Spotlight: Nils Widlund

We wanted to share two amazingly done videos of Nils Widlund, a Swedish kickboxer who took a fight against one of the best in the world on a few weeks notice at DREAM’s 2011 NYE show.

First off, here are some quick facts about Widlund:

Kickboxing Record: 70-16
Style: Sanshou
Country: Sweden
Gym/Camp: Black House Team Nogueira

Widlund is currently a resident of San Diego where he studies full time at UCSD.  From watching these videos and reading some of his blog, Widlund comes across as a really nice guy just living life and having fun. It also appears he is going to start his transition in to MMA. With his already successful kickboxing career and skill, he should be a natural, and training at school with such a BJJ background like Team Nog seems to be the best place to start.

On to the videos after the jump. Read more »

Media Gets It All Wrong Covering Kids’ Grappling Match

Now, if you write a story about Mixed Martial Arts but you only call it “cage fighting” and/or “ultimate fighting,” you are showing yourself to be uninformed. If you show a video of kids that are clearly just grappling at a MMA event, somehow assume that they are in a full on MMA fight with no gloves (whereas all the professionals use gloves, etc.), mistake an arm bar for being “repeatedly kicked in the head while [one's] arm is twisted,” and write about how “disturbing” it is, well, you are an idiot. Read more »

DREAM.17 Rolling Out PVs

DREAM.17 is soon upon us, and the recently released PVs are certainly getting us excited. The event is set to take place at the Saitama Super Arena on September 24th, and the card is stacked with many of our favorite fighters: Sakuraba, Aoki, Tokoro, Kitaoka, Kawajiri, Imanari… the list goes on. This is looking to be a great event.

Check out the impressive PVs (we’re really liking the gigantic screens/visuals they used in these promos) after the break. Read more »

Shizuka Sugiyama: Notes On Her Time Abroad

Shizuka Sugiyama is now over four months in to her year-long stay in Sydney, Australia. When we first heard she would be studying abroad, our biggest fear here at Pancake was that she would not be training and would be super rusty when she got back. Thankfully, along with continuing her studies in English, Sugiyama has also been continuing her studies in BJJ. She has hooked up with Gracie Oceania, and specifically a blue belt Laura Ng who operates a blog, skillfully named iheartbjj.com. Read more »

Best Women’s MMA Rivalries: Shinashi vs. Watanbe

Here is a treat for all of you. What was the best rivalry in women’s MMA? For me, any discussion on that topic has to mention the following two fighters: submission expert Satoko Shinashi and kickboxer Hisae Watanabe. Their rivalry consisted of two epic fights that both ended violently.

In two earlier events, held a month apart, both fighters finished each of their respective opponents, Shinashi with submissions and Watanabe by strikes. The interesting aspect about these finishes is that they were accomplished under the horribly limited rule-set of Smackgirl. Not only did they have to wear larger gloves, they were also given 10 count knockdowns, were not allowed to ground and pound, and were only given 30 seconds for any grappling on the ground! Read more »

How NOT To Learn Martial Arts Online

YouTube is actually a great source of knowledge when it comes to martial arts, especially grappling.  The best examples are legit instructional videos posted by legit schools or fighters featuring certain techniques. Nevertheless, for every gem there are a handful of horrible videos, and what results is quite comical.

Some of our favorite videos of the latter flavor come from Phoenix Sensei Grand Master John Legrand of Lost Legacy Systems University of Mixed Martial Arts. Phew! That’s a mouthful! Couldn’t he just be called Coach at Legrand MMA? Something simple? In any case, it appears Legrand may be able to teach you how to do some katas or point sparring, but don’t ask him how to grapple. Watch after the jump and you’ll see why. Read more »