Matthew Benyon

Matthew Benyon began his grappling journey around 2006 — not in his native United Kingdom, but in Sydney, Australia, roughly 10,000 miles from home. That early exposure to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu laid the foundation for a training path that would span multiple continents and shape his identity as both a practitioner and a future architect of the sport's professional landscape.

From Australia, Benyon relocated to Japan, where he spent four years immersed in the country's grappling culture. Training under David Onuma, he progressed steadily through the belt ranks and earned his brown belt during that period. The Japanese BJJ environment — defined by its technical rigor and disciplined approach — left a lasting imprint on his development and deepened his appreciation for the sport's depth.

Benyon returned to the United Kingdom in 2009 and settled in Bournemouth. Confronted with a scarcity of higher-ranked belts in the local scene, he stepped naturally into a coaching role, helping to build the grappling community in his home region. That transition from student to instructor was as much a response to necessity as it was a reflection of his commitment to the sport. In 2017, he received his black belt from Roy Dean, closing a chapter of training that had taken him from Sydney to Japan and ultimately back to British soil.

In 2009, the same year he returned to the UK, Benyon co-founded Scramble alongside Ben Tong. The brand launched with a focused and well-targeted concept: importing Japanese-made jiu-jitsu products into the UK market, drawing directly on the cultural knowledge and connections both founders had cultivated through their years in Japan.

Scramble grew well beyond those origins. What began as an importing operation evolved into a full manufacturer and designer of its own martial arts apparel and gear. Along the way, the brand carved out a distinct identity within the BJJ community — one that placed culture and community alongside commerce. Scramble built a reputation for supporting smaller BJJ enterprises and helping independent labels find their footing, reflecting a philosophy that viewed the broader ecosystem of the sport as something worth nurturing rather than simply competing against.

The dual cultural influence of its co-founders — rooted equally in the Japanese and British grappling scenes — gave Scramble a character that resonated with practitioners who saw jiu-jitsu not merely as a sport, but as a way of life connected to a global community.

Founding and Format

In 2015, Benyon and Ben Tong joined forces with Gareth Dummer and Lee Jones of Tatami Fightwear to co-found Polaris Pro Grappling. The four-partner venture emerged from a shared conviction: that submission grappling deserved the structure, legitimacy, and athlete compensation that competitors in other combat disciplines had long come to expect.

Polaris launched with a submission-only format, placing a clear premium on finishing fights over accumulating points. This approach aligned with a broader movement within grappling that prioritized decisive, compelling performances over conservative, strategy-driven scorekeeping. As the promotion matured, it incorporated a judging system to resolve bouts that went the full distance without a submission — a pragmatic adaptation that preserved the submission-first ethos while providing a clear mechanism for determining winners.

Growth and Philosophy

Polaris grew into one of the most prominent grappling invitationals in Europe, drawing elite international talent and establishing a consistent benchmark for high-level competition. Throughout its development, Benyon has been a steady voice for the principle that paying competitors fairly is a defining marker of a truly professional event — a standard he has worked to uphold through Polaris's operations.

Beyond his own promotion, Benyon has advocated for cooperation between competing organizations, framing the relationship between promotions not as zero-sum rivalry but as an opportunity for collective growth that benefits the sport as a whole.

Benyon's influence on Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu extends well beyond the mat and into the structures that support the sport's professional ecosystem. His dual role as co-founder of both a gear brand and a major grappling promotion gives him a perspective that spans the commercial, competitive, and community dimensions of jiu-jitsu.

Through Scramble, he helped demonstrate that BJJ brands can operate with a community-first ethos while remaining commercially viable. Through Polaris, he helped establish a model for how grappling events can be run with fairness, production quality, and athlete compensation at the center of their mission. Both ventures reflect a consistent philosophy: that professionalization requires not just spectacle but substance — reliable standards, legitimate compensation, and a genuine commitment to the athletes and practitioners who define the sport.

Benyon's advocacy for inter-promotional cooperation speaks to a longer-term vision in which the growth of jiu-jitsu as a professional discipline is treated as a shared project rather than a competitive battleground. Active on social media as @mattobenyon, he engages with the broader BJJ community and contributes to ongoing conversations about the sport's future direction.