NO HOLDS BARRED

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

With a record of 1-0 in MMA and an impressive and varied athletic background in women's pro American football, track and field events, and other sports, she will be fighting Sunday, September 25, at the Rizin Fighting Federation event at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. International television and streaming availability will be announced soon.

Her Rizin debut will not be an easy one, as her opponent is multi-time jiu-jitsu and grappling champion and star, Gabi Garcia.

We spoke with Destanie Yarbrough by phone Thursday.

"To go against Gabi," she said, "I actually grew up watching her in jiu-jitsu, so it's kind of like an honor to go against her. But at the same time, she's my opponent, so I have to look at her differently. But being the underdog coming into this fight, people not knowing who I am or my background, is kind of a thriller to me because I like to prove people wrong."

She added, "I just can't wait to shock the MMA world, I should say. But this fight, it's a great honor."

We discussed more on her athletic background and training in combat sports, how she has retired from pro football and now feels physically and mentally ready to pursue a career in MMA, why she feels confident going into this fight, how she will try to keep this fight with Gabi Garcia standing, how she wants to become one of the best in MMA and re-establish competition in the women's heavyweight division, how this will be her first trip to Japan, and much, much more.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link does not work, please try another.

No Holds Barred is available at Google Play Music.

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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:

The Boxing Tribune, boxing's independent media. Unlike every other major boxing website, The Boxing Tribune is not funded or owned by promoters, managers, or networks, and is fully independent and free to write the truth. For independent boxing news and views, go to http://boxingtribune-news.com.

The North American Catch Wrestling Association, a grassroots organization designed to help rebuild the sport of catch-as-catch-can-wrestling. For more information, go to their Facebook page at facebook.com/NorthAmericanCatchWrestlingAssociation.

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.

Labels: Destanie Yarbrough, Eddie Goldman, football, Gabi Garcia, Japan, MMA, No Holds Barred, Rizin Fighting Federation, women

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with Ken Reed, the sports policy director for the League of Fans.

League of Fans is a sports reform project started by activist Ralph Nader.

Ken Reed is also the author of the book How We Can Save Sports.

We spoke with him by phone Thursday.

League of Fans, he explained, is "an effort to look at contemporary sports issues." It is "kind of a sports policy think tank. We look at sports issues from youth sports to concussions to financing of professional stadiums, etc." They seek to "look at ways that we can enhance the positive and mitigate the negative. It's certainly not anti-sports."

Sports are hampered by "ego and greed and 'profit at all cost', 'win at all cost', and those types of issues. So those are the kind of things we try to focus on and limit those factors as much as possible."

We focused a lot on the issues of concussions, head trauma, and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). These are major problems which have not only endangered the future of sports like NFL football, but, he said, must be considered when deciding whether or not to participate in sports like youth football, both by parents and their children.

We also discussed how we expect the popularity of American football to decline over the next several decades because of these problems, how some sports without intentional head blows need to be modified to minimize the danger of head trauma, what we can do to fight for safe youth sports, and much more.

In addition, we open with a brief summary of some of the major issues about sports corruption which have been covered on No Holds Barred since this show started almost ten years ago, in March 2006.

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: concussions, CTE, Eddie Goldman, football, Ken Reed, League of Fans, NFL, No Holds Barred, sports, youth

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.
.
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 investigative journalist, academic, and expert on match-fixing in international football, Declan Hill.

We have just seen the arrests on corruption charges of numerous top officials of FIFA, the international governing of football, the world's most popular sport, which is known as soccer in North America and elsewhere. More arrests and indictments are expected, all of which has led to the resignation of FIFA president Sepp Blatter, just four days after having been re-elected for a fifth term.

The ongoing public exposures of FIFA's wrongdoing and the subsequent arrests have raised the questions of where else in sport is corruption so rampant, and what needs to be done to fight it.

To discuss all this, we spoke with Declan Hill by phone Thursday.

"We definitely need an international anti-corruption agency for sport," he stated.

A number of combat sports athletes in recent years have said they have been approached to fix fights and matches "for large sums of money" but have turned these attempted bribes down, he said.

"But they've almost inevitably never gone forward, because they don't trust the authorities in their own sport, not to either be behind it, or who would in some ways try to punish them for blowing the whistle," he noted.

