WALES, UNITED KINGDOM – Polaris Squads returns for their 4th instalment, featuring reigning champions Team USA facing off against TEAM Brazil.
The Polaris Squads format is split into two 60-minute halves and features two teams of 8 competitors (4 under 75kg, 4 under 95kg) facing off in a round-robin tournament where submissions equal points. The team with the most points wins.
TEAM BRAZIL
UNDER 75 KILOGRAMS
- Fabricio Andrey
- Diogo Reis
- Marcelo Fausto
- Luiz Paulo
OVER 75 KILOGRAMS
- Isaque Bahiense
- Igor Tanabe
- Kywan Gracie
- Mica Galvão
TEAM USA
UNDER 75 KILOGRAMS
- Keith Krikorian
- Nick Ronan
- Nathan Orchard
- Geo Martinez
OVER 75 KILOGRAMS
- Mason Fowler
- Hunter Colvin
- Jon Blank
- Richie Martinez
First Half Results
Veterans to the format, Team USA used this to their advantage, sending our team members to try and mismatch against their Brazilian counterparts. In the beginning, this strategy seemed to stall as the first four matches ended in a draw, until Team USA’s pick Mason Fowler faced up against Team Brazil’s Kywan Gracie.
In an incredibly fast-paced match where both competitors had a bite of a submission, it was Mason Fowler and Team USA who would be first to score the first point with a tight armbar submission.
After falling behind Brazil decide to unleash their “Ace-in-the-hole” Mica Galvao against Fowler, but would fall fruitless as Fowler takes Galvao to a draw.
The end of the first half would see Team USA lead Team Brazil 1 – 0.
Second Half Results
With a tough road ahead, Team Brazil needed to pull out all the stops to figure out how to come back from a 1-0 deficit.
It was clear that team Brazil’s tactics had changed from playing a heavy passing game in the first half, to a more dynamic bottom game looking for sweeps and back-take opportunities in the second half.
This is a strategy that would pay off for the team, with Mica Galvao taking the first point for the Brazilian team after submitting ADCC West Coast Trials winner Keith Krikorian with an armbar to level the match 1 – 1.
The second half would have a run of 6 drawing matches until a tactic mistake from Team USA would pit Keith Krikorian up against Mica Galvao once again.
Mica would put on another guard passing clinic against the 10th Planet stand out, dynamically passing his guard and mounting. Galvao would then go on to submit Krikorian with a mounted Triangle to give Brazil a 2 – 1 win and ultimately become the winner of the event.
Image courtesy of The Grapple Club
Damian Maia vs Benson Henderson
During the squad’s intermission, the fans were treated to a grappling match between two legends of Mixed Martial Arts and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
The match started off with Henderson looking to wrestle with Maia until the Brazilian from Sao Paulo decided to pull guard.
The two would work in Maia’s closed guard for a number of minutes until the referee stood them back up.
From there we saw Maia take the back of Henderson, where he would spend the duration of the match attempting to submit him with a number of choke attempts, face cranks and spine cranks, but to no avail.
Maia would go on to be declared the winner due to his constant attacking Henderson’s back.
