Ok, the guy that beat Joachim Hansen (Brown Belt SBJJA-Marcelo Yougi/now Yamazaki) is Jason Brudvik - an American that lived for some years(studzyng) in Sweden and trained at Hilti Bjj Sthlm - he has done amazing fights in grappling in scandinavia - has a very tight bjjgame(brownbelt) also a veteran of King of the Cage. Brudvik lives and trains in Germany at the moment and is a world class grappler - hands down. See www.hiltibjj.com. Hansen is very talented and tough and he can do really cool stuff on the mat - this amazing final in the ADCCtrials in Sthlm was a real shocker where Brudvik (looks like a normal guy - physically) cought Hansen in a tight triangle almost immediately - Hansen looks like a tight packed muscular machine.

Grappling has gone soooooo much longer in Scandinavia in the last 10 years than it has in the rest of europe. It has been a boom for bjj and shoot fighting and it is really "the Shit" since about 5 years. when the Germany gets this boom it has a real potential as there are almost 10 times the population in such a small country as D. In Sweden there are so many clubs and fighters and alot of them compete. At some competitions there are around 600 competitors in a Gi Bjj tournament - can you believe that!? At UGC there were almost not enough fighters to make it even worth it to hold every weight class. Where were all the fighters then?

At the moment the mass of most technical fighters are in the lower weights, maybe beacuse there are not so much real big boys around yet and the smaller are traditionally faster and have to work with technique against the bigger guys in their clubs.

Look at that link showing the interview with Marko Helen(purple belt bjj) - number 2 in the last trials in Sthlm(Stockholm) - he fought good and teachnical, he fought and won on points and beat Schmidt, Bielkheden (Brownbelt bjj and ranked No1 Shooto -85kg) and lost in the final against Braulio Estima (World Class Bjj black belt winner mundial etc. and known for brialliant technique) Estima I believe beat everyone with submission - but he cannot fight again as he is not european(they kind of made the mistake last time - alot of things are still in the development in this young sport). So as Lille says (hej ha det gott i Norge) it is really a bigger game going on and alot of it reads -POINT PLAYER. You really have to be smart with the points - wich I find kind of "bad for the sport" and in rare cases you can see guys who still fights with no respect for the points but just for the love of submissions and the real essence of the sport (example Brudvik and Estima - beautiful to watch, point players - alot of times just boring). Look at what happened to judo!

So my advice for people is - this sport of grappling is so much more than the other martial arts. We train hard and we don´t mess around we feel eachother and prove things in every training. There is a very special respect and sportive attitude in training and people want to "beat" eachother - but not hurt eachother. Therefor stop thrashing eachother and bad mouthing and start loving this sport that all the other boys and girls are loving just as much as you - without the other player - you are nothing - you have to have all the others to have the sport and to keep it alive.
Scandinavia had alot of "fights" between the clubs and bad blood going on (Shooto vs the Shootfighting clubs vs the bjj clubs and so on) and it is still not gone but it is much much better. People used to always talk shit about the other clubs and try to spread bad rumors or even fight in the stands at the events (Neo Blood Shootfighing etc.), this all somehow calmed down and today people visit eachother and train with different clubs for awhile to develop and this has really made the guys take big steps forward. The jealousy came from Shootfighing making an organization where some guys marketed the name Shootfighing and made a big thing out of it - some others felt like they got cheated somehow and didn´t even want to take part in this thing that was actually really "Good For The Sport" beacuse of their egos. So Pancrase gym splitted and formed Shooto (this was mid-nineties). Joachim Hansen and Jon-Olav Einemo were training at SBJJA in Oslo, later moved for awhile to Finland to train at Finnfighters Gym and now back in Oslo they have exchange with Gracie Barra, Shootfighing etc. These boys are professional and they love the sport.

Thanks and peace
The Swede