Next week, London becomes the battleground for 35 of the world’s elite LED saber fighters – and with the top-ranked Amaury Mouhtajjib absent, the UK Open crown is anyone’s to claim.

Down around 20 players from last year, this year’s UK Open (hosted by SSL UK) is on the smaller side for a Challenger event, but the majority of the fighters are highly-ranked – with all but 4 of them in the top 50.

Despite the smaller field, most of the Top 16 fighters will be in attendance, leaving some strong contenders for the podium.

Of course, the favourite for victory is Sébastien Berard – he is after all the defending Champion and after a disappointing 6th place finish at the Open de France, he’s shown his prowess since with victory at the Open Nec Mergitur last month.

A second podium contender, Arthur Gautier has only missed out on a single podium, making the top 3 in every tournament he’s attended this year save only the Breizh Open.

To round off my predicted semi-finals I’m adding Jérémie Pinquier and François Ducrohet. François, of course, is coming into this event with 4 consecutive semi-final finishes, including 4th in the Open de France, where he managed to eliminate Le Champ in a hard fought 3-2 victory. However, as always with Berard, this match has proved to be an outlier, as when the two clashed again in the Open Nec Mergitur, Berard was once again victorious.

Jérémie Pinquier has shown he’s capable of incredible performances this season, with second-place finishes at both the Saber Tour Finals this February and in the Open de France in June. However, whilst placed at #04 in the world, he seems to lack consistency – finishing in 11th place at the Open Nec Mergitur, losing 2-5 against Fabrice Pedrot in the table of 16.

On the matter of rising players and dark horses, it seems remiss not to mention Alexis Leperlier, who pulled a shock upset in the recent Open Nec Mergitur where, fighting on home turf at SSL Paris, he pulled all the way through to the semi-finals and a 3rd place finish, despite falling outside of even the top 16 worldwide. He is certainly a top fighter to watch as we head into the event.

A second dark horse to keep an eye on is Jacob Walker-Wilkinson of Eclipse Combat Academy. While not as highly ranked as Leperlier, he is coming off a respectable 19th-place finish at the Open de France. Competing on home turf in London, Jacob is absolutely a fighter who could punch above his seed and disrupt the bracket.

As far as club attendance goes, we have a strong variety of representation, including over a dozen fighters from SSL Paris, solid contingents from FAR 35 and SSL 95, and smaller but promising squads from Vanguard Lightsaber Academy, FAB 77, Eclipse Combat Academy and Saber Fight Academy, all looking to make their mark on the tournament.

We are missing some high-level seeds, including current World #01 Amaury Mouhtajjib. With only a 15-point difference between him and Sébastien Berard, he is almost certain to drop to 2nd place.

Another major player missing from the ranks this time is Guillaume Pevee, currently the only Belgian on the Tour and a monster of a competitor. 

With Mouhtajjib and Pevee absent, the field opens up. A strong finish from Arthur Gautier could vault him into 2nd worldwide, while Sébastien Berard remains in striking distance of regaining the top spot.

But these aren’t the only Top 16 seeds missing, with Claude Renaud (World #16) unable to attend, the floor is wide open to a battle for entry into the prestigious Saber Tour Finals.

With Benoît Blot and Alexis Leperlier each just over 20 points away, any finish in the top ~25 here could secure them that legendary rank, but only if they can outplay each other.

For Florian Tachot and Esther Gaigne the challenge is a little tougher, but a finish in the top 11, while something of a tall order perhaps, could also secure them that spot.

With so much at stake and the pressure on, the UK Open 2025 is set to be one of the most exciting events of the year!