Polaris Contenders took place on October 15th with a spot in the upcoming Polaris 22: Middleweight Grand Prix available for the winner of the tournament.
It featured several exciting young prospects who would all be more than capable of causing an upset against one of the more experienced competitors in the Middleweight Grand Prix. The athletes came from all across the world in order to earn their spot in the tournament, including B-Team’s Kaya Rudolph making the trip from Austin, Texas and Bartek Lukaszewicz coming from Gdynia, Poland. In the end it was a Canadian living in Ireland who battled his way through the field of tough competitors in order to emerge victorious.
Shane Fishman was an incredibly successful IBJJF competitor at brown belt who actually made his Polaris debut back at Polaris 12, where he defeated Stefan Georgiev Petrov. Fishman was eventually promoted to black belt at the beginning of 2021 by Darragh O’Connail and has continued to put in impressive performances at both IBJJF events and ADCC trials. While he may not be as much of a known name as the other competitors in the Middleweight Grand Prix, he will represent an incredibly tough challenge for anyone who stands across him.
