Kendall Reusing will be returning to defend her openweight title against Leticia Cardozo at Polaris 26 on November 4th, 2023. This will be Reusing’s first grappling match in over a year and she really couldn’t have chosen a more fitting opponent for her return to competition. Reusing suffered a devastating knee injury during the semi-finals of the over 60kg division at ADCC 2022, and not only did it cause her to lose the match but it also kept her out of the bronze medal match and off the mats for quite a while afterward as well.
With Reusing being out of action, she actually missed the IBJJF No Gi World Championship that year, as it took place a few months after ADCC 2022 came to an end. That’s when Leticia Cardozo stepped in and managed to shoot to the very top of the sport just a matter of months after being promoted to black belt. Cardozo won a gold medal in the super-heavyweight division and announced her arrival to the highest level in impressive fashion. It’s clear that Reusing isn’t looking for an easy match on her return and Cardozo is the ideal opponent to challenge her for the title that she won by submitting Venla Luukkonen back at Polaris 17 in 2021.
Reusing actually won the title in the co-main event shortly before Craig Jones succesfully defended the Polaris middleweight belt and in an interesting turn of events, she’ll be on the same card as him again at Polaris 26. Jones is competing against UFC veteran Gerald Meerschaert and if the promotion’s previous fight cards are anything to go by then it’s likely that Polaris 26 features a number of other impressive superfights as well.
Polaris announced the news that Kendall Reusing would be defending the women’s openweight title against Leticia Cardozo at Polaris 26 in a recent post to their official Instagram account:
