Polaris 19 saw the return of the promotion’s triple-champion, Ashley Williams, as won a unanimous decision against Jack Sear to retain his Lightweight title. Kendall Reusing also put her Openweight title on the line against the giant-killer Amanda Leve and she looked comfortable throughout the short duration of their match, but it was unfortunately cut short when Leve had to retire due to an injury to her foot.

Elsewhere on the card, Commonwealth games Judo gold medalist Owen Livesey showed his fantastic standing grappling skills in an upset victory over the Polaris UK Grand Prix champion Freddie Vosgrone. In the final match of the evening, Magid Hage and Roberto Jimenez went to war for a little over three minutes of non-stop action before Jimenez executed a beautiful back-take and sunk in the choke to finish.

Full results for the event can be found here.

Draws galore in submission grappling at ONE X

Both Danielle Kelly and ADCC superfight champion Andre Galvao were set to make their promotional debuts at ONE X, the promotion’s tenth anniversary event. In the end though, neither athlete was able to get the win against their competition as both Mei Yamaguchi and Reinier de Ridder respectively managed to put on surprisingly good showings in a sport that they don’t normally compete in.

The event saw several of ONE Championship’s Kickboxing, Muay Thai, and MMA titles on the line as well but one of the most interesting matches was a mixed-rules fight between Demetrious Johnson and Rodtang Jitmuangnon. Johnson impressed everyone by taking it to Rodtang in the first striking round before outclassing him in the second round under MMA rules and submitting him pretty quickly.

Full results for the event can be found here.

Gordon Ryan taps Jacob Couch with top pressure at WNO

Gordon Ryan stepped in on short notice to replace his younger brother Nicky against Jacob Couch at Who’s Number One and he dominated his match from start to finish. In the end he had Couch mounted and was slowly transitioning to an armbar when Couch tapped before his arm could be extended. The co-main event just prior to that saw Mica Galvao win an impressive decision against Dante Leon in an exciting match.

Elsewhere on the card, Nicholas Meregali made his no gi debut against Arnaldo Maidana and was equally impressive in his performance. He locked up a beautiful armbar to force the tap but in the end, it was one of the first matches of the night that produced the best finish. Sophia Casella registered the fastest finish in a WNO women’s match as she tapped Jessica Crane with an inverted heelhook in just 35 seconds.

Full results for the event can be found here.

PFL determined to book Kayla Harrison against Cyborg

The two-time Olympic gold medalist in Judo, Kayla Harrison, is fresh off inking a new deal with PFL and the best women’s Lightweight on the planet has reportedly set her sights very high indeed. She was courted by both Bellator and the UFC but chose to re-sign with PFL thanks to a life-changing amount of money and the promise of even greater competition than she’s ever faced before.

The money is a done deal so now PFL founder Donn Davis is putting together the best competition he can for one of his most popular athletes. Harrison will be competing in a PFL season for the final time this year before engaging in superfights and he’s got one opponent in mind, Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino. Whether that means co-promoting with Bellator or stealing her out from under them, Davis has confirmed that this is the next step for Harrison.

Quick Hits

• Georges St-Pierre described Gordon Ryan as the best guy he’s ever rolled with, high praise considering he’s trained alongside BJJ legends like Roger Gracie and Braulio Estima.
• BJJ Fanatics offered a new John Danaher instructional completely free of charge, ‘Train Safe: Reducing the Risk of Injury & Accidents in the Jiu-Jitsu Training Room’.
• Ben Askren had some choice words for Jorge Masvidal following his now-infamous sucked punch incident with Colby Covington that has resulted in an arrest.
• Stunning footage from 2016 resurfaced of Olympic Judoka Travis Stevens taking part in randori against almost an entire BJJ academy.

Technique Corner

Four attacks from Reverse de la Worm guard

Three Mount escapes

Closed guard to Triangle choke, to Armbar

Meme of the Week