Fighting Matters

The Acceleration of Martial Arts Fascism

In this episode of Fighting Matters, Steve Kwan and Mike Mahaffey connect a month of far-right imagery in combat sports: Nazi salutes and a swastika flag at a kickboxing

Canada Fuels American Growth

In this episode of Fighting Matters, Steve Kwan and Stephan Kesting talk through the Canada-US trade war from the Canadian side of the border. They explain why this was n

Tariffs and Jiu-Jitsu Economics

In this episode of Fighting Matters, Jeff Shaw and Jesse Walker are joined by Jose Fernandez, a health economist and purple belt who chairs the economics department at th

We Gotta Talk About These UFC BJJ Sponsors

In this episode of Fighting Matters, Steve Kwan and Stephan Kesting pull up a screenshot of the UFC BJJ 10 mat and read the sponsors out loud: the Air National Guard, the

How COVID Broke the Martial Arts Community

In this episode of Fighting Matters, Jesse Walker and Stephan Kesting (just back from thirty days in the Arctic wilderness) are joined by Dr. Clayton Green, a board certi

Andrew Tate and the zero-consequences era

In this episode of Fighting Matters, Jesse Walker and Mike Mahaffey catch up on a run of recent news where powerful people did awful things and faced no real consequences

The Graham Platner Problem

In this episode of Fighting Matters, Steve Kwan is joined by Jesse Walker of Rough Hands BJJ to talk about Graham Platner, the Maine Senate candidate whose campaign has c

The 250th, ADCC, and Izaak Michell

In this episode of the Fighting Matters podcast, Steve Kwan is joined by Jesse Walker of Rough Hands BJJ and Mike Mahaffey of Old Bastard BJJ on the eve of America's

The Conor McGregor comeback is gross

In this episode of Fighting Matters, co-hosts Jesse Walker and Mike Mahaffey take on Conor McGregor's UFC comeback and the media tour selling it: a man found civilly

An honest UFC Freedom 250 critique

In this episode of Fighting Matters, Steve Kwan is joined by Jesse Walker of Rough Hands BJJ to talk about the fallout from UFC Freedom 250, the fight card staged on the

The UFC Freedom 250 debacle

In this episode of Fighting Matters, Jeff Shaw is joined by Jesse Walker, Mike Mahaffey, and Stephan Kesting to take apart UFC Freedom 250, the card being staged on the W

Anti-Trans Hate Is a UFC Marketing Strategy

In this episode of Fighting Matters, Steve Kwan talks with Mike Mahaffey of Old Bastard BJJ about the trans hate pouring out of combat sports, and the fighters who have f

Why did UFC BJJ let Mikey compete with a staph infection?

In this episode of the Fighting Matters podcast, Steve Kwan is joined by Jeff Shaw of Bellingham BJJ, Mike Mahaffey of Old Bastard BJJ, and Dr. Clayton Green, a board-cer

How Jiu-Jitsu Survives the AI Era

In this episode of Fighting Matters, Steve Kwan is joined again by Dr. David Riedman: 17-year jiu-jitsu practitioner, MIT-trained data analyst, and PhD researcher whose d

A Man Broke Into My Apartment at 4 AM (feat. Andrea Tang)

In this episode of Fighting Matters, Steve Kwan is joined by Andrea Tang: novelist, brown belt at District Martial Arts, and host of BJJ Today on the BJJ Mental Models Pr

How YOU Can Clean Up Jiu-Jitsu

After yet another sexual abuse case in the BJJ community, the Fighting Matters crew works through a question every grappler eventually has to answer: "What can I, as just

Why BJJ Camps Need Less Jiu-Jitsu

In this episode of Fighting Matters, Steve Kwan is joined by Jesse Walker (Rough Hands BJJ), Mike Mahaffey (Old Bastard BJJ), and Niamh Bryn (Snowblind BJJ) for a recap o

How to Identify "Active Clubs" in BJJ

In this episode of Fighting Matters, Steve Kwan is joined by Hannah Gais, a senior research analyst at the Southern Poverty Law Center who has tracked white nationalist a

How HEMA Pushed Out White Supremacists (And What BJJ Can Learn)

In this episode of Fighting Matters, Steve Kwan and Stephan Kesting sit down with Eric Lowe, a 13-year HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts) instructor and school found

Jiu-Jitsu in the Face of War and Economic Disaster

Today, Jesse, Mike and Stephan discuss the impact of war on everyday life, particularly how the ongoing war in Iran could affect gas prices and essential goods if it cont