Podcast
Fighting Matters
Hosted by Fighting Matters · EN
Fighting fascism and the far-right in combat sports like MMA and BJJ.
14episodes
Episodes
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The Conor McGregor comeback is gross
4d ago00:56:46Tap to summarizeIn 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 liable for sexual assault, platformed on Jimmy Fallon like none of it happened, with no apology and no amends. They get into what redemption actually requires, why comedians stopped holding power to account, and the jiu-jitsu community's own habit of looking the other way when the person on the podium has hurt people.⸻🔗 Links Mentioned:- Old Bastard BJJ on Patreon — https://patreon.com/oldbastardbjj- Old Bastard BJJ on Instagram — https://instagram.com/oldbastardbjj⸻👥 Featuring:- Jesse Walker — https://roughhandsbjj.com- Mike Mahaffey — https://magicbjj.com⸻🧠 Topics Discussed:- Conor McGregor's UFC comeback and the media tour behind it- Why the media keeps platforming people who have caused harm- What real redemption requires, and why owning the harm is the price of it- Whether some actions put someone past the point of a comeback- How late-night hosts and comedians stopped holding power to account- What your attention and your money actually endorse- The jiu-jitsu community's habit of platforming people it shouldn't⸻📖 Chapters:00:00 — Welcome and teeing up the topic01:16 — McGregor's comeback, and how he got here04:47 — Turning MMA trash talk up to eleven08:25 — Pro wrestling, except the harm is real10:27 — The fall and the Hollywood comeback13:23 — Does anyone deserve a comeback?15:27 — Redemption means owning the harm20:43 — What Mike learned in vocational rehab26:12 — Our court jesters are failing us32:36 — When "comedy is back" means punching down36:37 — No redemption, and whose pocket you fill47:33 — The IBJJF problem, and being a thoughtful consumer55:38 — Where to find Jesse and Mike
Transcribe →An honest UFC Freedom 250 critique
2w ago01:07:48Tap to summarizeIn 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 White House lawn for America's 250th anniversary. Neither of them watched it, because the fights were never the issue. They get into the corruption, the crypto payouts, the comment aimed at Michelle Obama, and why "keeping politics out of fighting" was never a real argument once the President turned the country's 250th birthday into his own fight night.⸻👥 Featuring:- Steve Kwan — https://bjjmentalmodels.com- Jesse Walker — https://roughhandsbjj.com⸻🧠 Topics Discussed:- Why UFC Freedom 250 was a problem even if the fights were good- The difference between promoting a sport and running a propaganda event- Crypto payouts and the "company store" comparison- The comment aimed at Michelle Obama, and why it was deliberate- Free speech absolutism as a dodge- The alleged Daniel Cormier and Eric Trump text exchange about fixed fights- The paradox of tolerance and why you can't platform extremists- What the UFC would have to do to win fans like Steve and Jesse back⸻📖 Chapters:00:00 — What UFC Freedom 250 actually was05:05 — A for-profit event on the people's lawn09:10 — Defending the UFC as legitimate sport14:48 — Propaganda, grift, and crypto payouts16:40 — The Obama basketball tournament test22:29 — Was it worth it for the UFC?27:05 — MMA is an immigrant story31:05 — The Michelle Obama comment was deliberate41:26 — Free speech absolutism as moral cowardice45:52 — The alleged Cormier and Eric Trump texts51:54 — You can't break bread with extremists59:33 — What would fix the UFC?01:07:56 — Where to find Jesse Walker
Transcribe →The UFC Freedom 250 debacle
3w ago00:51:47Tap to summarizeIn 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 White House South Lawn on June 14th. Four martial artists who spent decades loving this sport walk through why an event at the people's house, held on the president's birthday and billed as a celebration of America's 250th, leaves them cold. They get into the spectacle, the money, the sportswashing angle, and the version of this card that could have meant something.⸻🔗 Links Mentioned:- Old Bastard BJJ Pride Month Fundraiser — https://patreon.com/oldbastardbjj- Salus Center — https://www.saluscenter.org- Growing Veterans — https://growingveterans.org⸻👥 Featuring:- Jeff Shaw — https://bellinghambjj.com- Jesse Walker — https://roughhandsbjj.com- Mike Mahaffey — https://instagram.com/oldbastardbjj- Stephan Kesting — https://grapplearts.com⸻🧠 Topics Discussed:- Why a UFC card at the White House reads as fascist spectacle- The June 14th birthday timing and the "America 250" cover story- The "keep politics out of sports" double standard- Empty seats, military tickets, and who foots the bill- Cage fights as diplomacy, and what sportswashing really is- Theodore Roosevelt, immigration, and the event this could have been- What MMA lost when it stopped being outsider art⸻📖 Chapters:00:00 — Introducing the panel02:40 — Fascism, spectacle, and macho posturing04:30 — A birthday dressed as an anniversary07:05 — Theater and a regime that believes in nothing10:16 — Dead enthusiasm and a tourism slump14:09 — Empty seats, military tickets, and June heat16:32 — Rogan ringside and bread and circuses18:53 — Who pays, and who gets held accountable25:41 — But Roosevelt did it too30:06 — Cage fights as diplomacy and sportswashing34:53 — How you'd do it right, and why they can't40:13 — Can this work at the White House at all?46:18 — Outsider art and what's been lost
