Ffion Davies Pulls Through For Polaris 14

Polaris 14 Squads: Team UK/Ireland vs Team Europe was a tournament that incentivised submissions. However, there was only one submission during the tournament. But thankfully Ffion Davies pulled through to put another submission in the books for Polaris.

The Superfight

The superfight was between Davies and Magdalena Loska. Davies is a black belt under Darragh O’conaill at East Coast Jiu Jitsu Academy in Ireland. She has won IBJJF European’s and World’s. Last year she placed 2nd in ADCC championships. In that tournament she had a huge upset victory over Beatriz “Bia” Mesquita with an armbar. She then lost in the finals match to Bianca Basillio via toehold. She is considered to be one of the top 55kg women. 

Loska is a high level black belt. She is a Polish grappler who won silver at IBJJF European’s and is the teammate of UFC fighter Joanna Jedrzejczyk. 

Magdalena pulled guard quickly and worked to set up an armbar. She was unable to secure Davies’ arm and Davies instantly looked to knee slide pass. Magdalena tried to stop it using a knee shield but Davies eventually passed to side control. 

Davies was applying pressure and looking to get a knee-on-belly but was unable. Magdalena hooked under the waist of Davies with her nearside arm and when she did Davies took her back. She got the hooks in shortly after followed by the rear-naked choke that forced Magdalena to tap out within four minutes of the match.

The Tournament

The format for Polaris 14 Squads was team based. Each team consisted of competitors that were under 75kg and also competitors that were under 95kg. The event was divided into two halves, each consisting of 40 minutes. Each round was five minutes with only a 30 second break. 

The matches were sub only but awarded points to the team with the most submissions. This was a ‘winner stays in’ format. If a competitor finished with a submission then he would have 30 seconds of rest before competing against the next competitor of the opposing team. 

One point was awarded for every submission and three points were awarded if someone from the 75kg group submitted someone from the under 95kg group. 

Below are the results for the tournament. Many of the matches ended in a draw and in those cases both competitors were eliminated from scoring points.

Second Half – Team UK/Ireland wins 1-0

Ashley Williams vs Dinu Bucalet – Draw (Double Elimination)

Darragh O’Connail vs Santeri Lilius – Draw (Double Elimination)

Taylor Pearman vs Eduardo “Teta” Rios – Draw (Double Elimination)

Dominic Dillon vs Tommi Pulkkanen – Draw (Double Elimination)

Jed Hue vs Mateusz Szczecinski – Draw (Double Elimination)

Bradley Hill vs Kamil Wilk – Draw (Double Elimination)

Kieran Davern vs Tarik Hopstock – Draw (Double Elimination)

Ashley Williams vs Marcin Held – Draw (Double Elimination)

First Half – Team UK/Ireland leads 1-0

Dominic Dillon vs Mateusz Szczecinski – Draw (Double Elimination)

Darragh O’Connail vs Tarik Hopstock – Draw (Double Elimination)

Tom Halpin vs Tommi Pulkkanen – Draw (Double Elimination)

Tom Halpin defeats Dinu Bucalet – Triangle Choke

Taylor Pearman vs Santeri Lilius – Draw (Double Elimination)

Kieran Davern vs Marcin Held – Draw (Double Elimination)

Jed Hue vs Kamil Wilk – Draw (Double Elimination)

Bradley Hill vs Mateusz Szczecinski – Draw (Double Elimination)

Ashley Williams vs Eduardo “Teta” Rios – Draw (Double Elimination)

Josh Clopton

Josh Clopton is a UFC veteran and Jiu Jitsu black belt. In 2005 he left his job in Tulsa, Okla. and moved to San Francisco to pursue fighting. While trying to break into the UFC, he worked on a commercial crab fishing boat to make ends meet. Josh earned his black belt under Jake Shields in 2016 and now helps train other fighters and has been the chief cornerman in over 20 UFC fights. He teaches at El Nino Training Center and also for companies such as Google, YouTube and LinkedIn. He is an avid reader, writer and outdoorsman.

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