If you’re a sports fan, chances are you first encountered Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu through UFC. Indeed, Jiu-Jitsu serves as the primary grappling technique for many UFC fighters and stands as a crucial foundation in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and jiu jitsu competitions.
However, the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu ecosystem goes far beyond the octagon. This sport and martial art has its own championships, with lots of competitions that you can follow and watch live (on YouTube, from the stands or on the mat) and hundreds of awesome athletes and fighters for you to cheer for.
Every year, hundreds of Jiu Jitsu competitions of different tournaments take place all over the USA, with athletes worldwide. Of course, for sports fans, this represents countless OPPORTUNITIES to watch awesome fights. And, for the Jiu Jitsu ecosystem, these competitions are responsible for the sport’s professionalization and growing popularity.
If you want to know more about this universe, Stuart Cooper’s YouTube channel is a fun way to start. But wait until the end of this article! We’ll explain everything you need to know to enter the competition like a pro.
What’s the importance of Jiu Jitsu competitions for gyms and athletes?
All sports depend on athletes to grow. And, in order to form more athletes, it’s essential to allow practitioners to choose grappling as a career and to make professional fighting their livelihood.
Tournaments are the base for that, and not only through the championships’ prizes. Competitions also work as a bridge, connecting fighters and their GYMs to sponsors, which are essential to build a successful career in the sport.
Beyond that, tournaments give fighters the curriculum they need to become Jiu Jitsu teachers and coaches, and HELP the ecosystem to rank the best GYMs. After all, we all want to learn from the best, right?
What’s the importance of Jiu Jitsu competitions for practitioners?
If you’ve been training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for a while now, you probably noticed that, beyond the aspects of self-defense and fun workout modality, the most important thing Jiu Jitsu offers is… community.
Around the mat, we build a community of brothers and teammates, forged with respect, collaboration, willingness to teach and to learn, perseverance and friendship.
In this sense, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu tournaments are events where the whole Jiu Jitsu community gather, and they offer a great OPPORTUNITY for you to meet thousands of different people – coming from different cities, states and countries – who share the same values and same passion for the sport.
If you’re a challenge driven kind of person, competitions will give you that extra motivation for training, while also showing you where are your strengths as a fighter and where you need to keep practicing. Your performance in tournaments can also speed up the process for you to progress between belts.
And if you’re thinking about becoming a pro… it’s never too soon to start competing.
What are the rules of Jiu Jitsu competitions?
While there’s a universal “etiquette” that APPLIES for all Jiu Jitsu mats around the world and that all practitioners must follow, each Brazilian Jiu Jitsu championship is entitled to establish its own specific rules. So, when entering a competition, it’s always worth checking the rules you’re signing-up to.
Those competitions are usually divided in two modalities: the ones in which competitors wear the kimono (or “gi”) during the fight, and the ones in which they don’t. The latter being called no-gi or submission.
We said that every championship can set its rules. However, most official competitions follow the guidelines of the International Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Federation (IBJJF), the for-profit organization that hosts some of the biggest Brazilian Jiu Jitsu tournaments in the world. It’s like FIFA for soccer or the NFL for football.
The Federation’s official rule-book is almost 50 pages long, but we’ll summarize some of them for you in this article. And if you want to learn them with DEPTH, you can download the UPDATED version on their website.
What are Jiu Jitsu’s categories?
The first step a competitor always must take when SIGNING-up for a championship is understanding their FIGHTING category. The competitions hosted by the Federation or based on their guidelines divide fighters in categories according to their
- Sex
- Age
- Belt
- Weight
How is declared the winner in a Jiu Jitsu competition?
According to the Federation guideline, there are many criteria to decide who’s the winner at the end of a Jiu Jitsu fight:
- When one of the competitors withdraw from the fight
- When the fight is STOPPED by the referee
- When one of the competitors is disqualified
- When one of the competitors loses consciousness (the Jiu Jitsu’s equivalent of a knock-out)
- Through the fight’s scoreboard
- By the JUDGES’ decision
- By draw
In usual circumstances, when a fight comes to an end without the referee STOPPING it and without any of the competitors being finalized (or submitted) or disqualified, the fighter that scored the most points wins.
What are the advantages in a Jiu Jitsu competition?
However, what HAPPENS when – in this scenario we’ve described above – the FIGHT ends in a tie, with both competitors with both competitors having scored the same number of points?
In those cases, it’s the advantages that determine the winner. They’re basically the referee recognition of a competitor almost scoring a point or almost finishing the adversary.
