Video by Jonathan Shrager of mixedmartialarts.com
The biggest submission only tournament in Europe, the Polaris 3 Invitational, will be held in Poole in the UK on April 2, 2016. This is a pay per view event.
Originally, the first bout advertised was between AJ Agazarm (the No Gi World Champion) and Ben Askren (the One FC Champion). However, earlier in February, Agazarm said that Askren had pulled out – and that Jake Shields would be fighting him instead.
Agazarm is a top American BJJ black belt, who started at Ohio State as a D1 wrestler. After switching to BJJ, Agazarm was extremely successful. His most impressive achievement is winning the 2014 No Gi Black Belt World Championship. He has competed in the initial two Polaris editions.
As well as being a BJJ black belt, Shields is an accomplished Wrestler – albeit not as accomplished as Askren. Shields started amateur wrestling aged nine. He has participated in more than 600 freestyle, submission and folk wrestling bouts. Also, he competed twice as an All American wrestler at Cuesta College — coming fourth in the 1997 state tournament at 177 pounds, and third in the 197 weight division in 1998.
