NO HOLDS BARRED

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with grappler Matt Kaiser.

Based in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, he is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructor at Fierce Studio.

Representing Canada, he competed at the inaugural combat wrestling world championship held by the International Federation of Combat Wrestling (FICW) August 22 at the Spartak Stadium in Varna, Bulgaria.

At that event, he won a gold medal in the 74 kg division.

We spoke with Matt Kaiser by phone Wednesday.

His desire to compete in combat wrestling, like many people, was sparked by watching videos of classic combat wrestling matches from Japan in the 1990s, and searching the Internet.

"I had heard about combat wrestling, kind of informed and whatever, deep buried in the Internet," he said. "And I'd seen a lot of video from back in the day of some combat wrestlers, the most famous being Sato and Takanori Gomi and Imanari and all those kind of guys. It always looked like a fascinating, kind of quick style of grappling that I really excelled at."

He soon saw videos and photos posted by Sambo Steve Koepfer of the 2015 U.S. Combat Wrestling Team Trials, and contacted him to find out if there would be a Canadian Team Trials. When he was informed that there indeed would be and that they would take place in Montreal, he prepared to travel from his location in the western part of Canada all the way east to Montreal in Quebec.

"I couldn't miss it, so I scrounged some stuff together, and I made it out there," he said.

"And it was a great experience, absolutely wonderful."

At the world championship, in the finals, he won his gold medal by defeating American BJJ black belt Roli Delgado by submission with a guillotine choke. We discussed how his strategy for this match worked, and his defeating a BJJ black belt while he is still a BJJ purple belt.

We discussed how all the competitors at the combat wrestling world championship had earned their places through winning national qualifiers, and how he adapted to the rules, which reward takedowns as well as allow pins and submissions. These rules, he said, "stimulate the most realistic style of combat in a grappling tournament right now, which is why I enjoy combat wrestling."

The next event he will be attending will see him coaching his own wrestling coach, the 73-year-old Peter Richards, who will be wrestling and grappling at the 29th Don Jung Memorial Tournament and Folsom Weekend Event. This wrestling and grappling event is hosted by the Golden Gate Wrestling Club and takes place the weekend of September 25-27, with the wrestling and grappling at the Eureka Valley Rec Center, 100 Collingwood Streeet, San Francisco, California 94114.

We also discussed how combat wrestling has the potential to become a popular spectator sport, how today "there is no money in being a competitive grappler", his desire to compete at the ADCC world championships, and much, 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:

MMA World Expo. The mixed martial arts community comes to New York City December 12 and 13, 2015, for the sixth annual MMA World Expo, featuring two days of the Renzo Gracie Open 2015 no-gi and gi Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournaments, MMA fighters, seminars with world-class trainers, vendors, panel discussions, catch wrestling competition, and much more. The MMA World Expo takes place Saturday, December 12, and Sunday, December 13, 2015, at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City.

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 AmericanTopTeam.com.

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.

Gracie Tournaments, featuring regional, national, and world competitions in submission-only Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. For more information, go to GracieWorlds.com.

Labels: BJJ, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, British Columbia, Bulgaria, Canada, combat wrestling, Eddie Goldman, FICW, Fierce Studio, Matt Kaiser, No Holds Barred, Varna, Victoria, World Championship

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with grappler Denny Lenormand.

Based in the New Orleans, Louisiana, area, he represented the U.S. at the inaugural combat wrestling world championship held by the International Federation of Combat Wrestling (FICW) August 22 at the Spartak Stadium in Varna, Bulgaria. At that event, he won a gold medal in the 68 kg division, winning both of his matches by ankle lock submission.

We spoke with Denny Lenormand by phone Thursday.

His first match was against Matthew Camilleri of Malta.

"Recently I've sustained a knee injury, so I wanted to get in there and just get in and get out before I was able to, so I wasn't able to be submitted by just standing there. My knee was hurting really bad," he said.

"So I went in. I did something called a victor roll. It's something I learned from my coach, Reilly Bodycomb. It's a roll where you flip underneath the guy. And then I latched onto his ankle, and I ankle locked him."

In the finals, he faced Ryota Kodama of Japan.

In that match, he said, "He ended up sitting down on me, and then I ended up grabbing another ankle lock and finishing that as well."

