Following on from the success of Polaris Squads no gi, tonight’s event saw team UK face off against team Europe in the gi. The result ended 9-0 to Europe who dominated throughout and reversed the tide on the 1-0 no gi score which had seen Europe previously lose to the UK.
It was a night to forget for team UK who fought hard but didn’t match up to the levels of the European team. For team Europe, their dominance was proven mostly through Tommy Langaker and Leon Larman. Larman was somewhat of a dark horse going into the competition but managed to snatch three submissions, all coming from berimbolo back takes into lapel chokes. Langaker did his usual stuff and got a few chokes and an armbar whilst Luca Anacoreta also got a slick reverse triangle on Jamie Paxman.
However, the submission of the night was undoubtedly the Ezekiel choke performed by Dinu Bucalet. The Romanian pulled off the submission from the inside of Tyrone Elliott’s closed guard and managed to put him to sleep in the process. It wasn’t a good night for the UK side elsewhere as Bryn Jenkins also tapped late to a Langaker armbar which got him injured and resulted in Jenkins withdrawing from the competition.
However, it also has to be mentioned that Bradley Hill defended well against Langaker and put in a solid performance. The UK team captain Arya Esfandmaz also defended brilliantly at times against the talented Adam Wardzinski. He fought the Polish grappler twice and was swept into mount on both occasions. In the second match, it looked like he was going to tap to an arm triangle but somehow survived and showed expert escapes and great heart in the process.
In the superfight, Ash Williams defeated Thomas Halpin after passing him to mount and nearly getting a late triangle. This earned the Welshman his third Polaris title. After the events, there was talk of another Squads match including team Europe vs team USA in the future which would be a great spectacle. Interestingly, the event saw a total of 8 submissions which proves the gi format can be even more exciting than no gi matches if the ruleset is in place to emphasize the importance of submissions.
Watch below for the sneaky Ezekiel choke performed by Dinu Bucalet.
