Fighting Matters
Fighting fascism and the far-right in combat sports like MMA and BJJ.
Episodes
86 episodes
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 White House lawn for America's 250th anniversary. Neither of them watched ...
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 White House South Lawn on June 14th. Four martial artists who spent decades...
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 figured out it pays. They start with Sean Strickland's AI video of himself ...
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-certified dermatologist and BJJ practitioner. They get into what happened at ...
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 dissertation focused on measuring the accuracy of large language model outp...
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 Premium Network. Three years ago, a serial home invader broke into Andrea's ...
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 a student, actually do about this?" They get into voting with your wallet...
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 of the recent Rough Hands spring camp in Louisville. The four of them argue...
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 and neo-Nazi movements since 2016 and also trains jiu-jitsu. They get into ...
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 founder. HEMA had a serious white supremacist problem, and they actually did so...
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 continues. Conflicts in the Middle East can turn luxury activities into financ...
Jiu-Jitsu Isn't Therapy
In this episode of Fighting Matters, Steve Kwan is joined by Matt Tansey and Daniel Millstein: two licensed mental health professionals who also train jiu-jitsu. They attack one of the most repeated claims in the sport ("jiu-jitsu is my therapy...
The Invisible Heart of BJJ (w/ Valerie Worthington)
In this episode of the Fighting Matters podcast, host Steve Kwan sits down with Valerie Worthington: BJJ black belt, professor of educational psychology, and one of the sport's most thoughtful voices on culture and ethics. They dig into why the...
How MAGA is Using Religion to Go to War
Stephan Kesting and Jeff Shaw explore the terrifying consequences of MAGA coopting Christianity and using misinterpretations of biblical ideas like the rapture, the apocalypse, and end times theology as justification for going to war with Iran....
Discord & Roblox: The pipeline to school shootings (w/ David Riedman)
School violence researcher and Homeland Security expert David Riedman joins Steve and Jesse to break down the radicalization pipeline feeding modern school shootings. David covers how isolated kids get pulled into nihilistic violence through de...
Gordon Ryan & The Epstein Fallout
In this Presidents Day episode, Fighting Matters connects two explosive stories: Gordon Ryan’s inappropriate DMs and the growing fallout from the Epstein file releases. We debate accountability, conspiracy culture, institutional corruption, and...
Martial Artists Should Get Political
In this episode of the Fighting Matters podcast, hosts Steve Kwan and Jesse Walker are joined by Joshua Peters: martial arts instructor, former school teacher, and current candidate for Anne Arundel County Council. They explore why local politi...
How the USA is Trying to Steal Canada's Oil
In this episode of Fighting Matters, hosts Stephan Kesting and Jeff Shaw are joined by Tyson LaRone (The Warrior Philosopher) to unpack the renewed push for Alberta separatism, its connections to Trump and MAGA, and the growing influence of U.S...
How Hate Found a Home in Jiu-Jitsu & MMA
This interview is an excerpt from Dark Martial Arts History, an 8-part audio documentary chronicling the history and rise of extremism in martial arts like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and MMA. The rest of the documentary is...
The collapse of Atos (and what comes next)
The allegations against Andre Galvao, and subsequent collapse of Atos, have sent shockwaves through the Jiu-Jitsu world. In this episode, Steve Kwan and Jesse Walker unpack the allegations against Atos leadership, the victim statements that tri...
You Can’t "Keep Politics Out" Anymore
The idea of “keeping politics out” is no longer tenable, especially in Jiu-Jitsu and martial arts communities. Against the backdrop of escalating political violence, institutional breakdowns, and global instability, we explore the civic respons...
The Minnesota Shootings and What Comes Next
Mother, poet, and US citizen Renée Good was shot by ICE on January 7, closely followed by the shooting of ICU Nurse and US citizen Alex Pretti on January 24th, apparently by members of the Border Patrol. Both Renée and Alex were immediately den...
Racism Can’t Be Ignored in Jiu-Jitsu Gyms (w/ Deon Thompson & Stephen Hall)
Racism, extremism, and exclusion aren’t abstract problems in martial arts. They show up in real gyms, affect real people, and shape who feels safe on the mats. In this episode of Fighting Matters, hosts Mike Mahaffey and Jesse Walker are joined...