- Score advantage: generally, a competitor receives an advantage when they reach a situation during the fight where they could have scored a point, but were unable to stabilize it during 3 seconds.
- Finalization advantage: There are situations where the competitor enters a finalization position (APPLYING an arm-lock to the adversary, for instance), but this finalization is repelled by the OPPONENT.
If, according to the referee, this situation had a potential of finalization, the competitor will receive an advantage.
That can also HAPPEN when the time of the fight runs out and the fight ends with a competitor locked in a finalization position.
What are the faults in a Jiu Jitsu competition?
In fights that end in a tie and in which both competitors have the same number of advantages, the winner can also be determined by the number of faults each competitor received. Faults can be given to fighters when they
- Commit an illegal hold, holding the adversaries gi by the inside of the sleeve or the pants
- Talk or try to communicate with the JUDGES or with the referee
- Lack combativeness, not aiming to progress the fight or to submit the opponent for more than 20 seconds
- Run from the fight, leaving the combat area or avoiding to engage the adversary grapple
- “Call to guard” without executing a grapple on the adversary
- Disobey a referee’s order
- Delay to tie the belt for longer than 20 seconds after the referee’s command.
In the conditions we mentioned above, the fighter with less faults is declared the winner. On the other hand, if a competitor receives their 4th fault, they automatically lose the competition.
At this point, you may be asking yourself: “then what happens if a fight ends in a tie and both fighters have the same number of points, advantages and faults”. Well, in those situations you can be sure you just watch a great fight or a really bad one. And, in this scenario, the referee declares the winner the competitor he believes was the most combative during the fight.
What are finalizations, withdrawals and interruptions in a Jiu Jitsu fight?
Regardless of the scoreboard count, a competitor is declared winner when their adversary withdraws from the fight:
- Giving the three hits: hitting (the mat or the adversary) more than 2 times, conceding defeat
- Verbally withdrawing: yelling when under a submission or under the adversary’s grapple.
The referee can choose to STOP the fight when:
- There’s lesion or bleeding, endangering the competitors health according to the evaluation of the competition’s medical team
- A competitor throws up or involuntarily evacuates or urinates
Also, in competitions of underage fighters or lower belts, the referee can choose to stop a fight whenever they believe the fighter risks hurting themselves.
What are the grounds for disqualification in a jiu jitsu competition?
If, during the FIGHT, a competitor commits a serious fault, they can be automatically disqualified and lose the competition. Are considered serious faults:
- Disciplinary faults (assaulting or disrespecting the referee, the adversary or any other participant)
- Running from the fighting area under the adversary’s locked grapple
- Deliberately inducing the OPPONENT’s disqualification
- Infringing the rules of hygiene and uniform
- Receiving the 4th fault in the same fight
- Executing a illegal move under your fighting category
What are the rules of hygiene and uniform in a Jiu Jitsu competition?
Like all martial arts with ancient origins, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is filled with important symbolisms and ceremonies, deeply connected with its history and its values. And few items in the mat’s “liturgy” have so much meaning as the kimono (gi) and the belt.
In part, that explains why there are specific rules determining how a competitor must present himself, demonstrating their respect for the referee, for the JUDGES, for the GYM they’re representing and, of course, for the sport as a whole.
Beyond that, the rules of uniform and hygiene also address practical concerns. Check some of them:
- Fingernails and toenails must always be short
- Long hairs must always be tied
- The gi must always be clean, dry and odorless
- Rings, earrings, piercings, watches, bracelets and other juleries are not allowed
- The braided gi is mandatory in all categories starting from Juvenile
- Rips and patches on the gi are not allowed
- The gi’s size must be compatible with the competitor’s
- The gi’s color must be either white, blue or black. And both coat and pants must be the same color.
- The competitor must always be wearing the belt of their graduation
What are the next Jiu Jitsu competitions in the USA?
As we said before, there are countless Brazilian Jiu Jitsu championships happening all over the USA and worldwide. But, for the remainder of 2022, it’s worth HIGHLIGHTING two of the most important competitions that are still to take place and in which our fighters – from the School of Jiu Jitsu and the Brazilian Top Team – will participate.
Pan IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championship 2022
October 14th – October 16th
Curtis Culwell Center, Garland (TX)
The 2022 ADCC World Championship
September 17th – September 18th
Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas (NV)
We can’t wait to see you there, cheering for our warriors at the YouTube transmission’s comment session, from the stands or right here at our side, on the mat.