#006 with Stig-Johan Lundstrom - Speakeasy MMA Roots, 400-Foot Super yachts, & Overcoming the Hardest Hits

Host Miko captures the raw magic right after a hard training session to sit down with his old-school training partner, a true legend of the Finnish grappling scene, and one of the nastiest neck-crankers on the planet: Stig-Johan "Stiggy" Lundström. Stig openly admits his competition class preparation yesterday consisted of a bottle of wine with his wife and half a pack of cigarettes—proving that sometimes, a lifetime of grit and being "too stupid to give up" is all the pedigree you need. In this deep dive, they map out Stig’s journey from the earliest no-holds-barred bombshell gyms of Finland to captaining the world's most elite, multi-million dollar superyachts across the Mediterranean. What's inside the episode:The Early 80s Finnish Frontier: Stig breaks down growing up in the maritime town of Jakobstad, choosing karate because judo was a bit too "huggy feely," and his transition into the Navy and professional Seaman schools. The Speakeasy Fight Club: What it was like entering the legendary Fin Fighters gym in 1996—a bombshell gym located underneath a pub where you literally needed to know someone to get past the locked front door. The Caveman Era of BJJ: Re-learning grappling mechanics in the late 90s using nothing but obscure instructional books, trying to figure out what happened between picture A and picture B before the first wave of Brazilian black belts arrived in Finland. Purified by an "Animal": Stig recounts a brutal, four-round semi-pro boxing war in San Remo, Italy, against a towering counterpuncher named "Animal"—sharing the exact moment he realised the sheer structural difference between a decent amateur and a professional puncher. Choked Out by a 50kg Girl: Stig’s humbling introduction to the gi in Genoa, Italy, where getting choked out three times by a fraction of his weight class ignited a 15-year obsession with the art. The James Bond Ship to Monaco Grand Prix: Moving away from cargo lines to captaining iconic private vessels like the Northern Cross (featured in GoldenEye), and wild, unfiltered stories from the pit lanes of the early 2000s Monaco Grand Prix. Rebuilding Oligarch Toys: The intricate, five-year process of converting a commercial platform supply vessel (PSV) into a luxury mega-yacht equipped with helicopter decks and a 7x5-meter cinema screen. The Paradox of Generational Wealth: A peek behind the curtain of the ultra-wealthy, including a hilarious encounter with a multi-billionaire heir who looked like a beach bum, and why a lack of everyday financial struggle often dilutes the joy of living. Finding Your Ikigai: Looking at a massive 30,000-participant Harvard study in Japan to explore why having a true, community-driven "reason to live" impacts life expectancy far more than diet or social circles alone. Adopting Kettlebells for Powerlifting: Stig’s highly irregular, hyper-effective four-day lifting routine—re-engineering heavy kettlebells for one-armed bench presses and slow-tempo power dynamics to bulletproof an ageing frame. The "Keve" Necessity: How a hydration crisis among superyacht crews led Stig to co-develop Keve—an oral rehydration electrolyte recipe built to fix salt dilution and cure severe hangovers. Memorable Quote:"The duality of man is the fact that we are capable of huge compassion and great violence at the same time. To be capable of violence but to actively contain and check it—that is what makes you a man. Otherwise, you're just harmless." — Stig-Johan LundströmEnjoy the episode and remember to subscribe to the podcast.Watch this episode's video on YouTube: ⁠⁠Episode 6 on YouTube⁠Remember: Jiu-Jitsu Never Dies.Manto 🥋www.man.to/chokesCode: Chokes -15%Find me on:Instagram: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/chokes_and_more/⁠⁠TikTok: h⁠⁠ttps://www.tiktok.com/@chokes_and_more⁠⁠BJJ Fanatics: ⁠⁠https://bjjfanatics.com/collections/instructional-videos/fighter_miko-hytonen⁠⁠YouTube: ⁠⁠https://youtube.com/@chokesandmore⁠