Polaris have had to shuffle things around a little for Polaris 24 and a new main event title-fight has been booked between Ethan Crelinsten and Nathan Orchard. While it’s a huge change that the promotion has been forced to make on short notice, the event will still be of the highest quality with a battle between these two elite competitors at the end of it. The original main event was supposed to see Ashley Williams defending his lightweight title against Ryan Hall, but both men have had to withdraw and the match has been postponed until further notice.
This has meant that Ashley Williams has now relinquished his status as a Polaris triple champion by vacating the lightweight belt, in order for it to still be on the line in the main event. There aren’t really many more deserving competitors to fight for the now-vacant title either, as Crelinsten was actually the last person to challenge for the belt when he lost a close decision to Williams. Orchard on the other hand put in an amazing display at Polaris Squads 3 when he helped drive Team USA to victory over Team UK & Ireland. Both men are known for putting on exciting and fast-paced matches no matter who they’re standing opposite, so a battle between them is sure to produce fireworks.
The rest of the card has remained intact though, and there will actually be another title-fight serving as the co-main event as well. Fan-favourite Jed Hue will be competing against elite leglocker Mateusz Szczecinski for the promotion’s welterweight title. While this is the only other title-fight, it’s not the only other excellent matchup booked for the event. ADCC veteran Eoghan O’Flanagan will be facing off against Hunter Colvin, and another two ADCC veterans will be meeting as Keith Krikorian takes on Tom Halpin.
Polaris announced the news that Ethan Crelinsten and Nathan Orchard would be fighting for the lightweight title in the main event of Polaris 24 in a recent post to their official Instagram account:
