Polaris News

Polaris 24 was already set to star 3 ADCC veterans in the main and co-main events, and now 3 more will be joining the main card just beforehand. Keith Krikorian and Tom Halpin will be facing one another at 70kg during the main card of Polaris 24, although both men are known for competing in the 66kg division at ADCC. Halpin earned his chance at glory at ADCC 2019 by winning the European trials, while Krikorian achieved the same feat in North America to book his place at ADCC 2022. Both men are known as exciting grapplers with incredible depth of leglock knowledge, so it'll be interesting to see how they match up against one another. The second recent match added to the main card will feature the 4th place finisher from the 88kg division at ADCC 2022, Eoghan O'Flanagan. Not only is O'Flanagan a fan-favourite on the Polaris mats already, but he won his place at the tournament by winning European trials as well. Although he's been one of the best in the UK for a long time, ADCC 2022 announced his arrival at the very top of the sport as he took out both Xande Ribeiro and Mason...

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With the main card of Polaris 24 already starting to take shape, the first five matches of the preliminary card can now be confirmed too. First up is an exciting match between a pair of MMA veterans in Ash Grimshaw and Fabrizio Calio. Grimshaw fought for virtually every UK MMA promotion that existed in the last two decades and Calio is known for his exciting style in the cage. The second match to be confirmed features two rising stars of the professional grappling scene in the UK; London Grapple's Peter Sharmakou and one of Jed Hue's top students, Francesco Bartolotta. Aeon BJJ's Sam Gibbs will be facing the IBJJF no gi European champion at purple belt, Hejraat Rashid, in the third match of the preliminary card. Next up is Chris Macken and Jaye Paul, two competitors who are known for excitement and creativity in how they approach their matches. The final match of the first five preliminary card announcements will see Nathan Jones returning after an exciting debut at Polaris 19, to take on Jack Gover in what should be an incredibly tough match for both men.

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Along with the headline match between Ashley Williams and Ryan Hall, another title-fight has just been added to Polaris 24 as the co-main event. Jed Hue and Mateusz Szczecinski will be battling it out for the welterweight title on 3rd June, 2023, as Edwin Najmi has now vacated the title. Hue is a fan-favourite on the Polaris mats and has a perfect 4-0 record in superfights along with several matches representing Team UK & Ireland in Polaris Squads, and a fantastic run in the middleweight grand prix. Hue made it all the way to the final despite competing up in weight and really put the eventual champion Roberto Jimenez to the test in their match. Szczecinski also competed up in weight for the middleweight grand prix, although he wasn't able to make it out of the opening round. Regardless, the fearsome Polish leglocker is known all across Europe as being an incredibly difficult opponent for anyone. He was even invited to compete in the 77kg division at ADCC 2022 and pulled off a brilliant submission win in the opening round against William Tackett, announcing his arrival on the world stage in impressive fashion.

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Polaris 24 is set for 3rd June, 2023 and the main event is going to be a fantastic title-fight between elite grapplers. Ashley Williams will be putting one of his three belts on the line as he faces off against UFC veteran Ryan Hall. Ryan Hall will be challenging for the lightweight title in his first grappling match in several years, although he hasn't been completely out of combat sports. Hall has been busy making a name for himself in the UFC, where he won The Ultimate Fighter 22 and has since put together a 5-1 record in the promotion and a 8-2 professional record overall. Grappling fans will likely know Hall best from his ADCC trials win back in 2008 and subsequent bronze medal in the 66kg division at ADCC 2009. Ashley Williams on the other hand has been significantly more active on the professional grappling scene, including his journey to become the first Polaris triple-champion. Williams is the reigning bantamweight, featherweight, and lightweight champion while also winning the ADCC European trials in 2021. That booked his place in the 66kg division at ADCC 2022 where he lost out to the eventual champion, Diogo Reis, in an incredibly close...

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The women's under 66kg grand prix at Polaris 23 is now complete, as the final two competitors have joined the tournament. The first to join was Joanna Dineva, who had to fight tooth and nail to earn her spot in the tournament. Dineva had to defeat five other women at London Grapple on February 4th in order to win the latest edition of Polaris Contenders. She's a tough competitor who has only recently established herself at the highest levels of the sport, winning gold at the IBJJF European Championship at the beginning of the year. Although Dineva enters Polaris 23 as the biggest underdog at the tournament, she's more than capable of upsetting the balance and defeating some of the more experienced competitors. Dineva should have completed the division at Polaris 23, but unfortunately Jaidyn Mueller was forced to withdraw from the event due to injury. Stepping in to replace her is Fight Sports black belt Maggie Grindatti, who will be competing on the Polaris mats for the very first time. Grindatti is also an IBJJF European Champion and has won medals at both the Pan Championship and World Championship in the past.

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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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