"We need an agency where good, honest fighters can go and report what's happened, where an honest administrator working for a sports organization can go and blow the whistle on something. And also an agency that can set the standard, set the standards of transparency, say, 'This is what a good sports organization should do. Here are the basic protocols, just the basic business practices, here's the basic guidelines of what a true sporting organization should do.'

"It's not all that difficult. There have been a lot of studies on it. There have been a lot of reports and a lot of stuff. But this is what needs to happen."

We discussed more on the "surreal" story of FIFA's widespread corruption scandal and the arrests last week; the crucial role of freelance and independent journalists like Andrew Jennings and Jens Weinreich in relentlessly exposing FIFA's corruption, and the failure of the mainstream media in this regard; the "desperate" need for an international anti-corruption agency for sport; the crisis in SportAccord and the pressure from the IOC which led to the resignation of SportAccord president Marius Vizer, also shortly after being unanimously re-elected; the crisis in world sport, which is reaching a boiling point where open rebellions are taking place against sporting institutions which were once viewed as untouchable and revered; 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.

Labels: Andrew Jennings, anti-corruption agency, arrests, Declan Hill, Eddie Goldman, FIFA, football, freelance, Jens Weinreich, journalists, Marius Vizer, No Holds Barred, scandal, Sepp Blatter, soccer, sport, SportAccord

(Photo of Mayweather and Maidana: Esther Lin/Showtime)

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman discusses the many scandals and crises facing NFL football, boxing, MMA, and other sports, including the negativity around the Mayweather-Maidana rematch, the coverups of concussions, head trauma, and domestic violence in so many sports, and asks, in their wake, can catch wrestling become the coolest combat sport?

A good article to read as background is a recent piece by Rowland Jack of I Trust Sport called 'Is sports governance at the tipping point?'

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:

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.

Takedown Wrestling Media, America's wrestling TV and radio shows, which are hosted by founder Scott Casber, and have been airing on radio and Internet for over 17 years. Takedown Media produces a weekly TV program seen in 54 million homes in the U.S. on DirecTV, Dish Network, and cable affiliates around the country, called Takedown TV. Takedown Media also produces the weekly USA Wrestling TV show for the governing body of the sport, USA Wrestling. For more information, go to TakedownRadio.com.

Labels: boxing, catch wrestling, concussions, coolest combat sport, domestic violence, Eddie Goldman, football, grappling, head trauma, jiu-jitsu, Maidana, Mayweather, MMA, NFL, No Holds Barred, sports, submission

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with the ex-pugilist, lifelong martial artist, former UFC and Battlecade Extreme Fighting matchmaker, TV commentator, and our senior correspondent, John Perretti.

We spoke with him by phone Monday.

With the growing awareness of the health and safety dangers in MMA, a sport in which he played a key role in establishing, he has now revised his original view that MMA is safer than boxing.

"Quite frankly, we were wrong," he said. "I sense that the tide is turning." With more and more MMA fights, he argued that there is now more of a basis for making a judgment on this issue.

"If we really start looking at it outside of the mixed martial arts media universe, and we start to have autopsies, we're going to find out some really nasty things about repetitive trauma and vertebral concussion and compression and how that affects someone in later stages of life," he said.

As for what can be changed in MMA to make it safer and more acceptable, he spoke of eliminating what he calls "the anvil effect," where fighters get struck in the head while on the ground.

"For MMA, I think one of the greatest catalysts for improving the health and welfare of the animal involved is to not allow any blows of any kind to the head on the ground."

We discussed these issues in depth, as well as the lawsuit by over 4,500 players against the National Football League over covering up the real health dangers of playing American football, how the health of some aging former MMA fighters is deteriorating, what the future might hold for sports with repetitive head trauma, why he is happy that his sons are not involved with any martial arts but are competing in weightlifting, injuries and bad training techniques in sports like grappling and 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.

GrappleGnostic, sponsored by Defense Soap. Where the will to win meets the power of knowledge. Features, interviews, analysis, health tips, and information on wrestling, grappling, jiu-jitsu, and all the grappling arts, written by some of the best writers and experts in the world. Check out their web site, a http://defensesoap.com/grapplegnostic.

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 http://defensesoap.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: anvil effect, ban head blows, Battlecade Extreme Fighting, concussions, CTE, Eddie Goldman, football, grappling, John Perretti, mixed martial arts, MMA, NFL, No Holds Barred, UFC, wrestling

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with Jens Sejer Andersen, the international director of Play the Game.

