Fighting Matters

In this episode of Fighting Matters, Steve Kwan and Mike Mahaffey connect a month of far-right imagery in combat sports: Nazi salutes and a swastika flag at a kickboxing event in Orlando, an ADCC finalist with a history of posting Nazi salutes, and a Tatami gi pulled over SS-style lightning bolts. They argue this keeps happening because the sport keeps making excuses for it, and that fans can change that by being deliberate about who gets their money. ⸻ 👥 Featuring: - Steve Kwan — https://b...

In this episode of Fighting Matters, Steve Kwan and Stephan Kesting talk through the Canada-US trade war from the Canadian side of the border. They explain why this was never about tariffs, and why Americans are not hearing how much of their own economy runs on Canadian lumber, oil, electricity, and potash, the base ingredient in most fertilizer. Canadian boycotts have already done damage that dropping the tariffs will not undo. ⸻ 🔗 Links Mentioned: - FULL SPEECH | Carney explains why Canad...

In this episode of Fighting Matters, Jeff Shaw and Jesse Walker are joined by Jose Fernandez, a health economist and purple belt who chairs the economics department at the University of Louisville. He explains who pays for tariffs, why 70% of the world's gis coming out of one country matters for your gear budget, and what gym owners should do about prices and leases while their students are getting squeezed. ⸻ 👥 Featuring: - Jeff Shaw — https://bellinghambjj.com - Jesse Walker — https://rou...

In this episode of Fighting Matters, Steve Kwan and Stephan Kesting pull up a screenshot of the UFC BJJ 10 mat and read the sponsors out loud: the Air National Guard, the AI drone company Anduril, and Turning Point USA. Dana White has spent years insisting the UFC is not political, and you can read the rebuttal off his own mat. They argue the money is there to launder reputations and buy the silence of athletes who do not have many other options. ⸻ 👥 Featuring: - Steve Kwan — https://bjjmen...

In this episode of Fighting Matters, Jesse Walker and Stephan Kesting (just back from thirty days in the Arctic wilderness) are joined by Dr. Clayton Green, a board certified dermatologist with a PhD in microbiology who worked face to face with patients through the whole pandemic. Clayton and Stephan take apart the conspiracies the pandemic left behind (nanobot tracking chips, the lab leak, RFK Jr.'s claims about Lyme disease) and explain why frightened people reached for them in the first pl...