Forever White Belt

In this episode of Forever White Belt, host Adolfo Foronda sits down with Dr. Diana Wang, a Doctor of Physical Therapy and Certified Athletic Trainer based in Southern California, who is also a serious practitioner of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Diana's work with athletes ranging from Division 1 to the professional level has given her a unique perspective on common injuries and recovery strategies, a...

I'm excited to have Richard Bresler as our latest guest. Richard is a sixth-degree jiu-jitsu black belt and the author of "Worth Defending".Richard is widely recognized as the first American student of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and worked closely with Rorion Gracie for almost twenty years. He played an essential role in growing Jiu-Jitsu through the Gracie Garages, the Gracie Academy, and the...

In this episode of Forever White Belt, we are thrilled to have a returning friend of the show, Malachy Friedman. Malachy is a third-degree black belt under the legendary Ricardo Liborio, co-founder of American Top Team (ATT), and has over 20 years of experience in multiple fight disciplines including MMA, BJJ, boxing, Muay Thai, and wrestling. As the owner and operator of Black Label Martial Arts...

Today, we are honored to have a true legend of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with us, Eduardo Telles. Eduardo Telles is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt with over 30 years of experience in the art. He is a multiple-time world champion and is known for his innovative and unconventional approach to the sport, with his trademark "Turtle Guard" and "Octopus Guard" being some of the most distinctive and effectiv...

In this episode, we have Matt Serra black belt who also trained extensively under John Danaher, Jason Rau. Jason is the grappler's grappler, for whatever reason he seems to go under the radar of the general BJJ mainstream. Jason is well known in the professional community for his uber-technical and hazardous leg game. Although being sidelined by injury as of late Jason is looking to make his comeb...

Joining us on the show is none other than the renowned Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt and instructor to the instructors, Henry Akins. Henry is the 3rd black belt under the legendary Rickson Gracie and a former instructor at Rickson’s academy in Southern, California. Originally from Oklahoma, Henry now resides in Las Vegas, NV, and has been training Jiu Jitsu for 27 years. Henry is a highly respect...

Today on the show I have Sunshine aka Jonathan Fennell. You may know Sunshine as being one of the most famous Uke's in Jiu Jitsu from his appearances in Jiu Jitsu X instructionals. Sunshine currently holds the rank of brown belt under Keenan Cornelius. He’s also been active as a competitor, medaling at many local and regional competitions. He’s spent most of his time dedicated to learning not only...

Today on the show I have Kyle Boehm, Kyle is a professional grappler, and a 10th Planet Black Belt awarded by John Botello. As of this recording Kyle trains at Geo Martinez's 10th Planet Oceanside academy. Kyle has competed against the best in the world some of his accomplishments: 1st Place BJJ Fanatics Grand Prix (2019) 1st Place King Of The Mats Invitational (2019) 1st Place Subversiv Team Tour...

Today on the show I have the 2022 IBJJF No Gi World Middle and Absolute Champion, Elisabeth Clay. Elisabeth is a professional jiu-jitsu athlete as well as a black belt under Osvaldo Moizinho (Queixinho) and Samir Chantre, who represents the Ares BJJ Association. A prodigy at the age of 16,  the (then) Alaska-based athlete conquered the ADCC West Coast Trials (2017). Elisabeth continued her ri...

Today on the show I have Jay Zeballos. Jay is a 4th degree black belt under the legend, Jean Jacques Machado. Jay has been a full-time instructor since 2010, he teaches adult and youth classes at the JJM Headquarters in Woodland Hills, CA. Jay has assisted Jean Jacques with developing much of his instructional media, including designing and launching the first online training program for BJJ in 20...

Today on the show I have Leslie Gardineer. Leslie is a Black Belt, Pan American & Masters World Champion. Leslie is the co-owner of De Boa Jiu Jitsu in Surprise, AZ with Black Belt husband Andrew Gardineer.  Leslie has been teaching an all female BJJ class for over 9 years, averaging 20 women per class, and helps run the De Boa kid's BJJ classes as-well. Leslie runs the, "Just a Girl in a...

Today on the show I have Hunter Colvin. Hunter is a Triton Fight Center, first degree black belt under Piet Wilhelm. Hunter has competed with the who's who of elite Jiu Jitsu always putting on an exciting show. Some of his accomplishments, being the 2022 ADCC Trials Silver Medalist, IBJJF Black Belt: American Nationals Gold medalist, Pans, and Euros Bronze medalist, and is a 3-0 mma fighter. Just...

Today on the show I have Nicole Sullivan , commonly known as Nikki Sullivan. Nikki is a team ATOS Jiu Jitsu Black Belt under Andre Galvao. She is well known for her unorthodox grappling style, heavily founded on Sullivan’s trademark “ Panda Guard ” (inverted guard), Nikki became known to mainstream fans after her performances at the ADCC US West Coast Trials, EBI as well as the IBJJF World, Pan an...

