NO HOLDS BARRED

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

This is another in a series of discussions celebrating the tenth anniversary of this No Holds Barred podcast, which began in March 2006. These interviews will focus both on the legacy and issues raised over the years on this show, as well as contemporary issues and the future of the combat sports and martial arts.

We spoke with John Perretti by phone Tuesday.

Besides having been both a kickboxer as well as a grappler with a black belt from Gene LeBell, John Perretti was a pioneer in mixed martial arts. He devised the modern format of MMA, including the use of weight classes, rounds, and fingerless gloves, as matchmaker with Battlecade Extreme Fighting and later UFC. He even first used the term "mixed martial arts" in the 1980s, before the revival of professional MMA in the 1990s. But when UFC changed hands in 2001, he quit that organization and moved on. And he is not at all happy with what MMA has become.

"I did not see this being the way it is today, before Barnum and Bailey bought it," he said, mockingly referring to Zuffa, UFC's parent company.

"I did not see this fan contingent base being such an odd one, a narrow one." And he decried what he called the "new culture" in MMA today.

We discussed the devolution of MMA in the U.S., why it was accurate to argue in the 1990s that MMA was indeed safer than sports like boxing and college football, and why that is no longer the case.

Grappling has also always been extremely important to him, especially with his own experience of having suffered numerous concussions and some memory loss from his fighting days. In 1997, he attempted to develop a professional grappling pay-per-view event known as "The Contenders". That show, however, was a financial failure, and folded after one event. The question arises, with so many more people training and competing in many styles of grappling and wrestling these two decades later, could some type of professional grappling or real wrestling event succeed now?

"I caution everyone," he said. "I caution everyone that anything is within the clutches of corruption."

After referencing the many corruption scandals in sumo wrestling in Japan, he emphasized, "Anything, no matter how much you want it to be, a solid future for a concussion-less sport of pugilism, is susceptible to a circus coming into town."

We discussed more on concussions and head trauma in combat sports, the techniques of grappling and striking in MMA, some of the history behind the New York State government banning MMA in 1997 and now being set to re-legalize it this year, his being written out of history, his forthcoming memoirs, 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 here.

The PodOmatic Podcast Player app is available for free, both for Android at Google Play, and for iOS 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:

The Frank Gotch World Catch Wrestling Tournament. On Sunday, July 3, 2016, catch wrestlers from all around the world will compete in Humboldt, Iowa, the hometown of the legendary world champion wrestler Frank Gotch. Organized by the Catch Wrestling Alliance and co-sponsored by IAWrestle, the Frank Gotch Statue Committee, and the Frank Gotch Kids Wrestling Club, the event will take place at Humboldt High School. For more information, go to CatchWrestlingAlliance.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.

BJJ Eastern Europe, for the latest Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu news, articles, interviews, competition calendar, European belt rankings, academy directory, and more. For more information, go to BJJEE.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.

Labels: concussions, corruption, Eddie Goldman, grappling, John Perretti, MMA, No Holds Barred, tenth anniversary, wrestling

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with wrestling historian and author Mike Chapman.

This is the first in a series of discussions celebrating the tenth anniversary of this No Holds Barred podcast, which began in March 2006. These interviews will focus both on the legacy and issues raised over the years on this show, as well as contemporary issues and the future of the combat sports and martial arts.

We spoke with Mike Chapman by phone Tuesday.

The sport of wrestling, the world's oldest, has had many difficulties in recent decades, and Mike Chapman has been one of the leaders in trying to get the sport properly organized, marketed, and promoted.

"Here's the thing about wrestlers as a group, and the coaches and the people who run it," he said. "They are tough, tough, tough people, but they are very programmed people. They've fallen into the trap of whatever worked before will work again if we just do more of it and do it harder. And of course you and I know that's not the case. Sometimes you just have to think outside the box. You have to be more flexible. You have to be innovative.

