Meyram Maquine has just signed an exclusive UK contract with Polaris and will be making his return to no gi competition with the promotion. It’s a pretty huge move by both parties, as Maquine is one of the top gi grapplers in the world and is known for being incredibly exciting. He’s won two IBJJF World Championship titles and several bronze and silver medals too, earning a reputation for being incredibly tough to beat in the process. Maquine has only lost a handful of matches in his career and only one by submission, with that being against a competitor from multiple weight classes above him in the absolute.
Even though Maquine is known as a gi specialist, he has competed in no gi at the highest level before. That was all the way back in 2022 though, so it’ll be interesting to see how he adapts his game to suit the ruleset today. Polaris haven’t announced the first opponent for Meyram Maquine just yet, but they have plenty of interesting options for him already. He usually competes at either 64kg or 70kg and would be ideal for the lightweight division, where Ethan Crelinsten has been the champion since Polaris 24. He could also drop down to the featherweight division pretty easily instead, where the reigning champion has been Keith Krikorian since Polaris 27.
It might also be a signal of another announcement that could be coming up soon, as Polaris is in the middle of hosting their inaugural Squads Intercontinental Championship and the South American team had not yet been confirmed. Maquine would be a huge threat under team grappling rules due to his ability to beat bigger opponents reliably and he would be a great addition to the South American team, if they choose to go in that direction. South America are up against Asia and Oceania in the second semi-final and they would likely be the favorites given the talent pools in each region, but adding someone like Maquine to the lineup is a huge boost.
Polaris announced the news that Meyram Maquine has signed an exclusive UK contract to make his return to no gi competition in a recent post to their official Instagram account:
