vrss Podcast

Puja Tomar didn't just make history. She made it from scratch. No gym. No coach. No blueprint. Just a dream she saw on a screen, a friend to train with in a park, and a stubbornness that outlasted every obstacle her culture, her country, and her circumstances could throw at her. In this episode, we sit down with the first Indian woman ever signed to the UFC - and we go all the way back to the...

This episode was recorded just days after Ben Woolliss found out he would be making his ONE Championship debut - stepping up on short notice to face former world champion John Lineker. He had just under two weeks notice. But this was 20 years in the making. In this episode, we break down what it actually means to be ready at the highest level of combat sports. Ben Woolliss is a two-time kickboxing...

What actually happens inside the body when fighters train hard, restrict food, dehydrate, and push past their limits - and how do you fuel champions without compromising long-term health? In this episode of the VRSS podcast, Liana sits down with Jordan Sullivan (aka The Fight Dietitian), one of the leading performance nutritionists in combat sports and the nutrition strategist behind multiple worl...

What actually happens in your brain when a movement finally clicks? And why does thinking about it sometimes make everything fall apart under pressure? In this episode of the VRSS podcast, we’re joined by Dr. Timothy Carroll, one of the world’s leading researchers in motor control and motor learning at the University of Queensland. Tim studies how humans learn to move, and his work challenges many...

In this episode of the vrss podcast, we sit down with Sarah Jeffries to unpack the science of sleep, brain health, and performance - and why sleep may be the most overlooked skill in combat sports and high-performance training. Sarah is a registered nurse with a Master’s in Nursing Science, a nurse educator, and a leading voice in sleep education. She breaks down what’s actually happening in your...

John Wayne Parr is one of the most influential figures in modern Muay Thai. In this episode, he looks back on a lifetime in the sport: from sleeping on wooden floors in Thailand as the only Westerner in camp, to becoming the first Australian to fight at Lumpini Stadium, to surviving 347 stitches across a career defined by resilience, reinvention, and an unshakeable love for the fight. We talk abou...

Pressure doesn’t mean something’s wrong - it means something matters. In this episode, world-leading performance psychologist Jonah Oliver explains why discomfort is the gateway to growth, and why trying to control your thoughts or emotions is the very thing that undermines performance. With over two decades working across elite sport and high-stakes environments - from Olympic athletes, UFC fight...

When everything starts to go wrong - bad calls, unfair moments, missed shots - what separates fighters who spiral from those who stay composed? Performance psychologist Dr Michelle Pain has spent decades helping athletes build mental toughness and regulate emotion under pressure. She helped establish one of Australia’s first sport psychology programs at Monash University, introduced psychological...

This episode was recorded on 8 October 2025, five days after ONE Championship Friday Fights 127. Tyson Harrison, one of the most exciting fighters in ONE Championship’s Bantamweight Division, sat down with us still carrying the weight of his loss - the silence, the anger, the processing. What followed wasn’t an interview. It was a conversation about truth, resilience, and what it means to face you...

This isn’t a story about opening a gym - it’s a story about building a community through chaos. When the Monash City Council shut down his new gym just a week after opening, Vinh Le , founder of Honour Martial Arts in Melbourne , faced the toughest fight of his career - one that had nothing to do with the ring. For nine months, his doors stayed closed while he battled permits, panic attacks, and t...

What if training isn’t about becoming your best self, but making sure your worst self can still win? That’s the philosophy of Luke Howard: a judo black belt, jiu-jitsu brown belt, and former pro MMA fighter who’s competed across nearly every discipline. By the time he was 18, he had qualified for the judo world championships. After breaking his back and enduring shoulder reconstructions, Luke shif...

What does it really mean to be “in the zone”? In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Sue Jackson, co-author of Flow in Sports with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and creator of the Flow State Scale and Dispositional Flow Scale - the tools researchers still use to study peak performance. Together, we explore: What flow is, and why it matters in sport and life. The nine dimensions of flow and how athletes c...

Olympic boxer Tony Jeffries - a 7-time British national champion and Olympic bronze medalist at the 2008 Beijing Games - shares the fight of his life: what happens when boxing ends. In this episode, Tony opens up about: - Competing on the Olympic stage while battling fear and self-doubt - The depression, drinking, and identity crisis after his forced retirement - Moving to Los Angeles, being rejec...

In the vrss podcast, we dive into the psychology, science, and soul of combat sports. We bring you conversations with people at the top of their fields: from world champions and legends of the game, to the doctors, neuroscientists, psychologists, and coaches pushing performance to new levels. At its heart, vrss means two things: You versus the fight, whatever form that takes. And the verses that g...