The Raspberry Ape Podcast

Colton Crawford is a member of The Dead South and a BJJ brown belt. In this episode, we discuss life on the road, the creative process, Twitch streaming, Banjo playing, and much more.

Pat Divilly is an author, podcaster and wellness coach specializing in mens work and breathwork. He is also a brown belt in BJJ In this episode, we chat about Pat's journey into the fitness and wellness space, his thoughts on masculinity, social media, breathwork, and much more.

Simon Shears is a fitness coach and author of "Working [it] out: What actually makes us exercise" In this episode, we discuss Simon's background in sports and exercise and take a deep dive into how our evolutionary psychology rules out behavior and how this pertains to exercise.

Daren Morris is a BJJ black belt, an OG of the Northern grappling an MMA scene, founder of ASW, and co-founder of Grapplefest. A true hidden gem of the UK martial arts scene. In this episode, we discuss Darens journey through martial arts and many of his unique perspectives on MMA and grappling.

Pete Irving is a former professional MMA fighter and kickboxer. A BJJ black belt and head coach of Newcastle Fight Centre. In this episode we discuss Pete's martial arts journey, training in Brazil when few were making the trip, the early days of MMA in the UK, the transition to coach and his thoughts on modern MMA and much more.

Chris Crossan is a catch wrestler and BJJ black belt under Eric Paulson. In this episode, Chris tells his story, and quite a story it is. Starting life as a bit of a trouble maker Chris was able to turn his life around with martial arts and religion. This episode we discuss the early days of MMA and grappling in the UK and especially the North East, catch wrestling and plenty of street fighting stories.

Owen Livesy is a Judo commonwealth gold medalist and professional grappler. In this episode, we discuss Owen's judo career and his recent transition and success in professional grappling.

Neil Adams is the most decorated British Judo competitor of all time. A 2-time Olympic silver medalist, World and European champion. He is a renowned coach and is known as "The Voice of Judo" for his work as a commentator. In this episode we discuss his start in Judo, his competition career, his mindset, his emphasis of the ground game, his thoughts on BJJ and much more.

Sam Crook works full-time, teaching BJJ at the Francis Ngannou foundation, a martial arts based social project in Batié, Cameroon. Sam rejoins me on the podcast after 3 years, talking about everything that has happened at the foundation since we first spoke. He is also joined by his top student, Franck, who is over here with him competing in his first-ever jiu jitsu competition.

On the anniversary of his tragic passing, I talk with Chris Hearn and Joao Santos as we remember Nick Brooks.

Emily Kwok is Canada's first female BJJ blackbelt and world champion In this episode we talk about Emily's journey into martial arts, the early days of BJJ in the US and Canada, training with some of the greats of the sport, competing and competition mindset, performance coaching, and much more

Ffion Davis is the current IBJJF and ADCC world champion. Recently off the back of her history-making ADCC win, we chat about the whole ADCC experience, her training camp, her competition mindset, travelling, teaching, opening up a gym and much more.

Simon Hayes is a BJJ black belt, BMX champ and oscar-winning sound Engineer. One of the most popular episodes of the entire podcast, Simon Hayes is back again. We chatted modern BJJ, ADCC, lockdowns, long-distance cycling, weight lifting and a whole lot more.

Priit Mihkelson is a BJJ black belt and owner of Defensive BJJ. In this episode we talk about Priits background in martial arts, how he got into grappling, his different approach to teaching and learning, the importance of defense, and much more.

Shanti and Marina are the two ladies behind "Women Who Fight", an organisation formed to empower, promote and educate women within combat sports. In this episode we discuss how and why WWF was created, how we can get more women into BJJ, various issues within womens combat sports and much more.

Leo Negao is an old-school BJJ black belt and former pro MMA figher. In this episode, we discuss how Leo got into BJJ, his early days training with Carlson Gracie and his legendary vale tudo team, his philosophy of training and fighting, being one of the earliest Brazilians to bring BJJ to European and much more.

Adisa The Bishop is a BJJ black belt, author, journalist, educator, and curator specialising in the fields of hip hop, chess, and jiu jitsu. In this episode we talk about Adisa's journey in hip hop, finding himself amongst future legends of the game from an early age, his journey in chess and combining chess with hip hop to form the hip hop chess federation, his martial arts journey, meditation and much much more.

Andy is a BJJ black belt, former Judo British squad member, Pro MMA fighter, boxer, Kickboxer, and chess boxer. In this episode we talk about Andy's martial arts journey starting with his highly accomplished judo career, getting in MMA in its early days in the UK, competing in boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, and chess boxing. Andy's life outside of martial arts including working as a police officer, finding himself on the wrong side of the law and performing stand up comedy.

Tim is a freerunning world champion, ninja warrior and biomechanical explorer. In this episode we discuss Tims journey, his freerunning and parkour days, ninja warrior, his deep exploration into human biomechanics, Weck method, rolling the rope, the important function of fascia and much more.

Pedro Bessa is a BJJ black belt under Telles, Terere and 'Careca' and worlds and european medalist. In this episode we talk about Pedro's start in BJJ, his training in Capoeria, his time at TT training amoungst some of the legends of the sport, coming over to the UK and starting academies in Bristol and Wales, his competition career and more.