JIU JITSU LOU

Philip Wheeler is a Purple Belt, and has been in martial arts for most of his life and sees that competing is a fun day out, and a wonderful opportunity to make friends. He considers everyone he meets in BJJ as part of his wider family.   Philip helps fix people with a wide range of experience in Chinese and other medicines. He has a broad range of skills in the health industry and continues...

Ben Johnston is a Black Belt training out of London Grapple who started with Muay Thai and continued to develop his ground game with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. After changing clubs some time ago Ben started to see and appreciate BJJ with many more dimensions to improve his game.   There are some doppelgangers in this community and Ben has at least one in Gavin Stewart. When they happened to be matc...

Molly Lindsay is a Blue Belt, made her debut on ENYO 7 and joined Team South for ENYO 8 in April 2025. Molly has looked up to Vanessa English as a role model in the sport of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, together with Hayley Carter, Maddison Murphy, Gabby Kuliga and Zoe Lundy.   Molly has been in the sport of MMA for over 10 years and more recently BJJ she shares her deeper soul experience of martial...

Ste Henshall is a Black Belt, Founder of Ikigai Submission Grappling and Henshall Brazilian jiu Jitsu. Ste started his Brazilian Jiu Jitsu career accidentally when he thought he was walking into a Thai Boxing Gym. Today he still enjoys teaching and coaching in martial arts and supports to aim for us all to find something we enjoy doing.   It was only when Ste was promoted to Purple Belt that...

Sean Brewer is the Owner and Coach of Resilience Jiu Jitsu in Liverpool, a Brown Belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and lives and trains with a stoma bag. Sean talks about the way he approaches coaching and making Jiu Jitsu as accessible as possible for people in his area.   Sean's story involves being told he may never train BJJ again after surgery due to Crohn's Disease. He really does demonstrate...

Torrie O'neil-Strong is a Brown Belt, Founder of The Mighty Dames which is now almost a decade in existence. The Mighty Dames started as a Facebook group to be cheerleaders for supporting self-esteem and body confidence for women in the sport of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Torrie speaks of her BJJ journey and how she began to feel more comfortable in herself, travelling around the US and winning competit...

Josh Aghdam is a Blue Belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and started his love for the sport with a dream to be a professional wrestler. It turns out that his Dad was a high level freestyle wrestler. Unpicking the wrestling game to develop became a priority for Josh, however being able to sweep people from the upper body rather than from the legs became part of his advantage in BJJ.   Josh and his bu...

Amy Derwanz is a Brown Belt and was obsessed with Spong Bob, Sandy the Squirrel and Kara-te back when she was 4 years old, which started her martial arts dream. Amy now runs a Jiu Jitsu gym in Yorkshire that has respect for men and women in the area.   Amy has created a women's only camp that is affordable for women who are new or experienced in Jiu Jitsu, and is supported by a team around he...

Amber Whitston is a newly promoted Yellow and Black Belt training out of Southern Quarter Jiu Jitsu. Amber started training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu when she saw members of her family training and she particularly likes training and competing in a blue Gi!   Amber trains BJJ every day after school, coaching, training and cleaning mats after classes, and has a dream to travel and continue training...

Chris Fensom is one of the most experienced Jiu Jitsu commentators in the UK, a Black Belt and comes to the show with a vast amount of preparation and experience. Chris comes in hot with a list of 10 Controversial Jiu Jitsu Opinions.   Topics: Grapple Worlds Commentating Meta of Jiu Jitsu Jiu Jitsu Belts Creativity Positional Training Long-Term Goals Coaches are not Therapists   GO FOLLO...

Jake Dante is a fellow podcaster, curator of BJJ Wiki and a Blue Belt learning Brazilian Jiu Jitsu on and off the mats. Jake shares his journey of showcasing great BJJ content and crediting the original content creators. Whilst he started training 11 years ago with one class a week, has increased his commitment over time together with consideration of his family. He truly has fun on the mats, and...

Petra Russell is Ranked Number 4 in the World at Super Heavyweight, and Number 15 at Blue Belt overall. She is a fan of NoGi and uses her positive mindset and mental preparation to win her matches. We talk about training for longevity, and finding ways to focus on physical and mental wellbeing in the sport of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.   There are so many fantastic heavyweight women showing up in t...

