Polaris 20 is edging ever closer and now the blockbuster fourth edition of the promotion’s Squads format has had it’s main event superfight announced as Demian Maia v Benson Henderson. The event will see the promotion’s reigning no gi Squads champions, Team USA, defending their title against the newcomers, Team Brazil. Both teams will feature eight athletes who represent a mixture of seasoned veterans of the professional grappling circuit and phenomenal young up-and-comers who will be eager to make a name for themselves with some big wins.
As is customary for a Polaris Squads event, the promotion will also be staging an exciting superfight during the half-time period of the team grappling event. The last three events have all featured matchups between impressive grapplers like Tom Halpin and Ashley Williams. This time around however, a pair of UFC legends will be meeting on the Polaris mats to face off against one another. Demian Maia is of course known for his incredible grappling and was able to use his pedigree as an ADCC and IBJJF world champion to reach the very highest peak of MMA and challenge for both a UFC Middleweight and Welterweight world championship.
Benson Henderson on the other hand was known as a more well-rounded MMA fighter and had a much higher level of striking than Demian Maia, although he was an NAIA All-American wrestler in college and managed to earn a bronze medal at the IBJJF no gi world championships. It was this combined with his striking that allowed him to become a UFC Lightweight world champion at one point, and he will no doubt be eager to put his grappling skills to the test against an elite opponent like Demian Maia.
The full Polaris 20 event, including both the fourth edition of Squads and Demian Maia v Benson Henderson, will be available to watch live on June 25th on UFC FightPass, click here to subscribe and watch.
