After a long wait, the Polaris Professional Invitational is back with a crowd, and their latest Squads event is sure to get them screaming with excitement!
Polaris Squads was debuted in 2020 and featured a UK & Ireland vs Europe card, that was an exciting matchup of skills and weight classes.
Polaris Squads consists of two teams of eight, four members who are under 75kg and four members who are under 95kg. Each team will consist of a team captain who will act as a focal point for the team and will make the final decision on which member competes. Team captains also play a crucial part incase the event ends in a draw.
The event will consist of two fourty minute halves. During each half the event is decided through a “winer stays on” format. Each team will send one competitor to the mat and will compete against eachother for five minutes.
A winner of the match will be decided be submission only, with a submision being added to a total team tally, which will decide the overall team victor.
Submission points are decided as such –
- 1 point for a submission of two equal weight classes
- 1 point for a higher weight class submitting a lower weight class
- 3 points for a lower weight class submitting a higher weight class
Prelims
Before the excitement of the main event, Polaris always looks to showcase some of the greatest upcoming UK talent. This year they set out to look for some more unconventional names in the UK scene with the launch of their #NEWBLOOD campaign.
Charlie Barker vs Mason Guard
We start off our prelim preview by looking at two of the youngest competitors on the card. Charlie and Mason are two of the top juniors in the UK and neither of these kids lack experience or heart.
As this is a junior match up, Polaris rules state no twisting leg locks, which means no toe holds and no heel hooks
Both can be seen standing on the top of the podiums in their competitions, and these two are going to put on an electric prelim match up!
Libby Genge vs Bryony Tyrell
Our next matchup features Juvenille blue belt Libby Genge going up against purple belt Bryony Tyrell. Don’t let the age or belt rank fool you however, Libby is as game as they come.
She has been tearing up the local scene scoring some good wins under her belt to earn herself an invite to Polaris.
Bryony is the more experienced of the two, the Bellator fighter is no stranger to fighting under the bright lights and infront of a big crowd. This could be a big factor to play.
Expect some technical leg entries from Libby, while Bryony will be looking to pay her wrestling based top game.
Wali Abdullah vs Ollie Bates
A classic wrestler vs leg locker matchup. Wali Abdullah is a wrestler turned pro grappler, who is looking to make his debut against one of the UK’s up and coming names Ollie Bates.
Ollie, who is a brown belt under Polaris veteran Lloyd Cooper, will be looking to engage in “a game of footsie” with the wrestler. However, Wali has been preparing hard for a game of technical footlocks, as he’s been seen training with Squads member Jed Hue.
This will be a great chess game to watch as one looks to impsoe their unique game on the other.
Jack Sear vs Ciaran Brohan
This has been a matchup for the ages and one the UK scene has been dying to see for a long time. Ciaran Brohan is one of the top brown belts in Ireland and he will finally be going up against Ross’ Nicholls brown belt Jack Sear.
Both of these guys are experienced in the art of foot lockers, so this will be a technical game of leg entanglments, which would equal an exciting matchup!
Super Fight
During the Interval of the Squads event, we are always treated with a fun super fight, and here we see two heavyweights clash for the Super Fight crown
Nastasa Silviu vs Kyle Boehm
Natasa Silviu has had an a mixed outing so far on Polaris, beating prospects such as Jamie Hughes, but also losing to Jed Hue and Taylor Pearman. This looks to be one of his biggest matches to date, but that doesn’t scare the black belt.
10th Planet’s Kyle Boehm is an exciting up and comper, with notable wins at BJJ Fanatic’s Grand Prix, beating names such as Aaron ‘Tex’ Johnson and ATOS standout Lucas Barbosa.
Boeham has also featured on Flo Grappling’s Who’s Number One, where he faced off against Gordon Ryan, where he unfortunately lost, but this grappler is no stranger to super fights.
Both guys will look to make a big name for themselves with Silvia being the underdog and Boehm looking to have his first big super fight win overseas. Expect and hard fought match up between the two.
Squads Event
The main event that we’re all here to watch, Polaris Squads has already proven to be an exciting format, especially with Arya Estafandz’s 26 second submission attempt at Squads 2.
Unfotunately the line up has had a bit of a facelift from the original team line up. Jed Hue replaces the injured Ashley Williams in team UK & Ireland, while the entire USA team has had a face lift as members such as JT Torres have been replaced by Geo Martinez, Edwin Najmi has been replaced by Roberto Jimenez and more.
Team UK & Ireland
- Darragh O’Connaill – Team Captain
- Ross Nicholls
- Daniel Strauss
- Bradley Hill
- Jed Hue
- Tom Halpin
- Kieran Davern
- Ben Dyson
Team USA
- Richie Martinez – Co Captain
- Geo Martienz – Co-Captain
- Roberto Jimenez
- Michael Perez
- Nick Ronan
- Adam Benayoun
- Nathan Orchard
Between the two, the matchup of teams now looks more level. Both teams feature IBJJF and ADCC standouts and they will both be looking to put on a great match.
Personally we are looking forward to matchups such as Richie Martinez vs Daniel Strauss, the rematch between Jed Hue and Nick Ronan, Ross Nicholls vs Roberto Jimenez, there are so many good potential matchups on this card, that it’s sure to be an amazing event.
Polaris Squads 3 is available to watch on UFC fightpass and the last few remaining tickets are available here.