Journalist Lucy Wynne interviews Secret Strangle Club sponsored athlete, Jack Gover, about his prep and plans for Polaris 24. - Watch the video interview instead?
“I like a fight. I like a jiu-jitsu match that feels like a fight within the jiu-jitsu ruleset. There is a time and a place for a roll, and Polaris isn’t it. I like a scrap.”
Gover got into Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in November 2016, when he was 25 years old. The reason? His friend took it up and wanted someone to go with him; the two continued training until his friend eventually stopped training, but Gover continued.
“It was a friend who wanted to get into it, but he didn’t want to do it on his own, so I agreed to go and do it with him, then he gave up and I’m still here.”
The brown belt has been training BJJ for roughly six and a half years and was promoted to brown belt in August 2022.
Preparing For Polaris
Polaris 24 will take place at Fairfield Halls in London, UK, on Saturday 3 June 2023.
Despite having a vast portfolio of competition experience, this will be Gover’s Polaris debut, so he has specifically tailored his training for this show; something he doesn’t normally do. He says:
“I’m feeling good. I have been working a lot. The prep for this show has been different from other ones in the fact that I have worked very specifically on some stuff - and my teammates around me, and the sparring partners I have, have tailored the training specifically for this event.
“Whereas normally I compete so regularly that I tend to have a rinse and repeat kind of style of preparing; whereas with Polaris it has allowed me to focus more on preparing specifically for this.”
A lot of people wait a couple of months, or even a couple of years before they decide they want to dabble their toes into the competitive waters, but Gover jumped in straight away. Around 6-8 weeks after taking up BJJ, he was on the competition mats and has remained an active BJJ competitor ever since.
Preparing for his Polaris debut, he has been focusing on the holes in his game both on and off the mats; something we should all commit to. Off the mats, he’s been focusing on his sports recovery and nutrition, and on the mats, he’s been training lots of hard no-gi specific rounds with high-level black belt training partners.
“I have worked on little bits of my game that I think needed sharpening up; on and off the mats. Off the mats, I was looking at my sports recovery and nutrition a little bit more seriously. Then on the mats, it has been specifically no-gi, and just lots of nice, hard rounds and trying to travel around and find guys that are at that level and as many high-level black belt rounds as I can get my hands on basically.”
How Gover Envisions His Match To Go
Talking about his grappling style he comments: “I like a fight. I like a jiu-jitsu match that feels like a fight within the jiu-jitsu ruleset. There is a time and a place for a roll, and Polaris isn’t it. I like a scrap.”
Following on from that, as for how he thinks the match will go: “I think it will be good because I like a nice, aggressive fight and I know he does as well, so it’s nice when you fight someone who is as game as you are - to put on a bit of a show - so I think it will be good.”
As for how he plans on finishing the match he says: “To be honest? As long as I win I don’t care. I hope it is a good show. I hope it is one of those fights that is entertaining to watch from the moment it starts to the moment it ends. As for how I finish it? It would just be nice to finish it - however - however it ends, I’ll be happy.”
On Polaris, Gover’s opponent will be Nathan Jones, a pro-MMA fighter and renowned BJJ black belt competitor. When it comes to studying his opponents, Gover says he doesn’t tend to, and he has a valid reason why:
“Not really. Not once you get to this kind of level - someone said to me once, and it's stuck with me ever since - ‘Everybody’s somebody once you get to this level’. Now the guys that I fight, I’m aware of what they are like and I am aware of what their strengths and weaknesses are to a certain extent, but I don’t get bogged down with my opponents. Good jiu-jitsu is good jiu-jitsu right?”
When it comes to how the opportunity came about, Gover says: “It came about through my coach and I think through just regularly competing. I have had a few people ask me in the last year or so (where I’ve been on a few shows and stuff), and they have asked for advice on how I get on them - especially the blues and purple belts.
“I have kind of got a head down, just pound the stone kind of work mentality. I think if you just get out there and compete regularly, go to as many tournaments as you can, these kinds of opportunities just come along on their own.”
Who’s Next For Gover?
So who would Gover like to have a match with in the future? He shouts out BJJ black belt competitor and pro-MMA fighter Matt Inman who also has a match on the same Polaris card:
Watch Jack Gover compete on Polaris 24 on June 3rd on UFC Fightpass.
