The "Big Cat" Tom Erikson made his fighting debut in 1996 at the tail end of a decorated wrestling career. Erikson was a wrestling coach at Purdue while he fought in "No Holds Barred" and the school in Northern Indiana became a hotbed for fighters. Erikson fought in Brazil, Japan and the United States in events that didn't require gloves and had virtually no rules or weight classes. Erikson excelled and there was a time where he was considered one of the toughest men on the planet.
Erikson now coaches at Duke University and he still trains and watches the modern sport of MMA. One of the most insightful interviews ever with one of the wrestlers who made early transition to the fight game.
0:00 MMA history podcast intro
0:19 Guest intro and plugs
4:17 Interview start 4:48 Tom wrestled Manny
Yarbrough
6:20 Origin of "The Big Cat"
7:58 Intro to MARS • Reality
Superfighting 8-man tournament
8:22 Oleg Taktarov's controversial perspective
9:22 Quarterfinal: Tom Erikson
vs Aleksander Khramstovskly
14:52 Semifinal: Tom Erikson
vs Willie Peeters
19:19 Final: Tom Erikson vs
Murilo Bustamante
29:46 Fallout: Rico
Chiapparelli, Renzo and Carlson Gracie
31:56 Experience with Rico Chiapperelli
35:53 Tom's MMA origin: Dan
Severn & Mark Coleman
37:30 Wrapping up MARS
tournament
38:35 Tom Erikson vs Davin
Wright at WFF
41:34 Experiences with WFF and Gene LeBell
46:06 Tom Erikson vs Kevin
Randleman in Brazil
51:54 Tom Erikson vs Ed De Kruijf at Vale Tudo Japan '97
54:09 Initial experience fighting in Japan
56:10 Tom Erikson vs Gary
Goodridge at Pride 8
58:20 Tom Erikson vs Heath
Herring at Pride 11
1:06:38 Difficulty getting fights
1:08:36 Tom Erikson vs Matt
Skelton at Pride 17
1:17:47 Quick win over Tim
Catalfo at Pride 19
1:18:02 Peculiar fight: Tom
Erikson vs Mike Bernardo in K-1 1:20:54 Pride GP 2000 rumors:
Erikson, Coleman, and Kerr 1:23:40 Tom Erikson never utilized headbutts
1:24:24 Unified Rules HW limit and potential UFC offers
1:27:06 Pride's shady side:
Yakuza and Coleman vs Takada
1:29:49 Experience with Don
Frye
1:32:59 Experience with Mark
Kerr
1:34:11 Coaching with Mark Coleman at Purdue University 1:37:22 Mark Coleman street fighting lore
1:39:43 Experience with Jon
Fitch
1:41:55 Tom as coach: cross training wrestling and MMA
1:45:00 Discussion on first wave of elite wrestlers in MMA
1:49:08 Screwjob: Mark
Schultz vs Leo Montenegro in
Brazil
1:53:42 Thoughts on Joe
Warren
1:55:01 Mark Coleman and the
RAW team
1:55:24 Aleksandr Karelin and
Rulon Gardner
1:56:55 Interview wrap up
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