Polaris Professional Jiu-Jitsu Invitational Review - Part 2

In part 1 of this review, I covered my thoughts on the matches and I gave some recommendations for matches I would like to see in the second Polaris event. If you haven't already read part 1, then you can find it HERE. 

In this part, I'll be talking about all the other stuff such as the stream, production, price etc. I will also talk about stuff which I liked and stuff I thought could have been done better.

Let’s get into this.

Stream

When I hear discussions about major Jiu-Jitsu events online, nearly always one of the main topics is the stream quality. Actually, I can’t speak for anybody else, but my stream was pretty much perfect. The picture quality was great, the audio was crisp, and there was zero buffering. The only minor problem I had was during Telles' match; the picture froze for about 2-3 seconds then continued as normal. But apart from that, everything was excellent. 

I did here online that some people had issues with their stream, with the picture freezing, and they had ridiculous buffer times. But for me, I experienced nothing close to that.

Apart from Polaris, I’ve only ever streamed two BJJ events; those being Copa Podio in May 2013, and the World Jiu-Jitsu Expo (WJJE) in November 2013, and both of those events were just as perfect for me. I guess I might just have a really good internet connection.

Price

I'm not going to talk about the price of the tickets, but only the price I paid for the online stream. 

I paid £15 ($22) for the stream. This also includes repeats of the event for another full week after the event. I thought that price was very reasonable for an event like this. I can't remember what I paid for either Copa Podio or the WJJE, but I know Metamoris is a little bit higher than £15, but I have no complaints to make about the price. 

Production

Again, I thought the production was excellent. The editing and visuals I thought were great, and on par with events like Metamoris. The lighting they used was good, as were the camera angles. In particular, I did like the close up shots they used. 

The sound was very clear, and I could hear everything the commentators were saying without any cracking or hissing. 

On the subject of the commentators, I also thought they did a tremendous job. The team of Josh Palmer (Cage Warriors commentator), Nicolas Gregoriades (Roger Gracie black belt) and Nick Osipczak (former English UFC fighter) gave a great commentary, dissecting each of the moves that took place and showing huge amounts of technical knowledge. I heard a few people say that they didn't think they needed three people on commentary, but I totally disagree. I thought they worked well together, bouncing off each other. 

Improvements

Mats

The first thing I would improve, and it stood out to me right at the beginning, is the mats. I'm sorry; you can't have a professional Jiu-Jitsu event with mats which look like they came from the local leisure centre. They looked awful! You can use them for a local grappling tournament, but not for an event such as this. 

I mean if they used high quality Zebra mats it wouldn't have been too bad, but even then it still wouldn't have looked great. If you look at events like Copa Podio and Metamoris, the mats they use look fantastic. They have the company logo on it and also feature their sponsors. It looks very nice. Past ADCC's also had great mats. 

Polaris needs to reflect something like this for their shows. They either need a mat sponsor or alternatively, they need someone who can make them a professional looking mat cover. Don't get me wrong, it’s a problem which can be easily fixed, and it’s not major thing, but it really stood out.

Replays

Personally, I thought they should have included instant replays throughout their event. I thought it would have been a nice touch to the event as a whole. Obviously, I know they are more than capable of putting something like that together, seeing their film and editing skills. 

I guess instant replays are a part of every sport. I mean you see it all the time in the UFC and I guess you take it for granted sometimes, but when it’s not there, you really notice it. 

Advertisements and the Interval

I know it’s necessary to promote their sponsors, but the amount of times I saw the same adverts role, I thought was a bit too much. By the end I wanted to cave my head in. Towards the end I had to leave the room, I just couldn't look at them anymore.

I understand that they're trying to promote their sponsors, but if you could show a few different ones each time instead of the same exact ones on a loop a dozen times over that would be nice.

During the interval (half way point) they showed three episodes of the BJJ Hacks series "How the BJJ Pros Train". I didn't really have a problem with it, but I thought perhaps they could have used that time a little better. Maybe have the commentators discuss the matches they've seen or their thoughts on the matches coming up or something. Kind of like a 'round table' format.

Draws

No one likes to see a draw. I can understand it’s a difficult thing to get right in a submission only match. First of all, I would suggest increasing the time to at least 20 minutes, and implementing an overtime system if there is no submission at the end of the 20 minutes. I would say either a 5 or 10 minute overtime. 

Final Words

Overall, I thought Polaris was a great event. This is only their first event, so I'm sure they will improve a lot by the second event. I am glad there is now a European submission only event, which brings the best grapplers from around the world to Europe. 

I can't wait for their next show.