Polaris News

The preliminary card for Polaris Squads 3 can now be revealed as the hard work of the New Blood initiative has come to fruition! The net was widened just recently as we opened the casting call for the prelims to the general public and allowed anyone to throw their hat into the ring and apply for the opportunity to compete on the event. After sifting through hundreds of applications and reviewing hours of highlight-reel footage, we've narrowed down the applicants to six and matched them up against one another to create three prelim matches. The first match will feature Jack Sear, one of the training partners of Ross Nicholls who will also be representing Team UK & Ireland later in the night, and he will be taking on Ireland's Ciaran Brohan. Shortly afterward, a high-level Roger Gracie Academy prospect Walli Abdullah will be taking on one of Polaris fan-favorite "the Yorkshire Gripper" Lloyd Cooper's most promising students in Ollie Bates. The final match will then feature the youngest competitor of the night as the talented 17 year-old Libby Genge is taking on a veteran of the UK MMA scene and BJJ purple belt, Bryony Tyrell.

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As is becoming tradition with Polaris Squads, there will be a headline superfight at Polaris Squads 3 that will take place during the half-time break of the event. The first two events featured truly memorable performances as Ffion Davies put on a flawless display in submitting Magdalena Loska at the first, and Ashley Williams became the first ever triple-champion by defeating Tom Halpin in a tough match in the second. This time around we will get to see the return of the Polaris UK Grand Prix champion, Freddie Vosgrone, and in keeping with the Team UK & Ireland v Team USA theme of the event, he will be taking on the BJJ Fanatics Grand Prix champion, 10th Planet's Kyle Boehm. Vosgrone is undefeated on the Polaris mats and has steadily increased the level of competition he has faced over the years, turning out phenomenal performances each and every time. At the same time, he's also been busy competing at the highest levels of the IBJJF circuit and making his successful professional MMA debut. Boehm on the other hand has had a lot of success in grand prix-style events and competing under EBI overtime rules, winning the Submission Underground grand prix...

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With just a matter of weeks left until the return of Polaris Squads, there have been several changes to the lineups for both Team UK and Ireland, and Team USA. The only change to Team UK and Ireland has come in the under 75kg section where Polaris triple champion Ashley Williams has unfortunately ad to withdraw, but he has now been replaced by another British Polaris veteran in Jed Hue. The same weight bracket in Team USA has had both Edwin Najmi and one the youngest representative on either team, Kade Ruotolo withdraw. They first replacement there is one of the most exciting grapplers in the States and the younger brother of another Team USA representative, 10th Planet's Geo Martinez. Joining him will be Adam Benayoun, one of Ryan Hall's most successful black belts who will no doubt be eager to put on a great show as he gears up for the upcoming ADCC trials. The 95kg section of Team USA has also had two competitors forced to withdraw from the event as both William Tackett and Team Captain JT Torres will no longer be attending. Instead, Roberto Jimenez has stepped up and he will now be the representative for...

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After the UK government announced a four week delay to the end of lockdown restrictions on the 14th June, it was unfortunately necessary to delay Polaris Squads 3 until Saturday 7th August as a direct result. This has been done in order to ensure that the event can go ahead as planned and that the athletes can still compete in front of a live crowd for the first time since the pandemic began. Of course, we can confirm that all tickets will automatically be transferred to the new date and will remain valid for the event. If you have already purchased a ticket but as a result of the change of date, are now unable to attend the event, please contact us to let us know. Provided you get in touch with us within 14 days of this post, we will issue a full refund for the value of the ticket to anyone unable to make it for the new date. Naturally, postponing Polaris Squads 3 is frustrating for everyone involved, from organizers to spectators and even the competitors themselves, we want you to have the best experience possible. Given the delay to the end of lockdown restrictions, changing the...

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Team UK & Ireland and Team USA are now completely finalized as the last spots on each team have been filled by Ben Dyson and Kade Ruotolo respectively. Ben Dyson is the third competitor from Team UK & Ireland to have made an appearance at ADCC 2019, where he came up against the eventual silver medalist Craig Jones in the opening round. Dyson has previous experience on the Polaris mats as he came up against the Danaher Death Squad's Nicky Rodriguez back at Polaris 11 and comfortably held his own against the physically-imposing wrestler. He's trained all around the world over the years and is known for his phenomenal work from the front headlock, including a variation of a classic submission that he calls 'the Dorset Necktie'. There is also now a new youngest competitor at Polaris Squads 3 as the eighteen year-old ATOS prodigy Kade Ruotolo joins Team USA. Ruotolo and his twin brother Tye have both shot to stardom in the Jiu-Jitsu world over the last year or two after repeatedly performing at an incredibly high level for grapplers still in their teenage years. He already holds a decision victory over Polaris triple champion Ashley Williams and it'll...

