Owen Livesey will now be taking on Tommy Langaker in one of the biggest matches in European grappling, and it will be for the light-heavyweight title at Polaris 33 on September 13th, 2025. There aren’t many competitors on the European circuit who’ve stood out as much as Livesey and Langaker have in recent years, and both of them will be familiar faces for Polaris fans. Although they do generally compete in different weight classes, Polaris have managed to entice them to meet in the middle with the opportunity to win a title. The only reason they’re able to do so is because former light-heavyweight champion Craig Jones vacated the belt.
Jones is the only champion that the division has ever known at Polaris, but he announced just a few weeks ago that he will be retiring from the competitive side of the sport. That left Polaris looking for a new man to rule the light-heavyweight division and they couldn’t have found many better options. Owen Livesey has been very impressive during his Polaris career so far, and he’s become known all over the world for his beautiful footsweeps. He competed at under 99kg back at ADCC 2022 and usually stays around that weight, but he has actually gone as low as middleweight for a grand prix tournament at Polaris 22.
While Livesey has specialised in no gi since transitioning from Judo to BJJ, Langaker has excelled in both gi and no gi during his BJJ career. Langaker has won major IBJJF titles in both disciplines, with his crowning achievement coming when he won the IBJJF No Gi World Championship in 2023. He actually did that at middleweight and when he competed alongside Livesey the year before at ADCC 2022, he was in the under 77kg division. Where Livesey will have the advantage on the feet, Langaker should have it everywhere else. He’s a very well-rounded grappler with both an excellent guard and top-game, so he will present several problems for Livesey.
Polaris announced the news that Owen Livesey and Tommy Langaker will fight for the light-heavyweight title at Polaris 33 in a recent post to their official Instagram account:
