Last night saw the Polaris Squads third event which saw the UK & Ireland face team USA in a nogi face off. The rules are that this was divided into two halves of 60 minutes. Each competitor is called out and has 5 minutes to submit their opponent. If it ends a stalemate, each competitor is eliminated.
Each team had 8 competitors, half being under 95KG, and half being under 75KG. If you a 75KG competitor submits a 95KG opponent, they get 3 points and stay on. However, if someone submits their opponent of the same weight, they score 1 point and stay on. In the previous no gi squads event, UK and Ireland beat team Europe 1-0.
Here’s the teams:
UK & Ireland
- Darragh O’Conaill (captain)
- Kieran Davern
- Bradley Hill
- Ben Dyson
- Dan Strauss
- Jed Hue
- Ellis Younger
- Ross Nicholls
USA
- Richie Martinez (co-captain)
- Geo Martinez (co-captain)
- Hunter Colvin
- John Blank
- Adam Benayoun
- Nathan Orchard
- Roberto Jimenez
- Nick Ronan
Before this took place, the were some preliminary matches, as well as a superfight between Kyle Boehm vs Nastasa Silviu.
Kyle Boehm defeats Nastasa Silviu by heelhook. This was the shortest match of the night and Boehm quickly sat to guard, got a quick leg entanglement and tapped Silviu in around 30 seconds.
Charlie Baker defeats Mason guard by decision. Guard played a top, passing game and did get to side control at once. However, Bakers retention was very good which earned him a deep armbar and kimura attack at one point.
Libby Genge defeats Bryony Tyrell by arm triangle. The 17 year old Genge mostly dominated the 41 year old Tyrell and mostly hunted leg locks. However, Tyrell showed great defense and fought off many heel hooks. In the end, Genge got on top, passed and snatched a late arm triangle.
Ollie Bates defeats Wali Abdullah by decision. Here we saw a leg locker (Bates) vs a wrestler (Abdullah). For the most part, Abdullah spent this match dodging and escaping leglocks. Eventually Bates got on top and quickly passed to the back. With the possibility of a RNC, the buzzer went.
Jack Sear defeats Ciaran Brohan by inside heel hook. From the off, Jack Sear tried various leg locks and looked strong from the bottom. A few minutes in, he managed to secure a heel hook and claim victory.
UK & Ireland vs USA Squads results
For most of the first hour, it was a tense stand off and was a cagey affair. For instance, Dan Strauss fought John Blank in a heavyweight clash which saw little action. Here, Blank tried playing guard, whilst Strauss was happy on top.
Perhaps some of the stand out matches without submissions featured UK’s Jed Hue, who had some entertaining exchanges with Roberto Jimenez and Hunter Colvin. However, late on in the first half, Ireland’s Kieran Davern got submitted by Nathan Orchard. Here, Orchard took the back from standing, and then ended the match with a neck crank. This looked to be a variation of the Twister submission from a different angle. This ended the first half 3-0 to the USA.
As a result, the second half was less cagey and people opened up a bit more. This saw Geo Martinez tap Dan Strauss after sweeping him and trying to pass him. As he passed, Strauss tapped and looked to have injured his pec or shoulder. As a result, this added 3 more points to the US tally.
Later on, Bradley Hill also got submitted by Roberto Jimenez via a RNC. After a scramble that saw Hill nearly take the back of Jimenez, the American reversed it to take Hills back after a slick scramble. He isolated one arm and eventually locked in the choke.