Based in Denmark, Play the Game is an international conference and communication initiative aiming to strengthen the ethical foundation of sport and promote democracy, transparency, and freedom of expression in sport.

The Play the Game 2013 conference was held October 28-31, 2013, in Aarhus, Denmark, with 148 speakers addressing many of the burning issues in world sport. All the conference presentations are now online.

We spoke with Jens Sejer Andersen by Skype on Tuesday.

Among the many key areas of interest and issues which he identified as being focused upon at this conference were: match-fixing, especially in international football (soccer); "mega-events: what are they good for?"; "the quality of sports governance, the quality of the sports leaders, their honesty"; "doping as a permanent item on the international agenda"; and the "whole concern about which interests is sport serving".

Describing this as "the best conference we've had so far," he also explained that there is more "public involvement" in the fight for good governance and against the various forms of corruption in sport than ever before. One of the many examples of this was the popular uprising in Brazil earlier this year against the corruption and massive government spending on the 2014 FIFA World Cup while the needs of the people were not being met.

We also discussed how the "sports-business complex" uses mega-events to their advantage and often against the interests of the majority of people; the issue of rights for LGBT people in Russia and the upcoming 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics; who are the new and current "superpowers" in world sport; the exposure in the media of horrific working conditions for those involved in the construction of facilities for the 2022 Qatar World Cup; the lack of democracy and good governance in many of the international federations which are affiliated with the International Olympic Committee; how it is "outrageous" that safety for athletes is not the number one issue in many sports; allegations of corruption in some of the lower-profile sports such as weightlifting and wrestling; the growing problem of many youths not being involved in sports at the grassroots level and having sedentary lifestyles; the role of the sports media; 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:

LenneHardt.com, the web site of the world's greatest ring announcer, Lenne Hardt. Need a unique and cool combat sports-related gift? At LenneHardt.com, you can order personalized messages, wedding calls, ringtones, phone answering messages, and more, all recorded by Lenne herself, in the style of your choice. For more information, go to LenneHardt.com.

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.

GrappleGnostic, sponsored by Defense Soap. Where the will to win meets the power of knowledge. Features, interviews, analysis, health tips, and information on wrestling, grappling, jiu-jitsu, and all the grappling arts, written by some of the best writers and experts in the world. Check out their web site, a http://defensesoap.com/grapplegnostic.

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 http://defensesoap.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: conference, corruption, democracy, doping, Eddie Goldman, FIFA, football, IOC, Jens Sejer Andersen, LGBT, match-fixing, No Holds Barred, Olympics, Play Game, soccer, Sochi, sport

On this edition of No Holds Barred, with many people around the world having some free time in the last two weeks of the year, host Eddie Goldman gives you your year-end assignment. (No, there will be no test or quiz, but you will be judged in practice.)

First, study internationally what is going on in the world of sport. The International Olympic Committee has just announced a set of new proposals to combat doping, corruption, and match-fixing, in its Olympic Agenda 2020, which has been proposed by new IOC president Thomas Bach. Will these be adequate to clean up world sport? And how will these affect the combat sports?

Second, all the presentations are now online from the Play the Game 2013 conference.

Held October 28-31, 2013, in Aarhus, Denmark, 148 speakers addressed burning issues in world sport such as match-fixing, doping, lack of democracy and transparency, who benefits and who does not from the Olympics, bad governance, racism, women in sport, homophobia, the role of sports journalists, the recent mass protests in Brazil, and much more. Now online are presentations, audio, video, and photos from this conference.

Among the many essential presentations which should be studied were:

"The democratic noise of sport" by Jens Sejer Andersen.

"Making the World Safe for Capitalism: A Critique of Global Sport and Development" by John Nauright.

"The Democratization of Athletes: What if athletes determined who governed their sports?" by Peter Donnelly.

"Money, Power and Marionettes: The shift of Olympic Power" by Jens Weinreich.

In addition, the issues of concussions, head trauma, brain damage, and dementia, which were not highlighted at Play the Game 2013, are now being understood and discussed by more and more people involved in sports around the world, and this is also of particular importance to the combat sports.

So that's your year-end assignment: Study these and related issues, and follow the advice of Jens Sejer Andersen: "It is your turn to drive the funeral silence out of sport."