Transcribe →Anti-Trans Hate Is a UFC Marketing Strategy
3w ago01:00:44Tap to summarizeIn 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 figured out it pays. They start with Sean Strickland's AI video of himself beating up a trans woman, then get into why guys like Strickland and Jake Shields keep posting this stuff: it riles up a certain kind of fan, and that attention is the product. Recorded during Pride Month, it is also about what the jiu-jitsu community owes its trans members, who take the brunt of this.🔗 Links Mentioned:- Old Bastard BJJ on Patreon (buy "Introduction to Base" in June, all proceeds go to the Salus Center) — https://patreon.com/oldbastardbjj- Salus Center, Lansing — https://www.saluscenter.org⸻👥 Featuring:- Steve Kwan — https://bjjmentalmodels.com- Mike Mahaffey — https://instagram.com/oldbastardbjj⸻🧠 Topics Discussed:- Sean Strickland's anti-trans AI video and the threat behind it- How the "fairness in women's sports" debate gets used as cover for violence- Active clubs, fascism, and the far right's foothold in fight sports- Mike's advocacy work and the threats it brings- The harassment trans grapplers face just for showing up to train- Why fighters profit from anti-trans content- Why "keep politics out of jiu-jitsu" is a cop-out- Raising a trans daughter and changing minds through storytelling⸻📖 Chapters:00:00 — Welcome and why a Pride episode02:26 — The Strickland video and the "fairness" cover08:47 — Active clubs and the far right in fight sports11:20 — Mike's advocacy and the threats it draws17:46 — Spite-based activism and trans grapplers under attack22:30 — Why fighters monetize trans hate30:04 — Staying neutral is a choice, and the politics myth34:08 — Pride, gender, and changing norms40:17 — You don't have to get it to defend it42:36 — Mike on supporting your trans friends and family47:35 — Why martial artists have to speak up51:06 — Mike's fundraiser for the Salus Center
Transcribe →Why did UFC BJJ let Mikey compete with a staph infection?
May 2601:01:27Tap to summarizeIn 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-certified dermatologist and BJJ practitioner. They get into what happened at UFC BJJ when Mikey Musumeci defended his title against Kevin Dantzler with an active staph infection, went back to the hospital right after the match, and defended the decision by saying he had covered the infection with spats. The conversation covers why staph is more dangerous than people realize, how the UFC has stopped fights like this before but didn't this time, and what gyms and competitors can actually do to be safer.🔗 Links Mentioned:- NFHS Wrestling Skin Lesion Form — https://a-us.storyblok.com/f/1022696/x/87b3155d73/2025-26-nfhs-wrestling-skin-lesion-form-final-april-2025.pdf⸻👥 Featuring:- Steve Kwan — https://bjjmentalmodels.com- Jeff Shaw — https://bellinghambjj.com- Mike Mahaffey — https://www.instagram.com/oldbastardbjj- Dr. Clayton Green⸻🧠 Topics Discussed:- What happened at UFC BJJ and Mikey's hospital readmission- Why "I covered it with spats" isn't a defense- How close Ben Askren came to dying from MRSA- Whether BJJ is losing community knowledge about infection risk- How pandemic-era science denial is showing up in jiu-jitsu- How the UFC stopped fights like this before, and didn't this time- The wrestling skin check form and how gyms can use it- Institutional accountability vs dogpiling on the athlete⸻📖 Chapters:00:00 — Introducing the panel02:39 — What happened at UFC BJJ05:16 — Spats aren't condoms10:09 — How dangerous staph actually is18:08 — Are we losing community knowledge about infection risk?25:21 — Why didn't the UFC stop this?26:34 — Pandemic-era science denial in BJJ33:13 — The wrestling skin check form36:45 — How gyms model and enforce safer behavior40:48 — Advice for young competitors under pressure50:22 — Institutional accountability vs dogpiling the athlete53:02 — Closing thoughts
Transcribe →How Jiu-Jitsu Survives the AI Era
