labels: Dream, Eddie Goldman, FEG, K-1, Mike Kogan, No Holds Barred
