At Polaris 39 on October 3 in Doncaster, England, Yuki “Submission” Takahashi will face Shay Montague for the vacant bantamweight title.
Montague is still relatively unfamiliar to many Japanese fans, but he has already established himself as one of Scotland’s leading lightweight grapplers. In 2025, he won the black belt roosterweight division at the IBJJF No-Gi World Championship and finished the year ranked No. 1 in the IBJJF No-Gi roosterweight standings. IBJJF
In February 2026, Montague challenged Mikey Musumeci for the UFC BJJ bantamweight title in the main event of UFC BJJ 5. Although he lost the match, it marked an important step into the highest level of professional grappling for an athlete whose career had largely been built through IBJJF competition. UFC Español
From Northern Scotland to the World Stage
Montague was born in 1998 in northern Scotland and grew up in the small coastal towns of Nairn and Findhorn. He was not originally a dedicated sports athlete, and his interest in BJJ began through watching the UFC. BJJ Heroes
In an interview with the IBJJF, Montague recalled becoming interested in martial arts through MMA, but choosing BJJ instead after seeing photos of a nearby MMA gym and thinking it looked intimidating. IBJJF
Early in his development, he trained around Inverness under coaches including Martin Donaldson and Kevin McAloon. At 20, he moved to Glasgow and made The Griphouse his main training base. He also began traveling regularly to East Coast Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Ireland, where he trained under Darragh O’Conaill. BJJ Heroes
Montague has spoken highly of O’Conaill’s ability to produce world-level grapplers from Ireland despite the country not being a major global jiu-jitsu hub. He has said that he hopes to help create a similar environment in Scotland. IBJJF
Success at the Colored Belts
Montague was already producing major IBJJF results before reaching black belt.
In 2022, competing at brown belt in the roosterweight division, he won the European Championship, Pan Championship, and Brasileiro. He finished third at Worlds after losing to Reno Niwa in the semifinal.
The following year, he won the brown belt World Championship. In the final, Montague was trailing 0-2 with around 10 seconds remaining before taking the back and completing a late comeback. During this period, he also reached the No. 1 IBJJF ranking at brown belt in both gi and no-gi roosterweight. The Griphouse
In June 2023, he was promoted to black belt by O’Conaill.
In 2024, Montague also faced Diogo “Baby Shark” Reis at WNO, losing by anaconda choke.
2025 IBJJF No-Gi World Champion
Montague’s biggest achievement at black belt came at the 2025 IBJJF No-Gi World Championship.
He won the roosterweight division and also captured the European No-Gi title that year. He finished 2025 ranked No. 1 in the IBJJF No-Gi roosterweight standings. IBJJF
Jits Magazine described him as the first Scottish athlete to win an IBJJF black belt No-Gi World title. Jits Magazine
BJJ Heroes records Montague as having finished the large majority of his documented wins by submission, with 16 submissions among 19 recorded victories. BJJ Heroes
An Unusual Guard Game
Montague has said that his style was not built around copying a single athlete.
Growing up, he watched large amounts of footage from the Mendes brothers, Miyao brothers, and Tomoyuki Hashimoto, taking positions and ideas from each of them and incorporating them into his own game. IBJJF
He has also connected the development of his style to the relatively small training environments in which he came up.
Rather than being given a complete technical system inside a large elite academy, Montague says he often had to experiment with positions and solve problems himself. He believes that process contributed to the flexible guard retention and unusual positional combinations that now characterize his game. IBJJF
He has also pointed to his early training with Martin Donaldson as an important influence. After repeatedly having his guard passed by Donaldson’s heavy pressure passing, Montague became focused on understanding how to stop it, helping shape the guard game he uses today. IBJJF
UFC BJJ Title Challenge Against Mikey Musumeci
After winning No-Gi Worlds, Montague challenged Mikey Musumeci for the UFC BJJ bantamweight title at UFC BJJ 5 in February 2026.
Montague normally competes at roosterweight and moved up for the title opportunity. Jits Magazine
He ultimately lost by leg lock, but the match represented another step away from an IBJJF-centered career and into professional grappling events built around individual matchups and titles.
At Polaris 39, he will once again compete with a championship on the line.
Montague Predicts a Reverse-Triangle Finish
Ahead of Polaris 39, Montague predicted that he would finish Takahashi with a reverse triangle in a pre-fight video released by Polaris.
Montague is dangerous from guard and has a strong submission record, while Takahashi is also an aggressive finisher who has already won an EBI title.
That makes the bantamweight title fight less about simple positional control and more about which athlete can turn an exchange into a finishing sequence first.
Takahashi enters the bout after winning EBI and facing Diogo Reis in ONE Championship, while Montague arrives after his 2025 No-Gi Worlds title and UFC BJJ championship challenge.
On October 3 at The Dome in Doncaster, the vacant Polaris bantamweight title will be decided between Japan’s EBI champion and Scotland’s IBJJF No-Gi World Champion.
Sources
[1] Shay Montague Interview: “Rooster Weight Is In Its Most Exciting Phase Ever” — IBJJF
[2] Shay Montague — BJJ Heroes
[3] Instructors: Shay Montague — The Griphouse
[4] Athlete Results: Shay Montague — IBJJF
[5] JitsCast #64: Shay Montague — Jits Magazine
[6] Official Weigh-In Results | UFC BJJ 5: Musumeci vs Montague — UFC
[7] Shay Montague is calling a reverse triangle finish — Can he pull it off against Yuki Takahashi? — Polaris
[8] Polaris 39 Official Trailer — Polaris Professional Grappling
