The BJJ Fanatics Podcast

Demian Maia discusses performance anxiety in combat sports. He explains how it impacted him early in his career and how he overcame it. He also talks about the love/hate relationship elite athletes can have with their sport due to the pressures of winning.

Jake O'Driscoll joins the show to talk about creating a training environment that breeds champions. He talks about the importance of coaches dedicating themselves to studying the game to help their athletes succeed. He also talks about straight ankle locks

Alberto Crane returns to talk about his life in Jiu-Jitsu since being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. He talks about how exploring Neurology has helped him and lessons he's learned. He also talks about the early days of being an American in Brazil!

Colton Crawford is a BJJ Brown Belt and the banjo player for the very successful Bluegrass band The Dead South. He talks about learning how to learn and the similarities between pursuing music and Jiu-Jitsu! 

Dallas Niles returns to talk about teaching and the fact that you do NOT have to be a champion to be an elite instructor. He also talks about heavy metal and getting sick overseas, and the value of simplifying your game. 

BJJ Black Belt Michael Heinz joins show show to talk about how meditation has impacted his journey in the art. He explains how to use meditation concepts before, during and after training to achieve better results. 

Glyn Powditch is a leading voice in Jiu-Jitsu on breathing and breathwork. He explains how something as simple as learning how to manage your breathing during training and competition can have a tremendous impact on your cardio and performance.

Shawn Williams joins the show for the first episode of 2026! The topic for this episode is how to coach athletes. Shawn talks about providing relevant information, game-planning, managing nerves and strategy from the coach's chair. He also talks take downs!

Kurt joins us for the final episode of 2025! We talk about the potential alien craft near Earth, conspiracy theories, and how AI consistently fools Kurt on Instagram. Kurt also takes questions from the listeners and spreads Christmas cheer. 

Jeff Curran returns to share what its like to start and run a grappling tournament from scratch and life after professional fighting. He also opens up about growing up in poverty and a violent home and how Jiu-Jitsu changed the direction of his life

Roberto Godoi returns to talk about competition for Masters athletes. He covers mindset, conditioning, tactics and conserving energy. He also explains how being "starstruck" when competing against a famous athlete is something to be completely avoided!

Shawn Melanson joins the show to talk about running a gym specifically for competitors, how anxiety has impacted him on and off the mats, and developing take downs. He also shows his impressive reptile collection (check out the video episode on YouTube) 

Robert Drysdale joins the show to share his latest research on the history of BJJ. He also discusses the ways that commercialization has helped and hurt the art and his thoughts on professional grappling's influence on the culture and future of BJJ

Chris Wojcik joins the show to talk about goal setting, finding purpose, the value of regret and removing self-doubt from your mind. He also talks about his beginnings as a wrestler, his passion for writing and his recent performance at CJI 2! 

Malachy Friedman returns to talk about his recent shift back into coaching high level athletes. He talks about competition mindset, how to gameplan for specific opponents and implementing your game intelligently. 

Roy Dean returns to talk about ego-less training, the balance of ego for competitors and how to process losses in a healthy way. He also details his nomadic teaching lifestyle and talks about his recent trip to Japan, where he trained at the Kodokan!

Kurt is back! In this episode, Kurt responds to lots of questions from the listeners, we talk music and the passing of the legend Ozzy Osbourne, Kurt breaks out his Boston accent and he talks about his desire to start a new cooking show!     

JFlo is back! In this episode he talks about building good habits on your feet. He shares valuable insights for older or injured grapplers that breaks the traditional Wrestling meta; to not fight for positions so hard and yet still be dangerous.

Rick Ellis joins the show to discuss Jiu-Jitsu for older guys! He talks about what your goals should be and reframing your mentality as you age on the mats. He also talks about pitfalls to avoid like not regulating your intensity and comparing to others

Renato Canuto joins the show fresh off his professional MMA debut! He talks about his experience stepping into the cage, balancing grappling competitions with his MMA training, and gives a detailed breakdown of the 100 men vs a gorilla question! 

Living legend Murilo Bustamante joins the show to talk about his dedication to guiding the next generation of competitors and students. We discuss "old school" BJJ, creating pressure and surfing. Murilo also talks about learning to be patient as a coach.

Eric Silver is one of the early Americans to study Jiu-Jitsu and one of the first to open a gym on the east coast. He talks about learning directly from Rickson Gracie, challenge matches, how to preserve energy as an older practitioner and Half Guard.

Brian Glick returns to talk about the importance of strong communication skills as a teacher, the skill of simplifying complex concepts to make them more digestible and why he chose Judo over Wrestling for BJJ. He also breaks down escaping back control

Jason Rau returns to talk about growing his schools, the ethics and etiquette of filming training sessions, and how to track your own progress on the mats. He also gives a deep breakdown on his guard passing system!

Kyle "The Bull" Sleeman joins the show to talk about the BJJ scene in Canada, making competition second nature, developing a well rounded game and weight training for Jiu-Jitsu. He also details the road to becoming the #6 ranked athlete in his category!