NOVEMBER 27, 2021, was the date set for the 18th edition of the Polaris Jiu-Jitsu Invitational. The UK-based grappling promotion showcased an interesting mix of home-grown talent and international stars who brought forth a few highly entertaining matches. Arguably the most fun match of the night was that of Igor Tanabe and Tommy Langaker. As we had alluded to in our preview article, both of these young men had the perfect style for a fun fight and a fun fight is exactly what we received.
TANABE SUBMITS LANGAKER
In this MOTN “slug-fest” we saw the old Igor Tanabe style at its best, non-stop attacking, a favor reciprocated from Langaker. In the first few minutes, it became apparent that Igor was the strongest of the two, a power dynamic that proved very hard to deal with for the Norwegian athlete. As time went by, at the 10 minute mark, the non-stop nature of the match appeared to start wearing down on Tanabe, with Langaker gaining a bit of momentum. In a final stroke of genius, however, Igor managed to control the back of Tommy and conquer a modified slide-collar choke for the finish.
HOME TALENT BEATS MIYAO AND AGAZARM
For the other two main matches of the night, we saw no-gi expert Ashley Williams put on his gi to face one of the legends of the game, Paulo Miyao. The match wasn’t particularly high-paced, nor did it have too many exciting moments, nevertheless, Miyao did appear in control of the tempo and the positional battles. Williams, on the other hand, made the most of what he could get, attacking the feet of Paulo at any chance he could. Although none of the attacks warranted an urgent defense from Miyao, the judges did rule them as a deciding factor when choosing Williams as the winner of the bout.
The other co-main event saw A Agazarm battle submission-only specialist Jed Hue. These two had a fun match where Hue showed solid guard retention and plenty of fire-power in the leg-lock game, putting AJ in a few tight spots (particularly considering Agazarm went through knee reconstructive surgery just over 1 year ago). The American always pressed on and escaped everything that was thrown, but was unable to pierce through Hue’s defense, giving the judges an easier task when selecting the winner.
ASH WILLIAMS DEF. PAULO MIYAO VIA SPLIT DECISION
Featherweight (66 kg) GI
JED HUE DEF. AJ AGAZARM VIA DECISION
Welterweight (77.1 kg) NOGI
IGOR TANABE DEF. TOMMY LANGAKER VIA CHOKE FROM THE BACK
Light Heavyweight (90 kg) GI
STEVEN RAY DEF. CRAIG EWERS NECK CRANK / TWISTER VARIATION
Welterweight (77 kg) NOGI
LEON LARMAN DEF. BRYN JENKINS VIA DECISION
Welterweight (77 kg) GI
LLOYD COOPER DEF. TOM BARRY VIA SPLIT DEC.
Middleweight (84 kg) NOGI