We also discussed the rules of combat wrestling which allow high velocity throws and limit ground time according to the discretion of the referees, why combat wrestling can become a popular spectator sport, his background in break dancing and how this helped him become a grappler, his recovery from his knee injury, the grappling and wrestling scene in the New Orleans area, his training and work at NOLA BJJ, 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:

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 AmericanTopTeam.com.

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.

Gracie Tournaments, featuring regional, national, and world competitions in submission-only Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. For more information, go to GracieWorlds.com.

Labels: Bulgaria, combat wrestling, Denny Lenormand, Eddie Goldman, FICW, International Federation, No Holds Barred, NOLA BJJ, Varna, World Championship

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with Steve Koepfer, the owner and head coach of New York Combat Sambo.

On August 22, in Varna, Bulgaria, the inaugural world championship was held by the recently formed International Federation of Combat Wrestling (FICW).

Wrestlers from 12 countries competed in this historic event. Steve Koepfer served as the head coach of the 2015 Men's U.S. Combat Wrestling Team, which did quite well at it. Each of the U.S. team's five wrestlers won medals, including one gold, two silver, and two bronze medals.

We spoke with Steve Koepfer by phone Monday.

"It was a great tournament," he said. "I think for a first worlds, it was actually really, really pretty incredible. It reminded me a lot of the early days of grappling, back in the mid-'90s. There was a lot of excitement. Everybody there was really excited to be part of something big and new."

He continued, "It was a nice venue, but the guys could have been wrestling on dirt and been equally excited, because everybody knew that this was a historic moment."

The videos from this event will be posted on YouTube shortly and will be available to watch for free.

All of the wrestlers who competed at the combat wrestling worlds had made their country's team by winning a qualifying tournament. The competitors included many champions from freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling, sambo, and other disciplines.

We discussed some of the future plans for combat wrestling, including next year's world championship, which will probably be held in Europe. This event, he said, was "a great springboard" for future world, regional, national, and local tournaments.

FICW also held a congress there, making some important decisions about the direction combat wrestling will take. The congress decided to develop FICW as an "independent organization," he said, and will not seek sanctioning by any other federation. However, in some countries recognition by an existing federation (such as UWW, the international wrestling federation formerly known as FILA) is required by the government, so some arrangement of getting recognized but not sanctioned may be necessary. In any case, FICW plans to remain fully independent and hopes to "stay away from the politics of international sport." He also said that unlike many other federations, FICW plans to allow its national bodies some "freedom" to run their affairs.

We also discussed plans to have more athletes train under combat wrestling rules, a proposed Pan American championship for next year, plans to hold at least four tournaments in the U.S. in 2016 including a World Team Trials, how combat wrestling has a "hybrid look" when compared to other types of wrestling and grappling, how combat wrestling is developing internationally compared to how catch wrestling is, plans for developing certification for coaches and officials, and much, 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:

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 AmericanTopTeam.com.

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.

Gracie Tournaments, featuring regional, national, and world competitions in submission-only Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. For more information, go to GracieWorlds.com.

Labels: Bulgaria, combat wrestling, Eddie Goldman, FICW, International Federation, Ivaylo Ivanov, No Holds Barred, Steve Koepfer, Varna, World Championship

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with Steve Koepfer, the owner and head coach of New York Combat Sambo.

He will also be serving as the head coach of the 2015 Men's U.S. Combat Wrestling Team, which will be competing at the 2015 Combat Wrestling World Championship. This is the first world championship hosted by the recently formed International Federation of Combat Wrestling (FICW).

This historic event will be held Saturday, August 22, at the Stadion Spartak (Spartak Stadium) in Varna, Bulgaria. Video of it will be recorded for showing at a later date.

We spoke with Steve Koepfer by phone Friday.

Late last year, he was contacted by Ivaylo Ivanov, the founder and president of FICW, about setting up a USA Combat Wrestling organization, and also that there would be a world championship event this year. Now less than a year later, FICW has national federations in at least 17 countries on four continents, with the world championship this coming week.

"It's amazing how far he's come in the last year," he said. "I would say the majority of the work has really been done internationally with Ivaylo leading the charge, and behind him, with full support of [combat wrestling founder] Mr. [Noriaki] Kiguchi, Masa Yoshizawa in Japan, who is the head official for the new FICW. And he'll be also bringing the Japanese team over."

