JULY 11, 2020, was the date set for Polaris’ return, Britain’s most successful grappling show. The event suffered some structural changes from its previous 13 editions, coming in with a tournament format and the addition of points to its standard system (1 point per positional advancement). A new design set to ease the winner decision process which was previously handed to the discretion of the judges.
The formation of the tournament could easily be seen as a gathering of all top talent in Britain, with very few big names missing from the pot. In our preview piece (here) we had set the German powerhouse Freddy Vosgröne as the tournament favorite due to his size and experience, and indeed Vosgröne did not disappoint. A solid and astute performance by the young athlete who floated through to the final with relative ease, where he faced leg-locker Ross Nicholls whom he also defeated without ever being exposed to clear danger.
We had high hopes for, arguably, the two current top talents in the nation: Ross Nicholls and Taylor Pearman, but unfortunately this was an uninspired night for both. Severely undersized – particularly Pearman who fought a couple of giants, the guard playing abilities of these two were notably diminished and the full length of their capabilities obfuscated. Hopefully, we will see them back in the Polaris stage against athletes of their own weight class.
Although a solid tournament with good, tough matches, we noted no brilliant performance, outside that of the champ, Freddy. That is until we got to the superfight portion of the event, where Jed Hue proved his talent once again. The young student of Ross Nicholls has been well known for his leg-locks for quite some time, but showed another side of his game tonight, posing threats from all angles, finally pulling off the win via submission from the guard with a beautiful transition from armbar to omoplata, to triangle, to kimura from the triangle. Flawless.
GP QUARTER FINALS
– Bradley Hill DEF. Shane Curtis via RNC
– Ross Nicholls DEF. Dominic Dillon via 1×0 pts
– Frédéric Vosgröne DEF. Tom Breese via 4×1 pts
– Taylor Pearman DEF. Silvio Nastasa via decision
GP SEMI-FINALS
– Ross Nicholls DEF. Bradley Hill via decision
– Frédéric Vosgröne DEF. Taylor Pearman via 2×0 pts
GP FINAL
– Frédéric Vosgröne DEF. Ross Nicholls via 1×0 pts
SUPER-FIGHT
– Jed Hue DEF. Dinu Bucalet via kimura from triangle
