APRIL 11, 2018 witnessed the birth of “Quintet: Grappling Team Survival Match”, an event that exceeded all expectations in terms of grappling quality and entertainment. With very peculiar rules (more on those here) the 5×5 team proposition made by the organization’s promoter Kazushi Sakuraba remained a mystery up until tonight, as it had not been tested as a mainstream event. The result was an array of outstanding matches.
With a wide selection of styles on the mats that went from Olympic Judo champions and medalists, to UFC champions, PRIDE Fc legends, Sambo world champions and ADCC podium placers, the event had a strong hint of that notorious old school style vs style clash. If the idea was to test each of these grappling training methods against each other, one could easily make the claim that Jiu Jitsu came out the victor. This was thanks to the outstanding performances of Craig Jones, Dan Strauss, Marcin Held and even Marcos de Souza.
The event ended with a dominating victory by the Polaris Jiu Jitsu Invitational Dream Team, one that was also the most international squad of the event with a mix of Polish, English, Australian, Japanese and Brazilian players. Below are the full results of each match held at Sakuraba’s Quintet tournament. Hopefully we will see more of this coming through from the promotion.
SEMI FINALS, HALEO vs JUDO
Daisuke Nakamura [Haleo] vs Michihiro Omigawa [Judo] – draw
Kazushi Sakuraba [Haleo] vs Shutaro Debana [Judo] – draw
Hideo Tokoro [Haleo] vs Hyun Jun Kim [Judo] – Tokoro by armbar from Imanari roll
Hideo Tokoro [Haleo] vs Dong Sik Yoon [Judo] – Yoon by Ezekiel inside closed guard
Marcos de Souza [Haleo] vs Dong Sik Yoon [Judo] – Souza by armbar from mount
Marcos de Souza [Haleo] vs Satoshi Ishii [Judo] – draw
SEMI FINALS, POLARIS vs SAMBO
Craig Jones [Polaris] vs Mindaugas Verzbickas [Sambo] – kneebar from 50/50 guard
Craig Jones [Polaris] vs Sergei Grecicho [Sambo] – draw
Marcin Held [Polaris] vs Viktor Tomasevic [Sambo] – kneebar from open guard
Marcin Held [Polaris] vs Teodoras Aukstuolis [Sambo] – kneebar/Dogbar from bottom
Marcin Held [Polaris] vs Marius Zaromskis [Sambo] – draw
FINALS, POLARIS vs HALEO
Gregor Gracie [Polaris] vs Josh Barnett [Haleo] – draw
Dan Strauss [Polaris] vs Daisuke Nakamura [Haleo] – RNC
Dan Strauss [Polaris] vs Hideo Tokoro [Haleo] – Strauss by mounted guillotine
Dan Strauss [Polaris] vs Kazushi Sakuraba [Haleo] – draw
Caol Uno [Polaris] vs Marcos Souza [Haleo] – Souza by armbar from side control
Craig Jones [Polaris] vs Marcos Souza [Haleo] – Kneebar
Cover photo by Matt Benyon of Scramble and Polaris Inv.
