Puja Tomar: From Budhana Village to the UFC - The First Indian Woman to Make History

Puja Tomar: From Budhana Village to the UFC - The First Indian Woman to Make History

Puja Tomar didn't just make history. She made it from scratch. No gym. No coach. No blueprint. Just a dream she saw on a screen, a friend to train with in a park, and a stubbornness that outlasted every obstacle her culture, her country, and her circumstances could throw at her. In this episode, we sit down with the first Indian woman ever signed to the UFC - and we go all the way back to the beginning. We get into: * What it meant to be born a girl in Uttar Pradesh - and the weight that came with it * Her father's death, and the secret newspaper clipping he left behind * Training in parks, watching YouTube, and building a fighting career with nothing * Her first MMA fight and what she did with her earnings * Stepping into ONE Championship with no corner and a stranger she'd just met * The walk to the UFC cage and what she was thinking * What she wants to open up for every girl watching from India * Faith, loss, and finding peace inside the fight This is a story about what happens when the door doesn't exist yet - and you decide to build it anyway. This is Puja Tomar, and this is the VRSS podcast.

Ben Woolliss: ONE Championship Debut, 20 Years in the Making, and When Your Body Won’t Let You Fight

This episode was recorded just days after Ben Woolliss found out he would be making his ONE Championship debut - stepping up on short notice to face former world champion John Lineker. He had just under two weeks notice. But this was 20 years in the making. In this episode, we break down what it actually means to be ready at the highest level of combat sports. Ben Woolliss is a two-time kickboxing world champion and professional MMA fighter, with over two decades of experience across Muay Thai, kickboxing, and MMA. We get into: * Preparing for a ONE Championship debut on short notice * How 20 years of training shows up under pressure * Emotional regulation and why Ben feels most calm in the ring * How elite fighters use pattern recognition instead of reacting * Fighting with Crohn’s disease and managing a chronic condition as an athlete * What it’s like when your body won’t let you fight * Rebuilding your body, mindset, and identity after setbacks * The difference between obsession and discipline * Building a life and business alongside fighting This is a conversation about readiness, resilience, and identity - and what it really takes to step into the moment when it finally comes. This is Ben Woolliss, and this is the VRSS podcast. 🔗 Join Ben’s 365 community: https://www.skool.com/365/about [https://www.skool.com/365/about]

Jordy Sullivan: Weight Cutting, Health, and the Limits of the Human Body

What actually happens inside the body when fighters train hard, restrict food, dehydrate, and push past their limits - and how do you fuel champions without compromising long-term health? In this episode of the VRSS podcast, Liana sits down with Jordan Sullivan (aka The Fight Dietitian), one of the leading performance nutritionists in combat sports and the nutrition strategist behind multiple world champions, including Alexander Volkanovski and Israel Adesanya. Together, they explore both sides of elite performance: extreme stress and intelligent support. In this conversation, they discuss: * How the body responds to extreme stress, restriction, and dehydration * Why weight cutting sits in an extreme physiological zone * The cultural and psychological reasons weight cutting persists * Why regulation alone doesn’t solve the problem * How chronic under-fuelling affects everyday athletes * What proper fuelling looks like in high-performance environments * Supplement strategy that supports performance rather than masks damage * Stress, nervous system regulation, and recovery * Individual variability, including female physiology and cyclesThe trade-off between short-term advantage and long-term health This episode is a grounded look at how elite athletes push the body to its limits - and how the right strategy can support performance without breaking the system designed to keep us alive.

Dr. Tim Carroll: Motor Learning, Performance, and Trusting the Nervous System

What actually happens in your brain when a movement finally clicks? And why does thinking about it sometimes make everything fall apart under pressure? In this episode of the VRSS podcast, we’re joined by Dr. Timothy Carroll, one of the world’s leading researchers in motor control and motor learning at the University of Queensland. Tim studies how humans learn to move, and his work challenges many of the assumptions athletes and coaches hold about training, feedback, and performance. We explore why most skilled movement happens below conscious awareness, why thinking can slow you down, and why performance often breaks under pressure. We also unpack how the nervous system adapts through repetition and error, the role dopamine plays in learning and motivation, and why trust in your body isn’t a mindset trick but a neurological requirement. This conversation reframes how we think about practice, coaching, and mastery. Not as a process of control, but one of adaptation, exposure, and timing. If you’re an athlete, coach, or anyone trying to understand how skill actually develops, this episode will change how you see training and performance.

Sarah Jeffries: How Sleep Cleans Your Brain and Shapes Performance

In this episode of the vrss podcast, we sit down with Sarah Jeffries to unpack the science of sleep, brain health, and performance - and why sleep may be the most overlooked skill in combat sports and high-performance training. Sarah is a registered nurse with a Master’s in Nursing Science, a nurse educator, and a leading voice in sleep education. She breaks down what’s actually happening in your brain when you sleep, including how deep sleep and REM sleep work together to support recovery, learning, emotional regulation, and long-term brain health. We explore: * Why sleep is a trainable skill, not a personality trait * What “cleaning your brain” actually means from a neuroscience perspective * How sleep deprivation affects focus, reaction time, mood, and performance * The role of deep sleep in muscle repair, hormones, and recovery * Why REM sleep matters for memory, learning, and emotional resilience * How poor sleep disrupts appetite, decision-making, and training consistency * Practical, evidence-based tools to improve sleep without biohacks or gimmicks This conversation is especially relevant for fighters, athletes, coaches, and anyone training hard - but it’s just as important for anyone navigating stress, pressure, or high cognitive load. Sleep is free. It’s foundational.And it’s one of the most powerful tools you have - if you know how to use it.