"And bless 'em, the people that run wrestling -- I know almost all of them personally. They're really good people. I like them. I respect them. I'm going back 30 to 40 years, I've known almost all of them.

"But they're just not very creative and flexible when it comes to looking at ways to improve the marketability of the sport."

He continued, "I've said for 20 years the number one thing wrestling needs is some kind of an organization that operates as an advocate for the sport, to work with media, to build relationships, to branch out, to try to come up with a comprehensive short-term and long-term plan to increase the visibility, the acceptance, and the cultural magnitude of the sport.

"And it just falls on deaf ears."

While wrestling in the U.S. is nowhere near reaching its full potential, internationally the Olympic movement is rocking and reeling from one major scandal to another. We discussed how international wrestling as part of that Olympic movement has been accused time and again of corruption.

Mike Chapman has probably written more about the world heavyweight wrestling champion Frank Gotch of the early 1900s than anyone else, and we discussed the style of wrestling from his era when wrestling was a major popular spectator sport: catch, or catch-as-catch-can wrestling. He is working to revive this style of wrestling, and we discussed the July 3 Frank Gotch World Catch Wrestling Tournament, which will take place in Humboldt, Iowa, Gotch's hometown.

We also discussed the Big 10 wrestling championships, which he attended; the 2016 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, which take place March 17-19 in Madison Square Garden in New York; the need for people who want to help wrestling to get professional educational training in media, marketing, and management; the importance of No Holds Barred in being a voice for catch wrestling; 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 here.

The PodOmatic Podcast Player app is available for free, both for Android at Google Play, and for iOS 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:

The Frank Gotch World Catch Wrestling Tournament. On Sunday, July 3, 2016, catch wrestlers from all around the world will compete in Humboldt, Iowa, the hometown of the legendary world champion wrestler Frank Gotch. Organized by the Catch Wrestling Alliance and co-sponsored by IAWrestle, the Frank Gotch Statue Committee, and the Frank Gotch Kids Wrestling Club, the event will take place at Humboldt High School. For more information, go to CatchWrestlingAlliance.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.

BJJ Eastern Europe, for the latest Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu news, articles, interviews, competition calendar, European belt rankings, academy directory, and more. For more information, go to BJJEE.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.

Labels: Eddie Goldman, Frank Gotch World Catch Championships, Mike Chapman, No Holds Barred, tenth anniversary, wrestling

March 7, 2016, NEW YORK -- This week marks the tenth anniversary of the start of the ground-breaking combat sports and martial arts podcast, No Holds Barred, hosted and produced by the "conscience of combat sports", Eddie Goldman. To celebrate the continuous running of this show for all these years, this month and beyond we will be having a series of interviews with some of the most important people around the world in these sports.

So far interviews are lined up with:

*** Mike Chapman, wrestling author and historian, about the past, present, and future of wrestling, and the potential of catch wrestling.

*** Kid Peligro, the veteran "Pied Piper" 0f Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu about the growth and future of BJJ and grappling.

*** Kevin Jackson, Olympic gold medalist wrestler and present head coach of the Iowa State Cyclones.

*** John Perretti, the lifelong martial artist, former UFC and Battlecade Extreme Fighting matchmaker, TV commentator, author, and No Holds Barred senior correspondent.

*** Bob Carson, veteran MMA journalist, one of the few who remains independent and outspoken on the key issues facing MMA.

*** Charles Farrell, the award-winning boxing writer whose behind-the-scenes perspectives have pulled the covers off the often deceptive and illusory world of pro boxing.

*** Dr. Margaret Goodman, president and board chairman of the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association, and a long-time fighter for health and safety for combat sports athletes including on the issues of concussions, head trauma, CTE, and doping.

*** Jens Sejer Andersen, international director of Play the Game, which has been exposing corruption and fighting for democracy in world sport.

The dates for the posting of these interviews will be determined as they take place, with more interviews planned.

For more information, go to EddieGoldman.com.

Labels: Eddie Goldman, No Holds Barred, podcast, tenth anniversary