May 2101:34:49Tap to summarizeIn 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 dissertation focused on measuring the accuracy of large language model outputs. David is also the author of the Riedman Report, one of the most popular Substacks on risk, AI, education, and security. The conversation is broken into three parts. Part one is a broad explanation of what modern AI actually is and how it works. Part two covers the cultural and social impact of AI on public life. Part three is about how AI will affect the business of jiu-jitsu and the people who train and run gyms. Steve walks out of the conversation with a take he didn't expect: martial artists may be in a stronger position than people working in tech.⸻🔗 Links Mentioned:- The Riedman Report — https://riedmanreport.substack.com- K-12 School Shooting Database — https://k12ssdb.org⸻👥 Featuring:- Steve Kwan — https://bjjmentalmodels.com- Dr. David Riedman — https://riedmanreport.substack.com⸻🧠 Topics Discussed:- Why LLMs don't actually think, and why that matters- The political split on AI adoption and why both sides are partially right- Where AI genuinely helps a small business and where it creates risk- Model drift, context dilution, and how guardrails break down in long conversations- Why AI tutorials and AI video can't teach jiu-jitsu- What it means for a sport without a unified registry when anyone can fabricate credentials- The trillion-dollar lock-in: why we may be stuck with LLMs even if they don't work- Why human-service work like coaching may be more durable than tech work⸻📖 Chapters:00:00 — Reintroducing Dr. David Riedman03:25 — PART 1: What modern AI actually is15:39 — Why a confident-looking LLM output can still be wrong23:12 — PART 2: The cultural and social impact of AI35:09 — When the stakes are too high to outsource42:09 — When AI is used to plan a war50:54 — Model drift and how the guardrails erode58:23 — PART 3: AI and the business of jiu-jitsu01:03:11 — Automating the soul out of your gym01:14:20 — The trillion-dollar bet on a tool that may not work01:22:06 — Three futures and none of them are good01:29:46 — What gym owners and practitioners should actually do
Transcribe →A Man Broke Into My Apartment at 4 AM (feat. Andrea Tang)
May 1400:59:35Tap to summarizeIn 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 Premium Network. Three years ago, a serial home invader broke into Andrea's apartment at 4am and tried to sexually assault her in bed. She fought him off using day-one white belt basics. This is a conversation about that night, the years of court proceedings that followed, and what watching the BJJ community treat survivors has taught her about who actually has the courage to speak up.⸻👥 Featuring:- Steve Kwan — https://bjjmentalmodels.com- Andrea Tang — https://andreatangwrites.com⸻🧠 Topics Discussed:- Surviving a home invasion at 4am using basic jiu-jitsu- What the court process actually looks like for sexual assault survivors- Why women don't speak up, even with airtight cases- The "porcupine strategy" and why white belt basics matter most in real attacks- Why stranger violence and instructor abuse should not be treated as the same problem- The identity crisis that hits women martial artists when they become victims- How women in combat sports absorb toxic masculinity (and why it costs them)- Busting the "no woman could beat a man" myth⸻📖 Chapters:00:00 — Welcome and book plug02:29 — The night a stranger broke in06:02 — The aftermath and the marks it leaves09:26 — What the court process actually costs survivors12:52 — Why so few women ever speak up26:15 — When muscle memory wakes up before your brain does33:53 — The porcupine strategy: being a hard target39:50 — Stranger attacker vs. instructor abuser44:28 — When the victim is a martial artist48:56 — Toxic masculinity isn't a men's thing55:47 — What jiu-jitsu is actually for
Transcribe →How YOU Can Clean Up Jiu-Jitsu
May 501:03:41Tap to summarizeAfter 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 a student, actually do about this?" They get into voting with your wallet, the black belt blackmail trap, why we're great at sweating into each other's eyeballs but terrible at conversations, and Mike's framework for delivering hard feedback without lighting the gym on fire.🔗 Links Mentioned:• Magic BJJ — https://magicbjj.com• Rough Hands BJJ — https://roughhandsbjj.com• BJJ Mental Models — https://bjjmentalmodels.com⸻👥 Featuring:• Steve Kwan — https://bjjmentalmodels.com• Jesse Walker — https://roughhandsbjj.com• Mike Mahaffey — https://instagram.com/oldbastardbjj⸻🧠 Topics Discussed:• Why stewardship of the culture isn't just the gym owner's job• Voting with your wallet when your coach is the problem• The black belt blackmail trap and how to leave anyway• Why jiu-jitsu people are terrible at having actual conversations• Mike's framework for delivering hard feedback without making it personal• When to take it to the coach vs. when to take it public• Jesse's "spectrum of seriousness" and why proportionality