Congratulations to newly promoted Adam Forster who is now a Brown Belt, and has lost all characteristics of a 'Purple Belt'.   Adam is a Viral BJJ Content Creator, because he broke his foot in an Absolute tournament in 2025! In that time he sat mat side to continue learning, and also started creating Jiu Jitsu content.   Adam shares his stories throughout his BJJ Belt promotions, competi...

Stuart 'Stoomboy' Henderson is very much a voice in Jiu Jitsu and tells how he received his nickname. Stoomboy is the host and one of the main organisers of Young Subs. Young Subs have now hosted 11 shows in just over one year, and has big plans for an incredible Summer Camp.   Stuart is a Purple Belt that started many years ago and just hasn't stopped. He loves the Gi game and won many compe...

Chris Milton is a Brown Belt and a very significant part of the community that is Dragon's Academy. Chris shows up at many competitions and is a true competitor, unlike some of us hobbyists that occasionally show up at comps. He shares some incredible stories that will keep you engaged throughout the episode.   Chris has a skill of working out how to do things differently, especially if you h...

E122: Yeliz Akwei - Blue Belt   Yeliz Akwei collaborated with her husband for holding her Muay Thai pads in exchange for starting Jiu Jitsu. After a confusing start in the sport, her interest was sparked by the Omoplata as it felt fun and intriguing. Continuing to do the hard thing that is learning Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is something parents do, and Yeliz is one of those people. Balancing the pe...

Zoë Swift is a White Belt training out of Parity Martial Arts and so far has lost every match to submission. She shows up with resilience and tenacity to keep going on her competitive journey despite the initial setbacks. Zoë really is a role model for any of us in the early part of our BJJ careers. She also shares challenges in decision making for her study and work life.   Training has gi...

Ellie Osborne began training in martial arts as a teenager and is now a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Purple Belt and women’s coach at Ascend Jiu Jitsu. Now in her 40s, Ellie still brings the same rebellious spirit to her training — channeling it through sport, challenge, and the BJJ community she loves.   In this episode, we talk openly about what it’s like to train as women in our forties, including...

Libby Genge faces the biggest match of her BJJ career against Sarah Galvo on Polaris 36 at Fairfield Halls Croydon on Saturday 7th March 2026. Having met Libby for KAIROS 3 she truly is already a winner, having walked away from that tournament with £2k back in 2025. Libby started her hobby life in dancing and quickly progressed to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu with pink and purple Gi's.   Libby shares...

Leo Coates is a four-stripe Blue Belt and started Brazilian Jiu Jitsu back in 2021, and comes from a Rugby background. Leo previously trained Judo as a child and that was his only introduction to martial arts. Due to injury Leo moved from his 20 years in Rugby to Jiu Jitsu, and wishes he started competing at White Belt.   Leo has a whole career based in the coffee industry and decided in...

Graham Barlow is a Black Belt and co-author of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu - The Ultimate Illustrated Guidebook with Seymour Yang. Graham talks about the collaboration for the beautiful illustrated book specifically aimed at White Belts in the sport of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, however we all love our copies, regardless of rank.   Graham talks about his background as a tech journalist, and his transition...

Josh Mensah is a Brown Belt and founder of The Grapple League. Supported by an incredible team they host events with a similar format to Grappling Industries with Round Robins. Josh explains some of the terminology and rules for competitions, especially for those of us that don't fully understand what goes on.   Josh started his Brazilian Jiu Jitsu journey in 2014. and shares some of the chal...

Rich Harding is a Purple Belt fighting out of Parity Martial Arts in Southampton, and is up on Coastal Combat Festival on Saturday 7th February in Dorchester Prison. Rich is a long-time martial artist, and a 20 year MMA coach. He is also a multi-title holding martial artist in K1, Thai Boxing and Unlicensed Boxing.   Rich is a left-handed striker, has an exciting style and talks of his succes...

Leigh Ibberson has recently been promoted to Purple Belt and his BJJ career is looking at a very exciting over the coming year. Leigh is the owner and founder of Shaftesbury Submission Grappling based in a small town in Dorset, UK. Leigh was inspired by the Joe Rogan Experience to start training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu some years ago, and continues to listen to great podcasts, including the Jiu Jitsu...

Emily Eyles joins the show for a second time after her first appearance in November 2023. She is now a Black Belt, recently promoted under Pedro Bessa. Emily has always been an avid traveler and competes all over the world. She talks about the cost of competing and inspires the rest of us to compete in Europe, especially if we're based near an airport.   Since becoming a Black Belt, Emily sha...