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The amount of free spaces are slowly dwindling as another representative has been added to both Team UK & Ireland and Team USA for Polaris Squads 3. Team captain Darragh O'Connaill will have another Irishman in his lineup as he is joined by Polaris veteran Tom Halpin. He will be experiencing a change of pace from the last Squads event, where lost a decision to Ashley Williams for the Featherweight title, and will now be back to working with him in the same team. Halpin is yet another veteran of ADCC 2019 and like Ross Nicholls, he had to earn his way to the event by storming through five different opponents at the European trials. One advantage Halpin will have over everyone else in both teams is that he will be the only person who has earned a victory in a Squads match, as he was responsible for Team UK & Ireland's 1-0 victory over Team Europe in the first event. His counterpart on Team USA is a young and extremely talented grappler hailing from Brazilian Fight Factory in Texas, William Tackett. Having only just had his twentieth birthday, Tackett is the youngest grappler competing for either team so far...

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There is only one spot left on both Team UK & Ireland and Team USA as the former had their under 75kg lineup completed with the previous announcement, and the latter has had their under 95kg lineup completed now. Kieran Davern will be the third Irishman to compete for Team UK & Ireland, and the fifth person to return from the team that was victorious at the first Polaris Squads event. Davern is an ex-professional MMA fighter and BJJ black belt competing out of SBG Tullamore. He works from butterfly guard very well and makes liberal use of the shoulder-crunch position to sweep his opponents, switching to becoming a heavy pressure-passer the moment he gets on top. He put in good work at the first event in matches against Tarik Hopstock and Marcin Held, demonstrating that he's also able to get into firefights with veteran leglockers and emerge completely unscathed. On Team USA, Jon 'Thor' Blank will be joining his fellow 10th Planet teammates PJ Barch and Richie 'Boogieman' Martinez. He also continues the trend of ADCC competitors taking part, as he received an invite after losing a decision to Josh Hinger in the semi-finals of the West Coast trials...

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With these two additions to the lineup for Polaris Squads 3, ten out of the total of sixteen spaces are now filled and both Team UK & Ireland and Team USA are close to taking shape. Joining Team UK & Ireland is Bradley Hill, who is no stranger to the Squads format and will now be the only person to represent his country in all three editions so far! 'The Omoplata man' is a black belt under Braulio Estima and is able to compete at a high level both in the gi and out of it, having reached the podium at the IBJJF World championships during his time as a coloured belt. Despite his nickname, some of Hill's most impressive attributes are a crushing top-game and phenomenal leglock-defense that he has put on display in the past at Polaris Squads, and during his run through the UK grand prix. PJ Barch will serve as the fifth member of Team USA, and the third one to weigh in at under 75kg. The 10th Planet representative has previously been victorious on the Polaris stage in an exciting match against Marcin Held, one he fought with Richie 'Boogieman' Martinez in his corner at...

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We're now at a point where the roster for the upcoming Team UK & Ireland v Team USA edition of Polaris Squads is half-full as both teams now have four members included. Team UK & Ireland have been given a huge boost with the return of the first and only Polaris triple-champion Ashley Williams. This will mean that Williams has competed at all three Squads events so far, after being part of the victorious Team UK & Ireland from the first event and winning his third title at the second event with a victory over former Squads teammate Tom Halpin. The Welsh grappler is an IBJJF European no gi champion who keeps up an incredible pace and excels at the armdrag, using it to great effect on opponents significantly bigger than him on numerous occasions. Opposite him on Team USA is a member of the Danaher Death Squad, Nick Ronan. While Ronan might be new to Polaris, his teammates have competed at the very top of previous events with both Nicky Rodriguez and Nicky Ryan having served as main event athletes. He might be the competitor with the least experience so far, but that's not a reason to overlook Ronan's...

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Two under 95kg competitors have just been added to the lineup for Polaris Squads 3, with both men being experienced grapplers with years of competition under their belt. Daniel Strauss will be leaving behind commentary duties for this event to join Team UK & Ireland on the mats instead, alongside Darragh O'Connaill and Ross Nicholls. Strauss is a black belt under the legendary Roger Gracie and is no stranger to team grappling events, as he led Team Polaris to victory at the very first Quintet event. As a strength-training fanatic with years of experience both competing and coaching, Strauss brings a unique element to the team in that he can help O'Connaill strategize during the event while also going toe-to-toe with even the strongest grapplers. Joining JT Torres and Edwin Najmi on Team USA is one of the most popular 10th Planet competitors, Richie 'Boogieman' Martinez. He is a former professional MMA fighter who decided to forego that career in order to pursue grappling full-time and has excelled ever since, competing all around the world for the past few years. Martinez has a unique style for a bigger competitor and often presents a challenge that his opponents have difficulty overcoming,...

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