The full lineup for Polaris Squads has now been revealed as the remaining seven representatives of Team Europe were just announced. The news comes hot on the heels of the announcement of the full Team UK and Ireland that they will be competing against on 27th September. Team UK and Ireland was already nearly half-way full anyway after the the news broke that a pair of Polaris veterans in Jed Hue and Bradley Hill were set to join Polaris Bantamweight and Lightweight Champion Ashley Williams.
The Polaris Squads organizers were a little more tight-lipped on Team Europe as Bellator and UFC veteran Marcin Held was the only competitor announced until now. Surprisingly, Held is actually in the 95kg weight-class and he will be joined by the inventor of the Tarikoplata and Ankle-Lock master, Tarik Hopstock. The other two members of the heavier category are men that have actually competed against each other on the Polaris mats only a year ago.
The winner of this match, Eduardo “Teta” Rios, is a multiple-time IBJJF European no gi Champion and one of the more experienced competitors for Team Europe. The loser was Santeri Lilius, a Roger Gracie black belt who has won several IBJJF Opens over the last few years. Tommi Pulkkanen is another Polaris veteran who will represent Team Europe in the lighter category, along with the man who will be looking for vengeance against Jed Hue after being on the losing end of their superfight at the Polaris UK Grand Prix, Dinu Bucalet. The final two lighter competitors are both of Polish origin, Kamil Wilk and Mateusz Szczecinski.
Wilk was last seen at Polaris in a losing effort against the Australian prodigy Jeremy Skinner, but has also fought some of the biggest names in grappling like Paulo Miyao. Szczecinski doesn’t often fight outside of his homeland but wins virtually everything inside of it, being a UWW grappling World Champion and bronze medalist of the last ADCC European Trials. Fans can now look forward to some phenomenal potential matchups across a total of eighty minutes of elite grappling action in a new and intriguing team grappling format with a number of differences from Quintet.
The full event will be streamed live on 27th September on UFC FightPass, click here to subscribe and watch.
