Month: January 2023

The main event for Polaris 23 is now set, and former UFC middleweight world champion Chris Weidman will be facing ADCC veteran and Polaris fan-favourite Owen Livesey. Weidman is a decorated wrestler, achieving All-American status in the NCAA Division I championships on two separate occasions. He famously won ADCC trials after around a year of submission grappling training and faced Andre Galvao in the opening round of ADCC 2009. Although he didn't win, Weidman gave a fantastic performance against a veteran BJJ black belt who went on to win a silver medal at the same tournament. Since then Weidman has been promoted to BJJ black belt by Matt Serra and Renzo Gracie, and rose to fame when he dethroned Anderson Silva to claim the UFC middleweight title. Now Weidman will be returning to submission grappling for the first time since ADCC 2009 to take on a familiar face for Polaris fans, Owen Livesey. Livesey is a Commonwealth Games gold medallist Judoka who transitioned to no gi grappling exceptionally well. He has won several matches on the Polaris mats against the likes of Freddie Vosgrone and Josh Hinger, along with being invited up to compete at ADCC 2022. Although he went...

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Another three competitors have been added to the women's under 66kg grand prix at Polaris 23, and two of them are veterans of ADCC 2022. Julia Maele won the European trials to earn her place in the under 60kg division at ADCC 2022 and she had a tough draw in the opening round and lost to the returning champion from 2019, Bianca Basilio. Maele is the reigning IBJJF European champion at middleweight and one of the best grapplers to ever come from Norway. Joining her is top Canadian competitor Brianna Ste-Marie, the silver medallist from that same division at ADCC 2022. Ste-Marie has made waves over the last few years, winning both North American ADCC trials to get the world championships in the first place, before she reached the podium in 2022. The seventh woman to be added to the grand prix at Polaris 23 is one of Tom DeBlass' top students, Jaidyn Mueller. She's ranked in the top ten in her weightclass and is an IBJJF no gi world champion, having already beaten some of the best female grapplers on the planet. The final spot in the grand prix will go to the winner of Polaris Contenders on February...

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The women's under 66kg grand prix takes place at Polaris 23 but before that, there will be a number of preliminary matches featuring some of Europe's top grapplers. Ellis Younger is one of the more popular young grapplers on the UK scene and he became the first English man to reach the podium at the IBJJF no gi worlds at black belt last year. He will be facing Ben Bennet in a tough matchup that is guaranteed to produce some fireworks. Fellow fan-favorite Shane Curtis will also be returning at Polaris 23, and he will face BJJ black belt Kris Leeson. Bellator veteran Cal Ellenor will also be competing on the preliminary card against Alex Thompson, while recently-promoted BJJ black belt Chris White faces Liam Cann of Scramble Academy Leeds. Rounding out the preliminary card are two more matches as Ian Jones takes on Paul Lukowski, and Adam Peart faces Jake Goldthorpe.

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The bracket for the women's under 66kg grand prix is now half-full, as two more elite female grapplers have been added to the lineup for Polaris 23 on March 11th. With the addition of Amy Campo, both of the female champions from ADCC 2022 are now competing in the tournament. Campo has only been a black belt a little over a year, but she's already won practically everything there is to win in the sport. In her debut year she won ADCC trials to earn her spot before becoming an ADCC world champion and an IBJJF no gi world champion, alongside winning silver in the no gi absolute division and in the gi as well. The fourth woman to enter the tournament at Polaris 23 is Giovanna Jara. The Dream Art Project black belt has won the IBJJF world championships multiple times during her journey through the coloured belt divisions, before winning ADCC trials last year. She went out in the opening round of ADCC 2022 to Kendall Reusing but aside from that match, Jara has not been submitted in black belt competition. She's an incredibly tough and skilled competitor who is more than capable of beating any of the...

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Polaris 23 is set to take place on March 11th, 2023 and it will see eight women battle it out for the grand prize in the under 66kg grand prix. The first of these women is none other than Polaris under 55kg champion Ffion Davies, coming in to the tournament fresh off her incredible performance at ADCC 2022. There Davies won gold at under 60kg and became the first UK athlete to even reach the podium at the ADCC world championships. After establishing herself as the best woman in the world in her weightclass, she's returning to Polaris to compete at a heavier weight and test herself even more. Joining her is Elisabeth Clay, who also competed at ADCC 2022 but in the over 60kg division instead. Clay lost in the opening round to the eventual champion Amy Campo, but is one of the best female grapplers of her generation regardless. She has three gold medals from the IBJJF no gi world championships, most recently in 2022 when she won both her weightclass and the absolute division by submitting five out of six of her opponents.

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