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:

LenneHardt.com, the web site of the world's greatest ring announcer, Lenne Hardt. Need a unique and cool combat sports-related gift? At LenneHardt.com, you can order personalized messages, wedding calls, ringtones, phone answering messages, and more, all recorded by Lenne herself, in the style of your choice. For more information, go to LenneHardt.com.

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.

GrappleGnostic, sponsored by Defense Soap. Where the will to win meets the power of knowledge. Features, interviews, analysis, health tips, and information on wrestling, grappling, jiu-jitsu, and all the grappling arts, written by some of the best writers and experts in the world. Check out their web site, a http://defensesoap.com/grapplegnostic.

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 http://defensesoap.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: combat sports, concussions, corruption, doping, Eddie Goldman, football, IOC, match-fixing, No Holds Barred, Olympics, Play Game, scandal, wrestling

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with Dr. Margaret Goodman, a neurologist, the former chair of the Medical Advisory Board of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, and the president and board chairman of VADA, the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association.

We spoke with her by phone Sunday, mainly about one of the many health issues facing the combat sports: concussions and the subsequent risks of dementia and diseases like CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy).

"You can generalize, and you can say that what we know today is, getting hit in the head in any kind of sport, whether it be football, baseball, boxing, or MMA, is not good for the brain," she said.

"How good it's not for the brain hasn't really been established as far as how much trauma can someone sustain before they're predisposed to a condition like chronic traumatic encephalopathy. And those factors are still unknown."

However, she cautioned, "But what we do know is concussions or trauma to the head is additive. So the more punishment you take to your head, especially over a shorter period of time, often in the short time of a career of an MMA fighter or a boxer, has a whole bunch of risks as far as predisposing someone to a dementing illness."

We discussed how trauma to the head can lead to serious brain diseases even in young athletes and especially children, why children are more predisposed to these diseases than adults, and how many in the combat sports are turning "one blind eye to what's going on."

All the studies about the dangers on concussions and the prevalence of CTE in former NFL football players "should be a wakeup call" to those in combat sports where striking the head and trying to score a knockout are key, legal parts of the sport.

We discussed the old saying from the 1990s that "MMA is safer than boxing," and whether or not that can still be said to be true, assuming it ever was.

She was especially critical of the regulators of sports like boxing and MMA, who are largely "ignoring what is happening to the NFL." She said, referring not just to bad scoring, but to health and safety issues, "We're not regulating these sports properly." We also discussed the dangers of rapid weight-cutting, and what might be changed in order to minimize these dangers.

But with the growing body of scientific studies and literature on concussions and CTE, with these issues seeming only to mount in the combat sports, with increased public attention all the time on the effects of head trauma involving high-profile athletes like Georges St-Pierre, with no solution in sight to these problems, and with the likelihood of more tragedies and premature deaths facing these athletes, we had to ask some very tough questions, to which there are not easy answers.

Can the combat sports survive? Which ones are likeliest to go the way of smoking and becoming socially unacceptable and severely decline? Can combat sports with no striking to the head, like the various styles of grappling and wrestling, fill what may be a coming void? And what should those of us presently involved in various capacities with the combat sports do about all this?

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:

LenneHardt.com, the web site of the world's greatest ring announcer, Lenne Hardt. Need a unique and cool combat sports-related gift? At LenneHardt.com, you can order personalized messages, wedding calls, ringtones, phone answering messages, and more, all recorded by Lenne herself, in the style of your choice. For more information, go to LenneHardt.com.

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.

GrappleGnostic, sponsored by Defense Soap. Where the will to win meets the power of knowledge. Features, interviews, analysis, health tips, and information on wrestling, grappling, jiu-jitsu, and all the grappling arts, written by some of the best writers and experts in the world. Check out their web site, a http://defensesoap.com/grapplegnostic.

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 http://defensesoap.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: boxing, brain, combat sports, concussions, CTE, Eddie Goldman, football, grappling, Margaret Goodman, MMA, NFL, No Holds Barred, trauma, VADA, Voluntary Anti-Doping Association, wrestling

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with investigative journalist, documentary maker, and academic Declan Hill.

His new book, "The Insider's Guide to Match-Fixing in Football", has recently been published. In it, he details the latest information on the growing scourge of match-fixing in the world's most popular sport, football (known as soccer in North America), and discussed what can be done to stop it. The lessons in this can be applied directly to the combat sports, which have their own sordid history of corruption and bad governance.

