NO HOLDS BARRED

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with Ernesto Aguilar.

He is a writer and the program director of Pacifica radio station KPFT in Houston, Texas, and serves on the board of directors of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters, the oldest community radio network in the United States.

This past week, an article he wrote for the Guardian of the U.K. was published, called "Ronda Rousey makes $3m a year but most UFC fighters don't get what they deserve".

We spoke with Ernesto Aguilar by phone Friday.

"I've been a follower of mixed martial arts for a long time, and I think from the time I started to watch, I began to have some questions about it," he said.

"I grew up as a boxing fan here in Texas. Houston has been a big fight town for many, many years. George Foreman is of course from here, and so I've always been a fan of combat sports. And when I got into MMA, I was curious about what the outcomes and the futures for fighters were. It was something that's always been in the back of my mind. And thinking about the sponsorship deal and just some of the fallout of that, seeing the issues that so many mixed martial arts fighters are facing, not just post-career, but during their careers and having to figure out ways to make ends meet, and also just realizing frankly that when these deals end up happening, as we saw with the Eddie Alvarez contract a few years back, and that was a pretty lucrative contract, these contracts seem to tend to favor the promoters."

All these types of conditions have led to a brewing MMA fighter rebellion. This is seen in many ways, including numerous fighters filing class-action lawsuits against Zuffa's anti-competitive practices, and a torrent of public statements and interviews by fighters condemning UFC's new multimillion dollar sponsorship deal with Reebok as robbing the fighters of thousands and thousands of dollars of sponsorship money which up until now they have relied upon to a great degree as income, especially with the small percentage of overall revenue going to the fighters, a percentage which is far less than in other comparable sports, and even less than the historically corrupt sport of professional boxing. This Reebok ripoff has been a turning point in this incipient fighter rebellion, and there is now open talk of fighters banding together to form some type of union or association.

"You brought up this thing about class struggle, and about fighters getting organized," Ernesto Aguilar said. "This also is going to require, I guess in my opinion, that fans more actively push promoters to see the benefits of fighters being organized as well."

While fighters may rightly have a fear of retaliation from the promoters for trying to protect their long-term interests and organizing, fans do not.

"We as fans need to be pushing that envelope, pushing promoters to more actively step up and provide the labor protections that they should. And if they're not willing to, we need to ask representatives and politicians to get involved," he said.

We discussed the legal fiction that these MMA fighters under exclusive contracts are individual contractors; how there are comparisons between this fighter rebellion and the grape boycott and strike activities of farm workers organized by Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers union; why the UFC-Reebok deal is "a very bad deal for fighters"; the issue of traumatic brain injury in combat sports and how a relatively more dangerous style of fighting has been emphasized by MMA promoters than in the past; the role of many members of the media as shills for promoters; 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.

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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.

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Labels: Eddie Goldman, Ernesto Aguilar, fighter, Houston, inequity, KPFT, labor, MMA, No Holds Barred, Reebok, UFC, Zuffa

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with MMA fighter Fallon Fox.

Now 3-0 as a pro, her next fight will be Saturday, October 12, at CFA 12, in the highly-anticipated finals of the Championship Fighting Alliance (CFA) women's 145-pound tournament, at the BankUnited Center in Coral Gables, Florida.

Her opponent will be Ashlee Evans-Smith, who is 1-0 as a pro. From 2006 to 2009, Ashlee Evans-Smith was an All-American in women's wrestling and captain of the women's wrestling team at Menlo College in Atherton, California. After college, she trained in MMA with former MMA star fighter Eugene Jackson.

CFA 12 will be televised live in the U.S. on AXS TV.

We spoke with Fallon Fox by phone Friday.

Regarding her opponent's wrestling ability, Fallon Fox confidently said she is ready face her.

"If she takes me down to the ground, that's great. I'm happy. That's exactly where I want her to take me," she said. "My specialty is jiu-jitsu and muay Thai. So if I'm on my feet, I'm going to bang her there. If I'm on the ground, I'm just going to submit her."

We also discussed her training at the Midwest Training Center in Schaumburg, Illinois; how the bigotry directed at her by some as the first openly transgender MMA fighter is "irrelevant" and her focus is on this fight; the growing participation and acceptance of women athletes in MMA and the combat sports over the past several decades; 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: Ashlee Evans-Smith, BJJ, CFA, Eddie Goldman, Fallon Fox, fighter, jiu-jitsu, LGBT, MMA, muay Thai, No Holds Barred, transgender, transsexual, women, wrestling

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman speaks with MMA fighter Fallon Fox.

After winning her second pro fight by first-round knockout on March 2 on a Championship Fighting Alliance card in Coral Gables, Florida, Fallon Fox then gave interviews where she came out as a transsexual female. Born a male, she had gender reassignment surgery back in 2006, and the associated hormone therapy. Now 37, she is physically, mentally, socially, and legally a woman, and happy to be one.

A decade ago the International Olympic Committee devised guidelines for transgender athletes, and were followed by the NCAA for college sports in the U.S. The medical committee of the Association of Boxing Commissions in North America also developed a policy last year based on that of the IOC, although it is up to each individual commission to implement it.

Despite this seemingly being a settled issue in international sports, including the combat sports, her revelation of her status has been met with heated reactions, both from her many supporters as well as those opponents who have provided public displays of bigotry and ignorance.

We spoke with Fallon Fox by phone Friday about the ensuing controversy about her and her career.

"I really don't see why there should be a lot of hoopla about past gender status, but this is what it turned into," she said in this interview.

"It's frustrating, but I realize that in the end, I'm going to win."

She also patiently tried to explain her position to those who just are not educated on this issue.

Discussing her transition to becoming a woman, she said, "I did this to save my sanity."

As for the bigots and haters, "The people who have bigotry or hatred for me just don't know me. And if they knew me - if they really, really, really, really knew me - then they wouldn't fear and they wouldn't hate."

We also discussed her licensing situation with the Florida and California commissions. She explained that contrary to some reports, she does have a license to fight, and as a woman, in Florida. She also posted on her Facebook fan page a copy of what looks like a license which was sent to her by the California commission. You can judge for yourself if she is in the right in believing that this was actually a license and not simply a receipt, as a California official has claimed. That commission is currently reviewing, once again, her application, and is expected to grant her a fighter's license shortly.

She thus is entirely justified when she said, "I've done nothing wrong."

We also discussed her training and background since her transition, including her earning a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and competing in IBJJF and NAGA grappling events, and the ADCC Trials. She has been training since 2008 in MMA, mainly at the Midwest Training Center, in all the disciplines needed for MMA.

Also to answer her critics and to educate those who remain uneducated, she explained how she has much lower testosterone than those who were born with a full female anatomy, as well as less bone density and muscle mass than she had previously.

And we discussed when her next fight might take place, what she needs to work on in her young MMA career, for which organizations she would like to fight, a new documentary film called "Game Face" about her and other LGBT athletes being made by filmmaker Michiel Thomas, 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: Eddie Goldman, Fallon Fox, fighter, LGBT, MMA, No Holds Barred, transgender, transsexual, women

Labels: Eddie Goldman, Fallon Fox, fighter, IOC, LGBT, MMA, No Holds Barred, sports, transgender, women