This week we explore the globetrotting side of BJJ with Oli from Elements BJJ. Oli gives us some background and a look into the influences on his life, before jumping into the matsurfing trip he took from Hong Kong, up the eastern coast of China, and through Asia to reach the Middle East. Check out his journey training BJJ along the silk road, along with a couple of the wilder stories about this travels - hope you enjoy ..read more

This week we speak to John Hathaway, British UFC fighter, Catch Wrestling world champion, and co-owner of Umbra Performance. We discuss the state of British grappling, the reason for his time away from MMA, a bit about his origin story and his plans for the future. Hope you enjoy! Check out all of our links and material here: https://linktr.ee/combat_thoughts  ..read more

This week we get Ed 'Party Bear' Ingamells on. We initially met at the Catch Wrestling World Championships, and we got Ed on to discuss transitioning to Catch Wrestling as a BJJ player. We get into some interesting topics around learning modalities and the sorts of aptitudes that suit grappling, discuss the work of Pritt Mihkelson, Lachlan Giles, and Andy from School of Grappling, as well how Ed is going to filter out his students to create a super squad, and why kimuras don't work. Hope you enjoy!  ..read more

edit: so clearly missed the mark on this one for a lot of people. I'm not discussing people who live or work in a dangerous environment, or people's initial reason to train. and I'm not saying that being able to defend yourself is a useless thing. this is in reference to people's ongoing primary training motivation, who are not constantly in danger (which I think applied to most bjj practicioners, but I may be wrong) - otherwise they wouldn't be a warrior in a garden at all  There's a famous proverb that has become something of a joke in BJJ circles: 'It's better to be a warrior in a gar ..read more

MMA is a sport, but not a specific rules-set. As a relatively young sport there have been several iterations of the rules in recent years, and even now there are noticeable differences between organisations in the West such as the UFC and Bellator, and organisations in the East such as Rizin and ONE. We look at the differences between the rule-sets, how they affect the ways we train the sport and how they affect the ways in which we watch, consume, and understand it as spectators.  ..read more

Priit Michelson is best known as the founder of 'Defensive BJJ', along with his Estonian-blunt lessons at BJJ Globetrotters camps. One of the greatest minds in the sport at the moment, we speak to him about his system of BJJ, some of his personal history and philosophy, and dig into some issues of how Jiu Jitsu has been taught for many years ..read more

Ian O'Neil is a content producer for Severe MMA and a real fountain of knowledge in the martial arts world, with a competitive amateur career in his own right. We discuss with him MMA media and the role it plays, his experiences in the early days  of Irish MMA, and how mixed martial arts have really helped him on a personal level ..read more

This week we return to Exile gym, this time with Gareth Blair, one of the founding members. We discuss the early, experimental days of British Muay Thai, the influence of Bruce Lee on Gareth's development, and his personal approach to coaching.  ..read more

edit: so clearly missed the mark on this one for a lot of people. I'm not discussing people who live or work in a dangerous environment, or people's initial reason to train. and I'm not saying that being able to defend yourself is a useless thing. this is in reference to people's ongoing primary training motivation, who are not constantly in danger (which I think applied to most bjj practicioners, but I may be wrong) - otherwise they wouldn't be a warrior in a garden at all  There's a famous proverb that has become something of a joke in BJJ circles: 'It's better to be a warrior in a gar ..read more

This week we interview JP from elements BJJ. JP got into BJJ at about 39 years old with very little in the way of an athletic upbringing. At 48 he had achieved his black belt, which is a tremendous achievement, especially for someone with a full life to manage outside of BJJ. We discuss JPs journey, how he got into the sport, what inspired him to start, and why he loves it so much. Hope you enjoy ..read more