Joe King
Known worldwide as “The Polar Bear”, Paul Varelans was standout athlete throughout high school and college. He excelled in both wrestling and football, eventually walking on and being offered a scholarship from San Jose State University.
During college he began training in boxing, judo, and taekwondo. With his skills and size at 6’8″ & 300 pounds, word spread quickly about him and his potential as a future successful mixed martial artist. This led him to entering the newly formed Ultimate Fighting Championship for their UFC 6 tournament. He won his first fight over Cal Worsham but lost in the semi-finals to Tank Abbott. Varelans would also be a finalist in UFC 7 and UFC 8. He would lose to Dan Severn & Kimo at UFC Ultimate Ultimate ’95 & ’96, respectively.
From there, Paul would travel to Japan and Brazil, fighting for organizations such as Pancrase & IFC. He would retire from mixed martial arts with a record of 9 wins and 9 losses through 18 fights.
In 1996, Paul Heyman was building up the “Human Suplex Machine” Taz as a legitimate competitor with a “shoot-fight” style gimmick and entourage. Looking for someone well-known from mixed martial arts to help get Taz over, Heyman was put in contact with Varelans. The “shoot fight” was scheduled to take place at ECW’s Hardcore Heaven ’96. Missy Hyatt agreed to give him a “blow job” if he would take the the fall. After being choked out by Taz, he approached Missy and was ready to receive his “reward”. Unfortunately for The Polar Bear, Hyatt told him that she “didn’t blow jobbers, only the stars”. According to sources, this infuriated Varelans, causing him to go in a rage and start throwing chairs and trashing the ECW dressing room.
In 1997, he traveled to Japan and had another worked shoot-fight match. This time for Kingdom and was “knocked-out” by Yoji Anjo.
Paul “The Polar Bear” Varelans died in 2021 at the age of 51 after contracting Covid-19.