Fighting Matters

In this episode of Fighting Matters, Steve Kwan and Stephan Kesting sit down with Eric Lowe, a 13-year HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts) instructor and school founder. HEMA had a serious white supremacist problem, and they actually did something about it. Eric walks through what worked, what didn't, and what BJJ and MMA can steal from the playbook.

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👥 Featuring:
- Steve Kwan — https://bjjmentalmodels.com
- Stephan Kesting — https://grapplearts.com
- Eric Lowe — https://crossroadsswords.com

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🧠 Topics Discussed:
- How HEMA's early days were dominated by a near-Nazi gatekeeper (and how the community rejected him)
- Why your gym's website and signaling matter more than you think
- The Warriors of Ashe: Viking pagans with 30% transgender membership who keep turning away white supremacists
- What "welcoming" actually means when your school has real beliefs
- Constructing a version of masculinity the far right can't co-opt
- Why every martial art sells a fantasy, and how that fantasy either attracts or repels extremists
- What HEMA borrowed from Filipino martial arts (and why that matters)
- Preserving European martial tradition without white supremacy

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📖 Chapters:
00:00 — Introducing Eric Lowe and what HEMA is
04:11 — The history of far right infiltration in HEMA
05:29 — John Clements and the "North Korea of HEMA"
09:17 — Viking martial arts and the white supremacist appeal
11:15 — The Warriors of Ashe: Viking pagans who reject Nazis
13:39 — Why how you signal your school matters
19:27 — Symbolism in BJJ vs HEMA
23:10 — The fantasy every martial art sells
27:45 — What positive masculinity actually looks like
37:30 — Building masculine identity without the far right
40:51 — Who gets to own masculinity
45:36 — Dueling culture and honour violence
52:43 — The performative side of all martial arts
01:00:17 — Preserving tradition without white supremacy
01:03:56 — Why women in HEMA matter for everyone
01:05:36 — Where to find Eric

Today, Jesse, Mike and Stephan discuss the impact of war on everyday life, particularly how the ongoing war in Iran could affect gas prices and essential goods if it continues. Conflicts in the Middle East can turn luxury activities into financial burdens, forcing people to prioritise their spending and making jiu-jitsu training and other leisure activities unaffordable as the cost of everyday living rises.

In this episode of Fighting Matters, Steve Kwan is joined by Matt Tansey and Daniel Millstein: two licensed mental health professionals who also train jiu-jitsu. They attack one of the most repeated claims in the sport ("jiu-jitsu is my therapy"), what's actually true about it, what isn't, and why the distinction matters more than most people think.

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👥 Featuring:
• Steve Kwan — https://bjjmentalmodels.com
• Matt Tansey — https://matthewtansey.com
• Daniel Millstein — https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/daniel-millstein-boston-ma/1239597

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🧠 Topics Discussed:
• What therapists actually do (and how they differ from coaches)
• Why jiu-jitsu can be therapeutic without being therapy
• The Dunning-Kruger effect and black belt overconfidence
• How jiu-jitsu can help and harm people with trauma
• Why male practitioners avoid therapy but embrace pseudoscience
• SSRIs, psychedelics, stem cells, and the jiu-jitsu bro health pipeline

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📖 Chapters:
00:00 — Introducing Matt and Daniel
02:48 — Types of mental health practitioners
06:43 — Can jiu-jitsu be therapeutic?
12:31 — Competence, confidence, and the Dunning-Kruger trap
23:49 — When jiu-jitsu actually helps
26:12 — Overselling jiu-jitsu
28:31 — Trauma, PTSD, and proper disclosure
36:44 — What therapists can't say (but coaches can)
42:57 — Dudes will do anything except go to therapy
50:48 — Ethics, credentials, and the unregulated advice problem
01:00:17 — Psychedelics, stem cells, and anti-SSRI bros

In this episode of the Fighting Matters podcast, host Steve Kwan sits down with Valerie Worthington: BJJ black belt, professor of educational psychology, and one of the sport's most thoughtful voices on culture and ethics. They dig into why the people doing the most good in jiu-jitsu are also the least visible, what it would actually take to fix BJJ's culture problems, and why opening a gym means signing up for a job nobody prepared you for. This is a conversation about leadership, accountability, and the quiet work of making the sport better.

