No Holds Barred: Will Brooks

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman speaks with Bellator MMA fighter Will Brooks (http://www.twitter.com/illwillbrooks86).

A little over a month ago, although he had an undefeated record in MMA, the 26-year-old Illinois-based Will Brooks was not well-known internationally as a fighter. That all changed on December 31, 2012, when he faced the far more experienced Japanese submission master and former Sengoku lightweight champion Satoru Kitaoka on the Dream 18 New Year's Eve card in Saitama, Japan. While Kitaoka tried for submissions, Will Brooks outfought him and pulled off the upset with a second-round TKO win, thus exploding onto the international MMA scene.

That high profile and convincing win led to him being entered in the Bellator MMA season eight lightweight tournament. Just a month after his win in Japan, Will Brooks was matched up once again with yet another more experienced opponent, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt and Bellator veteran Ricardo Tirloni, in the tournament quarterfinals on January 31 in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. While Tirloni also tried to win this fight with submissions, Will Brooks outboxed and outwrestled him to take a three-round unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring it 30-27 in his favor.

The victory over Tirloni advanced him to the lightweight tournament semifinals, where, according to the posted brackets, he will face Saad Awad. While it has not been officially announced, that fight may take place March 7 in Temecula, California, at the Pechanga Resort and Casino, and be televised live in the U.S. on Spike TV.

Yet even with all this new-found notoriety and attention, Will Brooks has a larger vision of what he wants to accomplish.

"MIxed martial arts, I love the sport, I love competing, but also I want to be an ambassador," he said in this interview, which was recorded by phone Saturday. "I want to show people that you don't have to just be an athlete. You don't have to just be a winner. You can affect people in other ways. Plus, you can use this as a way to do that."

Of course, his goals as a fighter are to go as far as he can.

"I'm looking to be a champion at some point in my life," he continued. "Right now I think I'm on the road to doing that. I'm going to be doing this for a long time. Nothing against any of the other guys in the lightweight division, but I believe that I'm going to be a dominating force and a threat for a very long time to come."

We also discussed his transition from wrestling to football to MMA, his need to work on submissions, his training at the Midwest Training Center and with American Top Team, his boxing training for MMA and understanding of the importance of throwing straight jabs, and much more.

You can play or download No Holds Barred at http://nhbnews.podomatic.com/entry/2013-02-05T07_17_43-08_00 and http://archive.org/details/NoHoldsBarredWillBrooks. If one link does not work, please try another.

No Holds Barred is also available on mobile phones and iPads through Stitcher (http://landing.stitcher.com/?vurl=noholdsbarred).

Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes at http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=150801513&s=143441.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", which is also available on iTunes by composer by Ian Snow(http://magicpumpkinstudios.com).

No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:

ONE Fighting Championship (http://onefc.com). 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(http://onefc.com).

"The Martist" with John Perretti (http://johnperretti.com). A "martist" is an artist as well as a martial artist. This is a blog for those who think about fighting, published by John Perretti, the lifelong martial artist and former UFC and Battlecade Extreme Fighting matchmaker. Check out John's writings at http://johnperretti.com (http://johnperretti.com).

MMA World Expo (http://www.mmaworldexpo.com). The mixed martial arts community comes to New York City February 16 and 17, 2013, for the fourth annual MMA World Expo, featuring an amateur MMA tournament, grappling, MMA fighters, seminars with world-class trainers, vendors, panel discussions, and much more. The MMA World Expo takes place Saturday, February 16, and Sunday, February 17, 2013, at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City. For more information, go to (http://www.mmaworldexpo.com).

Beezid.com - Penny Auctions (http://www.beezid.com). 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 (http://www.beezid.com).

American Top Team (http://americantopteam.com). 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.

Thanks, Eddie Goldman http://eddiegoldman.com

Mr Brooks is quickly becoming one of my new fav fighters, he was very impressive on nye at DREAM, and im thinking he will become a force in Bellator.

PRIDE NEVER DIE wrote:Mr Brooks is quickly becoming one of my new fav fighters, he was very impressive on nye at DREAM, and im thinking he will become a force in Bellator.

He is looking real solid. I hope Sarnavskiy can continue in the tournament because I would like to see these two fight.