First Name: Ken
Last Name: Van Gilbergen
Fight Name: Wolverine
Weight: 70kg
Height: 1m76
Team: Exit-BJJ
Country: Belgium
Style: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Rank (Belt): Blue
Trainer: Felipe Costa
Coach: Maurice & Michel Goffart

Most important titles and tournaments you have competed in previously:
25/06/05 Lock & Choke 3 - Submission Wrestling - 1st place, -77kg
30/05/04 ADCC Dutch Open 2004 - Submission Wrestling - 2nd place, -77kg
25/04/04 BJJ Belgian Open 2004 - Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu - 1st place, -73kg
15/11/03 Yoseikan Grappling - Submission Wrestling - 1st place, advanced
02/11/03 BIG 4 - Brussels International Grappling - Submission Wrestling - 1st place, -70kg

Question: Please introduce yourself to the visitors of our website.
Answer: Hi, I'm Ken and i started training in martial arts some 15 years ago. I tried everything from karate, kungfu, jeet kune do to capoeira and thaiboxing, but i was most interrested by shootwrestling and brazilian jiu-jitsu. Shooto has a lot of submissions but has a bad positional game, therefor my BJJ is more important. It makes the locks work. I also wrestle with a czechian friend of mine. The combination of positional BJJ, wrestling takedowns and shooto leglocks make me a pretty complete fighter. I started competing grappling in 2002 and have more then a 100 matches since then. And when preparing for a vale-tudo fight, i add some thaiboxing to the mix.

Question: What is your background in the Martial Arts and who are your teachers?
Answer: I have a lot of wonderful teachers like M&M, Felipe, Ratinho, Erik, ... I also watch a lot of instructional and fight tapes. But i guess most of my feeling for the grappling game i thank to all the people i daily train with. They are there every single day to work on their games and the more they improve the more i do.

Question: What do you expect from the upcoming Ultimate Grappling Challenge, when you look at the field of competitors in your division?
Answer: All the competitors i know are really good fighters. The advantage is that i know the game of most of them. There are also some UK and Nordic fighters joining. I really have to check them out because i have no idea what to expect from them and these countries are the top grappling countries in Europe.

Question: What was your biggest international success so far? Please tell us a little about it.
Answer: Nothing really special, i will be fighting in the mundials and the masters this summer. I won a lot in all our neighboring countries. I won over Dana Cengiz and Franco Leonardis who are more known in Germany.

Question: How do you prepare for the UGC in September in Germany?
Answer: I'm spending my 'vacation' in Brasil this year. I will be training with the guys from Brasa the whole summer. They are the best and maybe they will give me some of their force. A week before the UGC i will remove my gi and practice a lot on leg locking.

Question: Do you have any messages for your fans in Germany?
Answer: I'm sure Ortega and Wolverine will bring them, once more, a fight of the highest technical level. Thanks for supporting us and see you soon.