🔗 Links Mentioned:
• Gracie Philly — https://www.phlbjj.com
• Saybrook University — https://www.saybrook.edu

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👥 Featuring:
• Steve Kwan — https://bjjmentalmodels.com
• Valerie Worthington — https://instagram.com/worthingtonvalerie

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🧠 Topics Discussed:
• Why the good people in BJJ stay invisible
• The reality distortion field inside the gym
• Why governing bodies might make things worse
• Voting with your wallet and saying it out loud
• What BJJ never teaches its future gym owners

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📖 Chapters:
00:00 — Introducing Valerie Worthington
06:33 — Why the good in BJJ stays invisible
12:58 — Should BJJ have a governing body?
21:17 — The reality distortion field inside the gym
33:18 — How the algorithm buries the good stuff
39:28 — Voting with your wallet
43:27 — Modeling the culture you want to see
51:54 — Dunbar's Number and BJJ communities
53:35 — What BJJ never teaches gym owners

Stephan Kesting and Jeff Shaw explore the terrifying consequences of MAGA coopting Christianity and using misinterpretations of biblical ideas like the rapture, the apocalypse, and end times theology as justification for going to war with Iran. We also look into Secretary of War Pete Hegseth's religious denomination and find some truly disturbing details.

School violence researcher and Homeland Security expert David Riedman joins Steve and Jesse to break down the radicalization pipeline feeding modern school shootings. David covers how isolated kids get pulled into nihilistic violence through deregulated social media, grooming on Roblox, and private Discord servers, and why your BJJ gym might be one of the most powerful interventions available.

🔗 Links Mentioned:
• Riedman Report (Substack) — https://riedmanreport.substack.com
• K-12 School Shooting Database — https://k12ssdb.org
• Difference Between Political Violence, Mass Shootings, and Terrorism — https://riedmanreport.substack.com/p/difference-between-political-violence
• Rise of Purposeless, Non-Ideological Gun Violence by Young American Men — https://riedmanreport.substack.com/p/rise-of-purposeless-non-ideological
• Riedman Report Ep 43: Forensic Psychologist Explains the Nashville School Shooter's Journals — https://riedmanreport.substack.com/p/ep-43-forensic-psychologist-explains
• Riedman Report Ep 33: Let Kids Fight (Safely) with Guardian Founder Ben Kovacs — https://riedmanreport.substack.com/p/ep-33-let-kids-fight-safely-with

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👥 Featuring:
• Steve Kwan — @bjjmentalmodels (Host)
• Jesse Walker — @roughhandsbjj (Host)
• David Riedman — https://riedmanreport.substack.com (Guest)

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🧠 Topics Discussed:
• The Tumbler Ridge shooting and the pattern behind it
• How the True Crime Community radicalizes teens online
• Roblox as a grooming and recruitment platform
• The Discord pipeline from mainstream social media to extremism
• Trans shooters and what the data actually says
• Nihilism vs. ideological terrorism
• Why expelling a troubled kid can make things worse
• How BJJ gyms provide the belonging that prevents violence

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📖 Chapters:
00:00 — Introduction
00:35 — Meet David Riedman
02:13 — Tumbler Ridge and the True Crime Community
08:02 — Understanding nihilistic violence
10:17 — Extremism, terrorism, and how to tell them apart
14:15 — Active clubs and decentralized radicalization
18:40 — Trans shooters: what the data says
22:23 — The Nashville manifesto breakdown
27:51 — Has social media changed anything?
31:45 — The Roblox grooming pipeline
38:40 — Can martial arts gyms use these same tactics for good?
41:53 — Everything that feels new is really old
49:58 — Warning signs for parents and gym owners
54:43 — Closing thoughts

In this Presidents Day episode, Fighting Matters connects two explosive stories: Gordon Ryan’s inappropriate DMs and the growing fallout from the Epstein file releases. We debate accountability, conspiracy culture, institutional corruption, and whether justice can survive political power. The conversation turns to Jiu-Jitsu’s own culture, red flags in gyms, and what responsibility communities have when systems fail.

