The BJJ Fanatics Podcast
Sports & Recreation Podcasts
Our mission with this podcast is to help YOU grow on the mats! We do this by presenting deep, insightful interviews every week with the best athletes, coaches and legends of BJJ and Grappling. Whether you're looking to expand your knowledge about technique, BJJ culture or the history of the art, every episode is loaded with advice and lessons from the best in the game. The host Ryan Ford conducts each interview in a casual setting, which makes it easy to see the human side of the stars of our sport and get to know their story while also learning more for your own development. New episodes are available every week, and we have over 500 episodes for you to enjoy as well, which is over 800 hours of entertainment and knowledge! We hope you enjoy it!
Location:
United States
Genres:
Sports & Recreation Podcasts
Description:
Our mission with this podcast is to help YOU grow on the mats! We do this by presenting deep, insightful interviews every week with the best athletes, coaches and legends of BJJ and Grappling. Whether you're looking to expand your knowledge about technique, BJJ culture or the history of the art, every episode is loaded with advice and lessons from the best in the game. The host Ryan Ford conducts each interview in a casual setting, which makes it easy to see the human side of the stars of our sport and get to know their story while also learning more for your own development. New episodes are available every week, and we have over 500 episodes for you to enjoy as well, which is over 800 hours of entertainment and knowledge! We hope you enjoy it!
Twitter:
@TheGCPodcast
Language:
English
Website:
http://www.grapplingcentral.com/
Episodes
BJJ Fanatics 668: Shawn Williams
1/6/2026
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!
Duration:01:29:05
BJJ Fanatics 667: Xmas with Kurt
12/23/2025
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.
Duration:01:04:48
BJJ Fanatics 666: Jeff Curran
12/2/2025
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
Duration:01:45:55
BJJ Fanatics 665: Roberto Godoi
11/18/2025
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!
Duration:01:18:11
BJJ Fanatics 664: Shawn Melanson
11/4/2025
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)
Duration:01:51:59
BJJ Fanatics 663: Robert Drysdale
10/14/2025
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
Duration:01:19:38
BJJ Fanatics 662: Chris Wojcik
10/1/2025
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!
Duration:01:33:50
BJJ Fanatics 661: Malachy Friedman
9/16/2025
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.
Duration:01:23:54
BJJ Fanatics 660: Roy Dean
9/2/2025
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!
Duration:01:33:59
BJJ Fanatics 659: Kurt Osiander
8/19/2025
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!
Duration:01:33:22
BJJ Fanatics 658: Justin Flores
8/5/2025
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.
Duration:01:03:43
BJJ Fanatics 657: Rick Ellis
7/15/2025
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
Duration:01:13:58
BJJ Fanatics 656: Renato Canuto
7/1/2025
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!
Duration:01:46:11
BJJ Fanatics 654: Murilo Mustamante
6/17/2025
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.
Duration:01:25:41
BJJ Fanatics 655: Eric Silver
6/17/2025
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.
Duration:01:19:44
BJJ Fanatics 653: Brian Glick
5/20/2025
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
Duration:01:41:21
BJJ Fanatics 652: Jason Rau
5/6/2025
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!
Duration:01:26:52
BJJ Fanatics 651: Kyle Sleeman
4/15/2025
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!
Duration:01:28:23
BJJ Fanatics 650: Kurt Osiander
4/1/2025
Kurt is back! He talks about his health, lifting weights, "old guy" Jiu-Jitsu and conspiracy theories. He also takes questions from listeners, which include dealing with people who fight dirty, dealing with gym drama, dumb tattoos and learning to teach.
Duration:01:09:23
BJJ Fanatics 649: Matt Castaneda
3/17/2025
Matt Castaneda is a white belt who recently used Jiu-Jitsu he learned from BJJ Fanatics instructionals to defend himself and protect others from a violent attacker at his job. He shares the full story in detail!
Duration:00:55:44