Former UFC bantamweight world champion Aljamain Sterling has been booked to take on fellow MMA veteran Nathaniel Wood in the main event superfight at Polaris 25 on September 30th, 2023. Although a lot of attention will be on this matchup given the fact that seeing Sterling competing in a grappling competition is a rare experience, it’s not the main attraction of the event. Polaris 25 will feature an Absolute Grand Prix and the promotion has invited some of the best grapplers on the planet to compete in it.
As is customary, Polaris also held a Contenders tournament prior to the event in order to allow up-and-coming competitors to battle it out for the final spot in the tournament. Top Polish prospect Marcin Maciulewicz was the one who ended up winning the invite and he will now compete alongside some incredibly successful competitors like Kaynan Duarte and Giancarlo Bodoni. While there will also be a number of single matches serving as the preliminary card for the event, this excellent superfight between Aljamain Sterling and Nathaniel Wood will be the only single match on the main card of Polaris 25.
Sterling is one of the most successful MMA fighters in bantamweight history, having initially won the title from Petr Yan before defending it multiple times. Sterling has a fantastic wrestling background and he’s used that to develop some impressive Jiu-Jitsu skills over the years as well. Although seeing him compete in a grappling competition is rare, he has stepped on the mats before to win a convincing decision at a High Rollerz event. He’ll be taking on another UFC veteran in Nathaniel Wood, a bantamweight and featherweight competitor who is known as one of the top fighters in the UK.
Polaris announced the news that Aljamain Sterling and Nathaniel Wood were facing one another in the main event superfight at Polaris 25 in a post to their official Instagram account:
