We held Polaris 30 this past weekend, and it was a big one. Two of the main reasons for the large amount of interest the show received were the main event, which featured Carlos Condit vs Michael Venom Page, and an MP, Will Stone, competing on the prelims.
MVP is a household name in MMA, with some of the most spectacular knockout wins we’ve ever seen in Bellator, and a current UFC contract. Carlos Condit too is one of the most beloved UFC champs of all time. These two brought a lot of mainstream MMA eyeballs to the show. One thing about jiujitsu athletes is they are often shy, and prefer to let their jiujitsu do the talking. MVP, on the other hand, was an incredible showman. His walkout was the best I have ever seen on Polaris, bar none. He came out to Baddadan by Chase and Status, and he took his time, savouring every moment, whipping the crowd into a frenzy as he swaggered and danced through the stalls to the stage. People were cheering and dancing and completely enthralled. The match, too, delivered, with a lot of high paced action and exchanges. Personally, I thought Condit would come out on top as he had some very nice submission attempts and held his own during the positional exchanges, but the judges just saw it for MVP perhaps due to his controlling of the pace and takedowns.
Pics: Chris Treseder / Polaris
Will Stone came out on the prelims against Matt Inman, an extremely tough competitor from London Grapple. Stone gave it his best shot but was ultimately outclassed by the more experienced Inman, however, the match was a great success, raising money for charity and bringing the mainstream media to the show. We had ITV, BBC, The Sun, The Independent and more actually on site filming and interviewing attendees to the show, which has never happened in grappling before.
Check out the news report here.
Scramble athletes had an excellent showing:
Jeanluca Maltese narrowly lost but looked great doing so in the new Athlete.
Dinu Bucalet weathered an early sub attempt to go on to dominate and win by one-handed rear naked choke, looking great in the new navy Shinobi set.
Hejraat Rashid showed incredible smooth jiujitsu in a comfortable win.
Aussie legend Ben Hodgkinson of B-Team / Absolute MMA got the sub in his Polaris debut.
Tough day out for Nathan Jones but it is always a pleasure to see him compete.
All above photos by Chris Treseder.
On the main card, UFC fighter Nathaniel Wood took on fellow MMA fighter Cameron Else in a fast-paced match. Sadly he ripped off his Scramble rashguard before any good photos were taken – mind you if I had a body like Nathaniel, I’d be shirtless 24/7 too.
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