Today on the show I have Professor Josef "Ze Cobra" Manuel. Josef is a 4th degree black belt under the legendary Robson Mora. Josef is a multiple time champion, gold medalist, and the owner of Cutting Edge BJJ in Harrison, New Jersey. There is so much gold to mine from the beginning to the end of this episode, it's a must listen for hobbyists, competitors, and academy owners alike. It's always an...

Today on the show I have Paul Elliott, Paul is an American Top Team  Watertown Black Belt under Mark Stevens. Paul also happens to be one of the fantastic instructors for BJJ Globetrotters. Paul is also the author of the amazing free BJJ online resource/blog SimpleBJJ.com . In this episode, we go deep into some of the mechanics of BJJ and we go into some fascinating conceptual conversations....

Sophia Cassella is a Brown Belt under Jason Rau, she is an elite female jiu-jitsu competitor known for scoring the fastest submission in a women's match on Who's Number One at 35 seconds, she has won several titles and tournaments, and is the current reigning Medusa champion as of this recording. Sophia has trained under some of the best teams Silver Fox BJJ, Tom DeBlass, and John Danaher. She com...

Today on the show I have Stephen "The Dream" Eakin . Stephen is a 10th Planet Black Belt under Richie "Boogyman" Martinez. In this episode Stephen walks us through his journey to black belt, leaving his small hometown in Georgia,  his MMA career from backyard fights to actual cage shows, how he joined the 10th Planet Freaks in San Diego only to go back to Georgia to start an academy just prio...

In this episode I have Zach Waldman. Zach is a 10th Planet Black Belt OG under Eddie Bravo, he trains at 10th Planet headquarters in Los Angeles. Zach also happens to be a professional entertainer, he's an amazing magician regularly performing at The Famous Magic Castle in Hollywood, he's a comedian who's performed at The Comedy Store. He regularly performs for celebrity and high end private parti...

Today on the show I have Aaron Johnson, commonly known as “Tex” Johnson. Tex is a BJJ black belt under Philip Smith and Murilo Santana. Tex has won all kinds of tournaments he is an IBJJF 3x Pan American No-Gi Champion, he's known for his aggressive and submission-oriented style with which he submitted some of the sport’s biggest stars and for that popular breaking the baseball bat meme. Tex certa...

Today on the show I have 10th Planets, 10th Female Black Belt under Eddie Bravo, Jennifer Dietrick . Jennifer is a fitness expert, health coach, martial artist, IFBB Pro athlete, personal trainer, and nutritionist. She's an accomplished Jiu Jitsu competitor and 10th planet headquarters coach. In the episode we discuss mindset, self talk, gymnastics, old school 10th planet stories and more. Just a...

Today on the show I have Ralph Gracie Brown Belt and Judo Black Belt Yoshi Yamaguchi . Yoshi is a super charismatic, booming personality, and heir apparent to the Kurt Osiander move of the week. This is fitting as Yoshi trained under Kurt for so long. You have got to see his videos on your social platform of choice, they are really fun to watch, the kid is a star. Yoshi is also quite insightful, h...

In this episode, I pontificate on our current economic crisis and its impact on the BJJ community. The focus of the talk takes the hypothetical positions of what an academy owner and a student could/should be considering at present to prepare for what is coming, or what I believe to be here. I'm pretty much spitballing in the episode and although I've put a lot of thought into it I'm sure I've mis...

Today on the show I have 10th Planet Decatur Black Belt, Matt Skaff . Matt is a black belt under Brandon McCaghren . Matt also hosts his own fantastic podcast called The Grappling Discourse. In this episode we discuss several interesting items such as when being an instructor is not for you, what is a Jiu Jitsu coach vs  an instructor, when to seek a coach, what it takes to be a coach, privat...

Today on the show I have first degree black belt under Eddie Bravo and one of the founders of 10th Planet Portland , Oregon, Phill Schwartz . Phill is one of the most underrated Jiu Jitsu minds in Jiu Jitsu at present. Phill is one of the “OG’s” in the 10th planet system, he was there during the early formation of the organization. This is an information dense episode I’m sure you will get value o...

Today on the show I have the honor of speaking to the no gi Jiu Jitsu phenom William Tackett. William is a 21 year old Black Belt under Rodrigo Cabral where he teaches and trains at Brazilian Fight Factory in Austin, TX. William has competed against the best BJJ athletes in the world, racking up wins against Andrew Wiltse, Tex Johnson, John Combs, Rousimar Palhares, Dante Leon, and many more. He r...