matters• Culture guardianship vs. mat enforcer culture• Why culture is what you tolerate, not what you preach⸻📖 Chapters:00:00 — A regular student's guide to fixing the sport02:29 — Stewardship doesn't require owning a school03:31 — Vote with your wallet07:56 — Weeks from black belt and the school is rotten11:17 — Belt blackmail and the myth of permanent lineage14:45 — Jesse's wild Rio re-belting story18:49 — We sweat together but won't talk to each other20:27 — The basic social skills problem in jiu-jitsu26:46 — Why exit interviews and gym feedback both fail28:34 — How to receive feedback without killing the next one30:49 — Jesse's conflict aversion confession32:04 — Mike's framework: name the behaviour, use I-statements38:59 — Going public vs. going to the coach first43:47 — The spectrum of seriousness50:53 — Spotlighting the good in the community54:48 — Culture guardianship, not mat enforcement59:39 — Culture is what you tolerate
Transcribe →Why BJJ Camps Need Less Jiu-Jitsu
Apr 2401:02:41Tap to summarizeIn 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 of the recent Rough Hands spring camp in Louisville. The four of them argue that the best jiu-jitsu camps are not the ones that cram the most jiu-jitsu in, and that the celebrity instructor model has quietly priced out and burned out the people the sport depends on.🔗 Links Mentioned:- Gi to Sea (Jeff Shaw, Bernardo Faria, Dominyka Obelenyte) — https://bjjmentalmodels.com/events⸻👥 Featuring:- Steve Kwan — https://bjjmentalmodels.com- Jesse Walker — https://roughhandsbjj.com- Mike Mahaffey — https://www.instagram.com/oldbastardbjj- Niamh Bryn — https://www.instagram.com/snowblindbjj⸻🧠 Topics Discussed:- Why the best parts of a BJJ camp happen off the mat- The celebrity instructor model and how it prices out the average attendee- Why regional and lesser-known coaches often deliver more value- Filtering out bad actors, harassers, and extremists at camps and gyms- Cultural guardianship: why a head coach can't enforce culture alone- People who train jiu-jitsu instead of getting therapy- The collaborative camp format vs the one-marquee-instructor format- How travel and out-of-region training expose your blind spots⸻📖 Chapters:00:00 — Welcome and intros02:06 — Recap of the Rough Hands spring camp04:13 — Less jiu-jitsu, more community time05:21 — Niamh on jiu-jitsu peripheral events07:21 — Why getting out of your regional bubble matters09:15 — Mike: the friendships are why I keep training12:20 — The celebrity instructor problem20:54 — Reliable community as camp infrastructure26:34 — Healthcare, insurance, and traveling for jiu-jitsu28:36 — Filtering out the bad actors35:47 — What we actually mean by filtering41:00 — Niamh on training for the wrong reasons46:56 — Cultural guardianship at scale54:20 — The collaborative camp model58:07 — Plugs, outros, and where to find everyone1:00:53 — Plugging Gi to Sea with Jeff Shaw
Transcribe →How to Identify "Active Clubs" in BJJ
Apr 1701:06:03Tap to summarizeIn 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 and neo-Nazi movements since 2016 and also trains jiu-jitsu. They get into how active clubs and far-right groups use combat sports gyms as recruitment grounds, why most practitioners don't see it happening, and what coaches and gym owners can actually do about it.⸻🔗 Links Mentioned:- Southern Poverty Law Center — https://splcenter.org- Hannah Gais on Bluesky — https://bsky.app/profile/hannahgais.bsky.social- Louis Theroux Manosphere documentary — https://www.netflix.com/ca/title/81920687- Global Project Against Hate and Extremism — https://globalextremism.org⸻👥 Featuring:- Steve Kwan — https://bjjmentalmodels.com- Hannah Gais — https://splcenter.org⸻🧠 Topics Discussed:- How active clubs use gyms to recruit without revealing their intentions- The entryism playbook: how fringe movements infiltrate institutions- Warning signs that someone is testing the waters at your gym- Shifting the Overton window through sports and social media- Jake Shields, the Manosphere, and BJJ's far-right influencer problem- Where gym owners should draw the line- How people leave the movement, and what coaches can do to help⸻📖 Chapters:00:00 — Introducing Hannah Gais00:54 — Hannah's work at the SPLC04:18 — How big is the problem, really?07:01 — Why the movement has gone mainstream15:16 — The Overton window and how they shift it17:45 — Jake Shields and the sane-washing of extremists20:27 — Warning signs at your gym24:50 — Immigration as an entry point31:32 — What white nationalism actually means39:32 — Entryism: how they build from within43:05 — What gym owners should watch for47:57 — Hiding your power level53:31 — BJJ's far-right influencer problem55:35 — Where to draw the line01:00:21 — How people leave the movement01:03:54 — Hannah's links and the Manosphere documentary
Transcribe →