The 2015 Men's U.S. Combat Wrestling Team, which is composed of the winners in each weight at the U.S. Combat Wrestling Team Trial which was held April 11 in Lowell, Arkansas, includes:

100kg - Kevin Sniff. Westside MMA, Little Rock, Arkansas
90kg - Anthony Sansonetti. Team Renegade, Levittown, New York
82kg - Morgan Bracken. Criqui BJJ, Topeka, Kansas
74kg - Roli Delgado. Westside MMA, Little Rock, Arkansas
68kg - Denny Lenormand. NOLA BJJ/Rdojo, New Orleans, Louisiana

The rules of combat wrestling allow for victory by points scored by takedowns, throws, pins, and superior positions, as well as victory by submissions. The wrestling takes place on a wrestling mat and is overseen by a referee and officials.

Combat wrestling, first popularized in the 1990s in Japan by Noriaki Kiguchi, differs from other types of wrestling and grappling in that it is not a style, but "a set of rules," Steve Koepfer said. Because of that, it has attracted many athletes from various styles of wrestling, sambo, jiu-jitsu, judo, and MMA.

"Combat wrestling has no cultural ownership over it," he said. Thus, athletes from so many different parts of the world have joined together in it, and federations have been formed, in such a relatively short period. Also avoided are the "turf wars" which have infamously plagued so many martial arts and combat sports, he added.

We discussed the activity of this new federation, which will have its first congress the day before the world championship, as well as an officials' certification. One key issue the congress will presumably address is the direction and governance of the federation, including whether or not to seek to become part of the Olympic movement, which is more and more engulfed in scandals and corruption, and facing popular resistance from Rio to Boston to Oslo and elsewhere.

In addition, we discussed some of the problems facing the catch wrestling movement, how there was a very small turnout at the catch wrestling North American championship in Montreal in July, plans for developing a combat wrestling circuit in the U.S., and much, 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:

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 AmericanTopTeam.com.

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.

Gracie Tournaments, featuring regional, national, and world competitions in submission-only Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. For more information, go to GracieWorlds.com.

Labels: BJJ, Bulgaria, catch, combat wrestling, Eddie Goldman, FICW, International Federation, Ivaylo Ivanov, No Holds Barred, Noriaki Kiguchi, sambo, Steve Koepfer, Varna, World Championship

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with our colleague and correspondent Kid Peligro.

Our main topic was the 2013 IBJJF World Jiu Jitsu Championship, also known as the Mundials, which takes place May 29 through June 2 at The Pyramid at California State University in Long Beach, California. There will be a pay-per-view webcast of the Mundials on IBJJF TV.

Much of the discussion leading up to this year's Mundials focuses on the sensation who emerged with double gold last year, the heavyweight Marcus "Buchecha" Almeida of CheckMat. Now just 23 years old, among other victories, Buchecha repeated his double gold performance in March at the world's largest jiu-jitsu tournament, the 2013 Pans, winning both his weight class and the absolute division.

"He, kind of, came out of nowhere," said Kid Peligro in this interview. "It is part of his mystique, is he came out of nowhere last Worlds."

Kid noted Buchecha's defeat of two-time world absolute champion Rodolfo Viera in the elimination rounds of the 2012 Mundials.

 "He's a very different heavyweight because he's very fast and he's very aggressive. He moves a lot."

He also called Buchecha's victory over Leo Nogueira in the finals of the 2012 absolute division "one of the most exciting I've ever seen." After falling behind on points, Buchecha came back to win the match in the last minute.

We discussed which competitors may stand in the way of Buchecha repeating his remarkable accomplishments at this year's Mundials. We also discussed Buchecha's background, why it is unlikely he will be going to MMA any time soon, the future of grappling and the many organizations in the sport, the upcoming 2013 ADCC Submission Fighting World Championship, 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.

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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: ADCC, BJJ, Eddie Goldman, grappling, IBJJF, jiu-jitsu, Kid Peligro, Marcus Buchecha Almeida, Mundials, No Holds Barred, World Championship

Labels: Amateur MMA, Clint Kingsbury, Eddie Goldman, FILA, grappling, Larry Papadopoulos, Laura Edler-Hill, No Holds Barred, Pankration, Rich Tado, World Championship