Szczecinski Runs the Table to Win the Polaris 38 Welterweight Grand Prix

A Polish grappler nobody picked as the favorite finished two of his three matches and then out-pointed the defending champion, and the whole bracket doubles as a leg lock and armbar clinic worth studying on the mats.

A Stacked Bracket Gets a New Champion

Polaris 38 landed on July 11 at Bath University Sports Village in England, and the headline attraction was an eight man welterweight grand prix built around some of the sport's sharper leg lock and submission specialists. Eight names went in, and by the end of the night only one walked out with the belt and the winner's check. That grappler was Mateusz Szczecinski, a Polish competitor out of Academia Gorila who was not the most decorated name on the card heading into the weekend but left as the new face of the division.

Szczecinski needed three wins to get there, and he did not stall his way through any of them. His run started against Deandre Corbe, continued through a fast semifinal finish, and ended in a fifteen minute final that had to go to the scorecards. That combination, quick finishes early and composure late, is what tends to separate a tournament winner from a talented competitor who runs out of gas in the third match of the day.

Three Matches, Three Very Different Endings

The opener set the tone. Szczecinski caught Deandre Corbe in a leg entanglement and forced the tap with an achilles lock, the kind of finish that has become something of a calling card for him. In the semifinal he moved up in competition against Michael Liera Jr. and needed barely a minute of the first round to lock up an armbar and end the match early, a finish clean enough that Liera had no real chance to defend it.

The final was a completely different fight. PJ Barch, who had won the Polaris welterweight title in a previous tournament, brought a much tougher style to deal with, and neither grappler could force a submission over the full fifteen minutes. Judges gave the decision to Szczecinski by split verdict, closing out a night where he had shown he could finish quickly and also grind out a close one when a finish was not on the table.

Galvao Keeps Her Streak Alive on the Same Card

The welterweight bracket was not the only title on the line in Bath. Atos black belt Sarah Galvao defended her Polaris bantamweight title against Zara Di Tofano and needed only a portion of the first round to get it done, sinking a darce choke that forced the tap before the match reached the midway point. The win kept her unbeaten in superfight competition as a black belt, a streak that keeps growing every time she steps on a big stage.

Galvao was not the only member of her team celebrating. Fellow Atos competitors Emily Leyva and Nata Tenca also picked up wins on the undercard, giving the team three victories on a single night. For a gym, that kind of showing across weight classes usually points to a training room that is doing something right in the fundamentals, not just producing one standout star.

What a Card Like This Says About Modern Grappling

Look across the results from Bath and the variety stands out as much as any single performance. A leg lock closed one match, an armbar closed another, and a choke closed a third, all in the same afternoon. That spread is a good argument against specializing too early. Grapplers who only train one entry, whether it is leg locks or arm attacks or chokes from the back, tend to hit a ceiling the moment they run into an opponent who has specifically prepared for that one look. The competitors who keep winning tournaments like this one are the ones who can finish from more than one position and still grind out a decision when nothing opens up.

That is also exactly the kind of game plan a beginner starts building from day one on the mats, long before anyone is chasing a grand prix bracket. Watching a card like Polaris 38 is a fun way to spend an evening, but it also doubles as a preview of the positions and finishes taught in almost any local jiu jitsu class. If a leg lock finish or a fast armbar looked interesting on the replay, a beginner or no-gi class at a Las Vegas gym is a low pressure way to feel out those same positions for yourself. One trial class is usually all it takes to see how those techniques actually work from both sides of the exchange.

Polaris 38 Standouts Worth Knowing

The Bath card was deep enough that the grand prix winner was only part of the story. Here are the names who made the night memorable.

1. Mateusz Szczecinski: The Academia Gorila competitor from Poland won all three of his matches to claim the welterweight grand prix and the $30,000 top prize.
2. Deandre Corbe: Fell to Szczecinski in the opening round after getting caught in an achilles lock.
3. Michael Liera Jr.: Lost the semifinal to a fast first round armbar, the quickest finish of the grand prix.
4. PJ Barch: The previous Polaris welterweight champion pushed the final the full fifteen minutes before losing a split decision.
5. Sarah Galvao: Defended her Polaris bantamweight title with a first round darce choke and remains unbeaten in superfights as a black belt.
6. Zara Di Tofano: Came in off a Polaris Open win but could not escape Galvao's choke in the title match.
7. Emily Leyva: Won her undercard bout, one of three victories for Atos on the night.
8. Nata Tenca: Rounded out the strong showing for the Atos team with an undercard win of her own.

← More from the Las Vegas Jiu Jitsu blog