Read our report from the submission-only match between Rousimar 'Toquinho' Palhares and Garry Tonon that went down during Polaris 3. 

Garry Tonon vs Rousimar 'Toquinho' Palhares (no gi):
Tonon wasted no time in diving for Toquinho’s legs. The Brazilian showed no fear of Tonon’s attacks, happily twisting and turning his opponent’s legs while Tonon worked his set-ups for an inside heel hook. The crowd went wild every time Tonon came close to grabbing one of Toquinho’s feet.

Back on his feet, Toquinho launched Tonon with a huge suplex, dropping the young American black belt onto his back and getting a roar of approval from the crowd in the process. Unfazed, Tonon worked from his back and even looked for a triangle from guard, but Toquinho’s strength and power saw him easily shrug off the lightweight’s attack.

More than once, Palhares launched Tonon head over heels with wrestling-style leg attacks, but to his credit, Tonon didn’t seem at all bothered and continued to hunt for his positions.



Tonon showed some good wrestling skills of his own, coming close to getting Palhares’ back with a sequence that started from standing, but once again the Brazilian’s power saw him easily escape.

Tonon also came very close to catching an inverted heel hook at the eight-minute mark that had Toquinho grimacing, and the Brazilian certainly seemed more hesitant following the attack. Eleven minutes into the match, Tonon used a guillotine / front headlock to reverse the visibly-tiring Brazilian and even move to mount, but Toquinho managed to explode out and once again put Tonon on his back.

Tonon used some nice guard work to sneak around to Palhares’ back with around two and a half minutes left and switched from a standard seatbelt to a truck-style leg control. He looked close to catching an armlock in the transition, but he lost the submission.



Palhares appeared to be running on fumes in the final 60 seconds, but Tonon stayed active and attacked with everything from flying triangles to heel hooks. He  got on top, but ultimately was unable to secure anything to force the submission.
Result: Draw 

Read the full results and breakdown of all matches here.