This weekend marks the return of the Polaris Jiu-Jitsu Invitational with its 20th show, and what a show they have built for us, ladies and gentlemen. Polaris 20 will feature a team vs team tournament, adequately designed as Polaris Squads. The Squads segment of Polaris has a unique set of rules (check here for more details on those) that has quickly made it into one of the British company’s most popular set-ups. The Polaris Squads is featuring a star-studded cast built by two platoons of exquisite grapplers, namely Team USA and Team Brazil, jiu-jitsu’s strongest talent hubs.
Polaris 20 goes down on June 25 at the ICCWales (Convention Center) and airs live and exclusively on UFC Fight Pass. Given its streaming platform and Polaris’ track-record, there is something there for the MMA fan as well, none other than a clash between two of MMA’s most familiar faces, former ADCC and IBJJF Worlds champion Demian Maia and former UFC lightweight champ, Ben Henderson.
SQUADS TOURNAMENT: BRA X USA
On paper, Brazil appears to be the favorite here with IBJJF World and ADCC Brazil Trials winners Mica Galvão and Fabricio Andrey on board as well as World & Pans Champ Isaque Bahiense, AJP World Pro winner Gabriel Sousa, light-featherweight phenom Diogo “Baby Shark” Reis, or the mega-talented Igor Tanabe, but don’t count Team America just yet.
America’s Ace up the sleeve may very well be Mason Fowler of CTA. Mason is incredibly talented and is bigger than anyone on the opposite side, which could skew things in favor of Team USA with the correct strategy. Team USA is also vastly more experienced competing in submission only with athletes such as Nick Ronan, Keith Krikorian, Nathan Orchard, etc while being also better versed in the heel hooking department.
All-in-all, this clash is interesting on a number of levels. Not only are both teams teeming with talent and representing the two biggest superpowers in the sport, but this is also a near clear-cut challenge between the Submission-Only heavy-hitters of the United States versus the Brazilian athletes, all of which were developed in the IBJJF circuit.
TEAM BRAZIL
UNDER 75 KILOGRAMS
– Fabricio Andrey (pro record: 53-7-0 [55% sub-rate])
– Diogo Reis (pro record: 50-6-1 [34% sub-rate])
– Marcelo Fausto (pro record: 18-8-0 [61% sub-rate])
– Gabriel Sousa (pro record: 107-31-0 [30% sub-rate])
OVER 75 KILOGRAMS
– Isaque Bahiense (pro record: 152-19-1 [31% sub-rate])
– Igor Tanabe (pro record: 10-0-0 [79% sub-rate])
– Kywan Gracie (pro record: N/A)
– Mica Galvão (pro record: 41-3-0 [71% sub-rate])
TEAM USA
UNDER 75 KILOGRAMS
– Keith Krikorian (pro record: 39-10-0 [69% sub-rate])
– Nick Ronan (pro record: N/A)
– Nathan Orchard (pro record: N/A)
– Geo Martinez (pro record: 35-17-7 [66% sub-rate])
OVER 75 KILOGRAMS
– Mason Fowler (pro record: 29-2-0 [45% sub-rate])
– Hunter Colvin (pro record: N/A
– Jon Blank (pro record: 11-9-2 [73% sub-rate])
– Richie Martinez (pro record: 31-20-7 [74% sub-rate])
MAIN CARD
Middleweight (80 kg) NOGI
– Benson Henderson x Demian Maia
