The Sonny Brown Breakdown

Reid Reale is a BJJ Black Belt who also hols a master’s degree in dietetics and a PhD in sports nutrition. His PhD thesis was entitled “Optimising …

I talk to Matt Kwan who is a BJJ Black Belt under Rob Biernacki and also Co-Hosts the podcast BJJ Mental Models with his brother Steve Kwan. We discuss concepts of belt tests and grading with the differences between …

I talk to Chris Paines who describes himself as a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt who has never done Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He started training …

I talk to Priit Mihkelson who is a BJJ Black Belt with a unique take on how BJJ can be taught and learned. We discuss how Priit structures his class …

I talk to Vlad Koulikov who is a Master of Sport in Sambo aswell as a BJJ & Judo Black Belt who grew up in Russia and before moving to America …

I talk to Robert Degle who is a BJJ Black Belt who trains under John Danaher and is also a philosophy major. We discuss how he started BJJ in the blue basement with Danaher, His start with philosophy and existentialism …

I talk to Ruadhán MacFadden. He runs a project titled The Hero with a Thousand Holds which looks at the culture and practice of folk wrestling styles …

I talk to Robert Drysdale. He is a storied competitor, ADCC Champion, Mundials Champion and has also coached many other legends of the sport. Also a History major, he has spent his recent time delving into the history …

I talk to Steve Kwan. Steve is one half of the excellent podcast BJJ Mental Models, he is also a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt and works professionally at a tech company improving efficiency in process and operations. …

I talk to Matt Thornton. Matt is the founder of Straight Blast Gym International or SBG and is a 4th-degree BJJ Black Belt under Chris Hauter. We discuss how coming up in the 90s lead him to emphasise training against …

I interview Rob Biernacki of Island Top Team. He also runs BJJconcepts.net, and we discuss his thoughts on BJJ pedagogy, different teaching and cognitive learning strategies, gamification of jiu-jitsu drills which he …

I interview Lachlan Giles. We discuss how his persistence over years of competition culminated in things coming together for him on the day to take …

I talk to Dr Alex Channon, a Senior Lecturer in Physical Education and Sport Studies at the University of Brighton and on the board of The Martial Arts Studies Research Network. He also manages a group called Love …

I talk to Jonathan Brookins. Jonathan is a veteran of the WEC where he faced Jose Aldo and the UFC where he was the winner of The Ultimate Fighter Season 12 where Georges St Pierre coached him along with assistant …

I talk to Jeremy Horn, a storied MMA pioneer and legend with over 170 fights to his name, even fighting on the weekend where he was victorious in his professional boxing debut. He has fought a whos who of MMA greats …

In this episode, I talk to Alexander Volkanovski. Alex is the current UFC featherweight champion. We discuss what it was like as an amateur athlete …

I talk to Adisa Banjoko aka Adisa the Bishop. He is the creator of the Hip Hop Chess Federation, Author of a book titled Bobby, Bruce and the Bronx and host of the Podcast called The Bishop Chronicles.

The Hip Hop Chess …

In this episode, I talk to Jon Fitch. Jon was the World Series of Fighting Welterweight Champion, Has fought for the UFC title against George St Pierre and also fought for the Bellator title against Rory Macdonald which …

I talk to Greg Nelson, who was the coach for UFC champions Brock Lesnar, Sean Sherk and Rose Namajunas. He is a 4th Degree BJJ Blackbelt, Division 1 …

I talk to Brian Ebersole, a veteran of over 70 MMA fights, including a memorable run in the UFC. We discuss his early beginnings in the American …

I talk to Bruce Hoyer. He coaches out of a small town in Dakota that has produced 7 UFC fighters and uses innovative teaching strategies including the flipped classroom model of instruction. The flipped classroom is an …

I talk to Dr Ian Dunican, a sleep researcher who has worked with elite combat sports athletes at the Australian Institute of Sport on strategies to help optimise sleep, recovery and performance and who is himself a …

I talk to Matt Lindland, the head coach of the USA Greco Roman wrestling team, Olympic silver medalist & MMA Pioneer. We discuss his experience …

I talk to Brandon McCaghren or B-MAC from 10th Planet Decatur, Alabama. We discuss his start travelling from his home town to train with Eddie Bravo in LA and the value of constraints vs operating in the wild. How the …

I talk to Rory from RVV BJJ, who takes a methodical approach to explain the science behind your jiu-jitsu. He explains the critical principle of alignment which breaks down into posture, structure and base. An …

I talk to Andy from School of Grappling. We discuss how systems theory, complexity and chaos can be underlying forces in your grappling training but …

I talk to Wim Deputter who is Belgium based Black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. We discuss how Jiu-Jitsu is a principle that means a Boxer could be …

I talk to Jake Shannon who is the founder of Scientific Wrestling and The King of Catch Wrestling Tournaments. We discuss how the history of submission grappling can trace its roots back to bored English miners who …

I talk to Daniele Bolelli who is a writer, martial artist and a university professor. He is the host of multiple podcasts including the Drunken …

I talk to Luke Martin from Sydney West Martial Arts. Luke is an instructor I have personally trained with, and for the last few years, he has been pursuing ways of bringing the world-class Danaher grappling system into …

In this episode, I talk to Andy from the School of Grappling. The School of grappling Instagram and website has many great articles that look at …

I talk to Priit Mihkelson of 3D Treening in Estonia. He is a BJJ Black Belt under SBG founder Matt Thornton and has done many seminars for the BJJ Globetrotter organisation. We discuss his unique approach to teaching …

In this episode I talk to Jahred Dell of ArticulateBJJ.com where he writes excellent articles about the art, sport and lifestyle of Brazilian …