We spoke with Declan Hill by phone Tuesday.

"What we've come to in the sports world is the globalization of the sports corruption industry," he said. "So, ten years ago, Goldman and Hill would be on the line and would be talking about fixing a boxing match or would be fixing a soccer game in some place. And much of the fixing would be constrained because there wouldn't be enough capacity to get cash down on a small boxing match or a small wrestling thing or a small soccer game.

He continued, "Now, the same phenomenon which has hit the music industry or the travel industry or practically any industry that your listeners can think of, has hit what I ironically call the sports corruption industry. So you have these criminals sitting in Singapore or Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur, and they're planning fixing soccer games, ATP tennis, whatever you have, literally halfway around the world. And there's an enormous flow of money traveling around the world fixing these games."

He explained how the money being paid to fix these matches is an important part of the business plan of those sports organizations which are carrying out the fixing. He also discussed why this phenomenon of the globalization of the sports corruption industry has largely not reached North America, because of the sports "isolationism" which means that "nobody watches the sports you play" - yet. He predicted that this will change over the next five to ten years. And we discussed how all this applies to the combat sports, including boxing, wrestling, and MMA. We also discussed illegal and legal sports betting and their relation to match-fixing, the battle for better governance of sports organizations, the need for an international sports anti-corruption agency, and much more.

And towards the end of our discussion he said, "Eddie, thank you for your battle in trying to keep combat sports as clean as possible. It's very much appreciated."

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:

LenneHardt.com, the web site of the world's greatest ring announcer, Lenne Hardt. Need a unique and cool combat sports-related gift? At LenneHardt.com, you can order personalized messages, wedding calls, ringtones, phone answering messages, and more, all recorded by Lenne herself, in the style of your choice. For more information, go to LenneHardt.com.

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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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 http://defensesoap.com.

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Labels: betting, boxing, combat sports, corruption, Declan Hill, Eddie Goldman, football, gambling, match-fixing, MMA, No Holds Barred, soccer, wrestling

On this edition of No Holds Barred, the tables were once again turned, as host Eddie Goldman was interviewed by Scott Casber, host of Takedown Wrestling Radio.

This discussion, which was recorded Tuesday, covered the major controversies and the latest developments in the world of wrestling and grappling.

Here is the description of the show by Scott Casber:

"Godfather" Eddie Goldman of No Holds Barred Goes 1 on 1 with Takedown Radio

From head injuries, to pro-style and amateur wrestling, the IOC vote, and more, the "Godfather", Eddie Goldman of No Holds Barred, goes one-on-one with Takedown Wrestling's Scott Casber. This extensive interview is proof positive of Eddie's passion for the sport and his ability to get under the skin of major issues we face today.

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: BJJ, brain injuries, concussion, CTE, Eddie Goldman, FILA, football, grappling, head trauma, IOC, lawsuit, NFL, No Holds Barred, Olympics, Scott Casber, Takedown Radio, wrestling

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman discusses the settlement last week between the National Football League and over 4000 players who sued them claiming that the league had concealed information and misled them regarding the dangers of head trauma and concussions.

There is a new and moving documentary called The United States of Football about these issues, which is currently playing in select theaters in the U.S. This film is highly recommended as it graphically shows the suffering of many former football players from these brain injuries.

The many styles of grappling and wrestling provide tough competition without the intentional hitting, and with much less head trauma than sports like American football. Football is still by far the most popular sport in America. But will these sports be able to take advantage of what many expect to be a gradual decline of football, similar in some ways to what happened to smoking, and what must they do to accomplish that?

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: brain injuries, concussion, CTE, Eddie Goldman, football, grappling, head trauma, lawsuit, NFL, No Holds Barred, wrestling

(Photo of (L-R) Arash Usmanee, Mike Tyson, and Argenis Mendez, by Tom Casino / Iron Mike Productions)

(Image credit for PBS Frontline's "League of Denial: The NFL's Concussion Crisis" courtesy of Nick Veasey / Getty Images)

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman discusses the concussion crisis in contact and combat sports, the coverage given it in the sports and general media, and the bubble in which the combat sports in particular live on this issue.

This past Friday night, August 23, ESPN's Friday Night Fights aired as a main event an exciting but brutal fight, where IBF junior lightweight champion Argenis Mendez (21-2-1, 11 KOs) retained his belt with a controversial majority draw with challenger Arash Usmanee (20-1-1, 10 KOs). This took place at the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York, and was promoted by Iron Mike Productions in association with Greg Cohen Productions, with Mike Tyson prominently sitting ringside.