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👥 Featuring:
• Stephan Kesting — @stephankesting (Host)
• Mike Mahaffey — @oldbastardbjj (Host)
• Jesse Walker — @roughhandsbjj (Host)

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🧠 Topics Discussed:
• Gordon Ryan DM controversy
• The Epstein file releases and redactions
• Conspiracy culture vs. evidence
• Civil vs. criminal accountability
• Power dynamics in martial arts
• Red flags when choosing a gym

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📖 Chapters:
00:00 — Presidents Day cold open
02:17 — Gordon Ryan controversy
03:30 — The Epstein files breakdown
21:27 — Justice, collapse & consequences
32:03 — Jiu-Jitsu governance debate
52:03 — Would you recommend Jiu-Jitsu to women?
01:01:50 — Closing thoughts

In this episode of the Fighting Matters podcast, hosts Steve Kwan and Jesse Walker are joined by Joshua Peters: martial arts instructor, former school teacher, and current candidate for Anne Arundel County Council. They explore why local politics matters, how martial arts and civic duty intersect, and why “keeping politics out of Jiu-Jitsu” is a myth. This is a conversation about courage, participation, and standing up for your community.

🔗 Links Mentioned:
• Joshua Peters Campaign — https://friendsofjoshuapeters.com
• Combat Principles MMA — https://combatprinciplesmma.com
• Run for Something — https://runforsomething.net

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👥 Featuring:
• Steve Kwan — https://bjjmentalmodels.com
• Jesse Walker — https://roughhandsbjj.com
• Joshua Peters — https://friendsofjoshuapeters.com

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🧠 Topics Discussed:
• Why local politics is more powerful than you think
• The overlap between martial arts and civic responsibility
• Running for office without “main character syndrome”
• Virtue signaling, participation, and public courage
• Supporting your community beyond the mat

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📖 Chapters:
00:00 — Introducing Joshua Peters
05:35 — From teaching to running for office
11:30 — Why local government matters
18:42 — Losing, competing, and civic courage
24:25 — Politics inside the Jiu-Jitsu gym
29:49 — “Keep politics out of Jiu-Jitsu?”
35:14 — What it actually takes to run
43:35 — Virtue signaling and public participation
01:03:00 — How to get involved locally

In this episode of Fighting Matters, hosts Stephan Kesting and Jeff Shaw are joined by Tyson LaRone (The Warrior Philosopher) to unpack the renewed push for Alberta separatism, its connections to Trump and MAGA, and the growing influence of U.S. political forces in Canadian domestic affairs.

🔗 Links Mentioned:
• Fighting Matters Linktree — https://linktree.com/fightingmatters

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👥 Featuring:
• Stephan Kesting — https://www.grapplearts.com
• Jeff Shaw — https://bellinghambjj.com
• Tyson Larone — https://www.tiktok.com/@thewarriorphilosopher

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🧠 Topics Discussed:
• The Alberta Prosperity Project and separatist rhetoric
• U.S. political influence and destabilization narratives
• Economic myths around equalization and the “Alberta advantage”
• Oil, foreign ownership, and who actually benefits
• Grievance politics vs. evidence-based policy
• Why martial arts spaces are vulnerable to political radicalization

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📖 Chapters:
00:00 — Introductions & Alberta separatism overview
01:40 — How real is the threat of separation?
07:20 — U.S. politics, propaganda, and destabilization
12:40 — Economic myths and equalization explained
31:40 — The “Alberta advantage” under scrutiny
52:20 — American corporate interests and oil profits
01:03:00 — Parallels with Ukraine and foreign interference
01:04:50 — Martial arts, gurus, and political influence

This interview is an excerpt from Dark Martial Arts History, an 8-part audio documentary chronicling the history and rise of extremism in martial arts like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and MMA. The rest of the documentary is available on BJJ Mental Models Premium, but this piece is relevant to current events, so we're publishing it here for free.

In the sixth episode of Dark Martial Arts History, hosts Ben Van Doren and Eva Schubert are joined by longtime Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu educator and commentator Stephan Kesting. The conversation explores how conspiracy thinking, social-media incentives, and institutional silence have normalized authoritarian and extremist rhetoric within MMA and BJJ. The panel discusses the role of major platforms, the responsibility of fans and businesses, and the challenges practitioners face when harmful ideologies appear inside gyms themselves. Rather than treating extremism as an external threat, this episode asks what the martial arts community has tolerated, and what it must confront moving forward.

Learn from Stephan online at Grapplearts:
https://www.grapplearts.com

Follow Stephan Kesting on Instagram:
https://instagram.com/stephan_kesting

Follow Ben Van Doren on Instagram:
https://instagram.com/deepbluebrazilianjiujitsu

Follow Eva Schubert on Instagram:
https://instagram.com/evaschubert


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