Johnny Yaps

I first met Perry a couple of years ago at his second MMA fight. It's amazing to see how much people can grow in a short period of time. I actually did a little interview with him backstage and he was such a quiet kid that Josh Culibao (as his corner) was there poking fun at him.

From living in Japan & starting his own little backyard fight promotion to deciding to come back to Australia by himself to find his own way, Perry is a committed guy chasing his goals.

Links:

https://www.instagram.com/perry.jamesprivate/

Hi Everyone!

In this episode I sat down with Coopar 'Rush' Royal. A talented mixed martial artist who is fighting this weekend at One Championship!

People often think that Coopar has a traditional martial arts background, however his 'style' is actually from him incorporating the movements of his favourite fighters into his own game.

Growing up in Rockhampton and not having the best influences around him as he was going through school and it's the realisation that he was always chasing the 'rush' that led him to find martial arts.

Anyway, make sure you tune in and watch Coopar in action again this Friday!

Links:

https://www.instagram.com/rushthefighter/

https://www.onefc.com/athletes/coopar-royal/

I recently caught up with Jake O'Driscoll when he was in Sydney for Subversion.

It was great to be able to sit down with him and chat about life, from family to his experience leaving AFL to pursue Jiu Jitsu, starting his own academy, picking a fight with Sonny Bill Williams and much more

I'm really blessed to have conversations like this, I apologise for the technical issue with the video, the most important thing is that the audio is all there, so I hope you enjoy this conversation and listening to the insights that Jake shared.

Links:

https://www.instagram.com/jakeod_essencebjj/

https://essencebjj.com.au/

https://linktr.ee/essencebjj

In this episode I sat down with Josh O'brien, a young hungry MMA athlete who is not afraid to chase his dreams.

I enjoy chatting with people at all different stages of the journey as anyone who has chased something would know that feeling of dreaming big and trying to find a way to put it together.

I actually commentated Josh's first fight alongside @SonnyBrown at Wollongong Wars and it's interesting to reflect on Josh being so active despite being early in his career in the sport.

If anything, I also found that this conversation made me even more interested to follow his journey. There are plenty of people who would dismiss other people for having big aspirations, however I think one of the exciting things in life is that there are no guarantees of how it all pans out.

Shout out to Rival Gym Castle Hill for letting us use their space to record - apologies if there is a bit of background noise!

Links:

https://www.instagram.com/joshobrien11/

https://www.tapology.com/fightcenter/fighters/386163-joshua-o-brien

In this episode I sat down with James O'Leary of Undisputed Performance & Rehab, a qualified physio, PT and strength and conditioning coach who also runs these 'project' style challenges that allow people to build strength / skill, get fit among likeminded individuals.

The other guest in this episode was Cameron Scott, a registered Nurse who is a Bobsled (bobsleigh) pilot who is looking to compete at the olympics in this crazy sport.

I think for most people our introduction to the sport is the movie 'Cool Runnings' and it was really cool (pun intended) to chat with the boys to talk about the sport, how the strength & conditioning / training impacts their performance in the sport and also to just see 2 guys who have been friends for a long time interact with each other.

Enjoy!

Links:

https://www.instagram.com/cameronscott333/

https://www.instagram.com/jamesolearyphysio/

https://www.instagram.com/undisputedpr/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/670687475206765/?ref=share&mibextid=K35XfP

https://undisputedpr.com/

In this episode I sat down with Janice 'Ling Ling', a training partner and friend who I've had plenty of great conversations with.

It's always interesting to find out more about people so aside from knowing her skills in the training room it was fun to chat with her about a broad range of topics, from her experiences with skydiving to motorbikes, Janice is the kind of person to go deep when she gets into something.

She's also full of great stories from punching her skydiving instructor in the face to having a motorbike getting set on fire to writing articles for a men's magazine.

Janice also creates some ridiculous (yet informative) jiu jitsu content and is available for jiu jitsu coaching!

Enjoy!

Links:

https://www.instagram.com/cutiep1e666/

In this episode I sat down with Rebecca Fitzgerald, an engineer, potter, mother of twins, time traveler (jokes!) & more.

I know Bec through Jiu Jitsu as she's a serial competitor who just loves the sport. It's great to see people getting bitten by the combat sports bug at any stage in life. That said, life isn't always easy. From experiencing difficulties with fertility to going through rounds of IVF to a pleasant shock of ending up with twins, it's nice that Bec was willing to share her experience on such a difficult topic.

Bec also started her working life as an accountant, before walking away from a career with a 'big 4' accounting firm to pursue engineering.

We also chat about sustainability, her pottery ventures and a whole bunch more!

Enjoy!

Links:

https://www.instagram.com/becfitzjitz/

https://www.instagram.com/hi_there_chuchu/

Hi Everyone,

In this episode, I got to sit down with Ben10 Nguyen, a former top 8 UFC Flyweight and it was really cool to actually be able have Brian Ebersole sit in with us at the start to talk about this crazy moment that changed the trajectory of Ben's entire life.

From growing up in Sioux Falls, South Dakota to being the non-academic sibling, Ben had been fighting for a while and was at this point of deciding whether he was going to settle into a more 'normal' life when he received a call from Brian Ebersole at Tiger Muay Thai.

Ben also went viral for his fight against Julian Wallace and was featured on Lawrence Kenshin's Striking Breakdowns and it was cool to listen to his mindset going into that fight.

Nowadays Ben spends most of his time coaching and is a great wealth of knowledge for MMA - if you're interested in those things check out the links below!

Enjoy!

Links:

https://www.instagram.com/ben10mma/

https://www.instagram.com/strykemma

In this episode I sat down with Danie Dynamite, a content creator who also has an upcoming Combat Jiu Jitsu match at Fusion Fighting Championship.

From a negative experience in school that led her to working in hospitality and event management to getting into rave music, DJing and through to dog grooming, Danie eventually found her way to Wimp 2 Warrior (now called Train Alta)

Little did she know that this little program would change her life and ignite her passion from combat sports and Jiu Jitsu.

It's always difficult to align the things you love with the things we have to do for work, so it's also pretty cool to see other people making a go of the things that they love. As such, seeing Danie get opportunities from something she enjoys is a great example for people to realise it can be done!

Enjoy!

Links:

https://www.instagram.com/danie__dynamite/

https://www.instagram.com/fusionchampionship/

Hi All!

In this episode I sat down with the 'Duke of Canberra' - Duke Didier.

It was awesome to listen to his journey of pursuing the Olympic dream from grieving a missed goal and self-medicating to re-framing and setting new goals.

Duke is currently signed to One Championship and should be returning to the big stage again soon.

We also discuss starting a Martial Arts & Fitness gym - Progression MMA in Canberra to fixing the vein structures in his legs and so much more.

Enjoy!

Links:

https://www.instagram.com/duke_didier/

https://www.instagram.com/progression_mma