Earlier that day, the entire credibility of ESPN's journalism had been called into question. An article in The New York Times, entitled "N.F.L. Pressure Said to Lead ESPN to Quit Film Project" by James Andrew Miller, reported that ESPN had pulled out of a collaborative effort with PBS's "Frontline" series on a documentary film called "League of Denial: The NFL's Concussion Crisis". According to "Frontline", this two-part documentary, which will begin airing October 8 and 15, would examine "whether -- as thousands of former players allege -- the NFL has covered up the risks of football on the brain." The Times' article said that after 15 months of collaboration with "Frontline", ESPN pulled out of the project Thursday after a "combative meeting" involving four top executive from ESPN and the NFL. While ESPN later denied that it had caved in from pressure from the NFL -- whose "Monday Night Football" on ESPN is the highest-rated show on cable TV in the USA -- few were buying this story, and a furor erupted online over ESPN's commitment, or lack thereof, to independent journalism.

Interestingly, as if to counter this outpouring of criticism, ESPN did air a brief discussion Friday afternoon on "Outside the Lines" about a new study published in the American Academy of Neurology's journal "Neurology" about these issues. The study, authored by Robert A. Stern, PhD, a professor of neurology and neurosurgery at Boston University School of Medicine, said that chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and repeated head injuries, including concussions and subconcussive trauma, in athletes, may adversely affect their memory, mood, and behavior. Dr. Stern was interviewed on "Outside the Lines".

The combat sports world, and in particular what calls itself its media, generally continued on, as if none of these controversies had taken place.

The bubble in which the combat sports live is thus discussed, including its seemingly inevitable bursting.

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: Arash Usmanee, Argenis Mendez, boxing, bubble, concussions, CTE, Eddie Goldman, ESPN, football, Friday Night Fights, Frontline, Mike Tyson, MMA, New York Times, NFL, No Holds Barred, PBS

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman speaks with robo-jockey Devonric Johnson.

The second show of the Robot Combat League, shown in the U.S. on Syfy and in Canada on Space on March 5, saw his robot, Brimstone, which he controls with robo-tech Russell Tait, defeat Thunder Skull by second-round disqualification. This win, in their first fight, means that they now move on to the second round of competition on this show, whose nine episodes have already been filmed.

In a sense, Devonric Johnson's background is similar to that of other athletes from the combat and contact sports. Growing up dirt poor and living in a shack in Terrell, Texas, he was adopted at the age of 13, became a model student, found success in the sport of football, and then was a star linebacker at Southern Methodist University.

But in another sense, his athletic career took another turn which is also becoming more well-known in these sports. He suffered a concussion in one of those college football games, ended up with post-concussion syndrome, and suddenly, while still in college, his football career was over.

Later on he moved to Los Angeles to pursue careers in acting and modeling. It was there that he had another opportunity to participate in a new type of combat sport, which would not injure him, and on a new TV show: robot fighting on the Robot Combat League. And he is loving it.

"I personally think that there's going to be a future of it because there's nothing of its kind," he said in this interview, which was recorded by phone Saturday. "It's really cool to see these magnificent machines in action. If you were actually at the arena you would be like, 'Wow! This is crazy!' Because, imagine a thousand-pound pressure coming from a machine on each single punch, and watching these machines being maneuvered by people on these platforms. It's amazing. The technology is amazing. It's way ahead of its time and it's just going to get better."

We also discussed more about the future of robot fighting and its relation to human combat sports, what happened in Brimstone's fight that led to a controversial disqualification of Thunder Skull, and the issue of head trauma and concussions.

In addition, Devonric also is the founder of the non-profit organization Brothers By Choice, which assists at-risk youths. We discussed that important work, 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.

Beezid.com - Penny Auctions. Your #1 source for exciting auction shopping and outstanding deals on just about anything! Top rated, most trusted auction site online. Where do you shop? Beezid.com - Penny Auctions.

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: Brimstone, Brothers By Choice, concussions, Devonric Johnson, Eddie Goldman, fighting, football, No Holds Barred, Robot Combat League, Syfy

Labels: boxing, Eddie Goldman, football, John Perretti, MMA, No Holds Barred