Polaris have been one of the biggest names in professional grappling for quite some time but now they’re venturing into a completely new area, as they will begin hosting their first ever pro-am open tournaments. There’s no set date confirmed for the first of these tournaments just yet but the promotion has confirmed that they will take place at some point in 2024. Although there’s no location confirmed either, Polaris are based in the UK and the overwhelming likelihood is that their debut open tournament will be in either England or Wales given where they usually host their professional events.
It’s a huge move for the promotion as they will now have a far easier time discovering local talent to fill out their preliminary cards. Instead of having to rely on scouting or recommendations from trusted sources, they’ll now be able to see for themselves exactly who the promising young talent in the UK is. It’s likely then that the quality of grappling on the preliminary cards of their events is only going to rise from here, and they’ll probably be able to discover even more top British prospects and support them as they turn into stars like Owen Jones and Ffion Davies.
Not only should hosting pro-am open tournaments be a huge boost for Polaris themselves, but it should also have a great effect on the standard of grappling in the UK in general. More competition is only ever a good thing, and an avenue to compete with a big name like Polaris will likely attract talent from abroad as well. That gives UK competitors more regular opportunities to compete in general, and a wider talent-pool to compete against as well. If everything goes to plan for the promotion, this could have a profound impact on the state of UK Jiu-Jitsu in the coming years.
Polaris announced the news that they were going to be hosting their first ever pro-am open tournaments in a recent post to the new official Instagram account for the venture:
