My Love/Hate Relationship with the IBJJF

[@SubFlow22]

USA Wrestling charges every registered wrestler $50/year for their membership. That money goes back into the sport, making it affordable and approachable for everyone. That money pays for wrestler's medical bills if they are injured, mats for new clubs, pays for referees at events... the list goes on. IBJJF charges significantly more and that money goes straight into Brazilian pockets. It's a greedy organization that is only concerned about profits. It is a real shame.

[@jsar5409]

People who fail out of the police academy become one of two things: 1: Mall security guards 2: IBJJF refs

[@af4396]

We've actually stopped supporting IBBJF as a dojo. Not just bad calls, but at least locally, it's not organized well, it's expensive, coaches aren't allowed to even go to their student right after a match, and the arbitrary Gi restrictions (including color)... it's just ridiculous. They're the closest thing to a "government" of BJJ, and they sure are as inefficient as any government I know. There are many other tournaments that flow much better, and have much more common sense rules. Also, paying 120 bucks for a tournament and having one opponent and one match... no, just no. If you only have one opponent, it should be a best of 3 or 5, not just one single match. It's not only a waste of time, you can't even enjoy your silver or gold medal, because neither are earned.

[@donniehallaman7685]

Thats how new breed is tbh, and if said tournament offers gi/nogi, your entry fee automatically allows you to compete in both, when I did compete 8n new breed , yea there was no one my age but, I was able to compete with someone much younger. Who beat me 2 out of 3 times in no gi, then we started our gi division where I won two out of 3 so in total had 6 matches and really a up and down experience, where I just wanted to leave and won in the end , and he had the experience of smashing an older guy, and being submitted in one match, and out pointed in the next, and both had great experiences .

[@vicn1349]

If you place top 3 then you can do the open class for the 2nd match. IBJJF and Jiu Jitsu World League have been the best two organizations I’ve competed in

[@TravisStevens96]

I was in a 4 man bracket last year at IBJJF. I went and had a very close match losing by an advantage. No big deal, I leave the competition area and walk around the barricades to watch my opponent and the winner of the other half of the bracket go. Halfway through the match during a reset a referee that was just walking by and had nothing to do with the match walks onto the mat and stops the match. Turns out my opponents gi was the wrong color. He was up big on points and got disqualified because he didn’t have a spare gi. This was a masters division blue belt match in a small open… it literally meant basically nothing and it turned into a nightmare.

[@MMDrag0n]

Been competing regularly for about 2 years now in local tournaments but never IBJJF. Partly because IBJJF requires an annual membership fee and then their comps tend to be double the price of the local ones I attend. Then I've had buddies that have gone to IBJJF and one Gi check they pass the next they fail with the same Gi. One time I had a buddy pass the Gi check and then fail later because his rashguard wasn't a dark enough black color. These type of shenanigans are what make me really not want to bother even trying IBJJF.

[@TheOfficialJayP]

ya yur not allowed to wear rash guards with a Gi in IBJJF so yur story doesn't add up lol

[@rodrigoandrade256]

@@TheOfficialJayP Maybe he's talking about No Gi...

[@Whiskydanger]

@@TheOfficialJayPits people who jump to conclusions that ruin society.

[@donnyisstrong]

ADCC > IBJJF JJWL > IBJJF

[@jacobhemming4890]

Guy must work for ibjjf

[@Jbzero999]

If you're not Brazilian and your opponent is, consider yourself a full point down at the whistle in IBJJF competition. Bring multiple gis to every IBJJF competition no matter how clean your primary is, because that shit is so arbitrary. It's a BJJ marketing organization that sometimes holds tournaments. So if one of their poster boys/girls is in your bracket, good luck.

[@juliusjohnson4829]

Yeah bro honestly I have had the same experience u basically have to put them to sleep.or break them significantly to win.

[@jaybae2547]

It's crazy how secretive IBJJF is with their rules. Adcc posts their rules seminar online for free. IBJJF makes you pay 90 bucks a pop

[@BuxomRhino]

At this point, I've had so many bad experiances with tournaments (and I've only trained for 2 years) that the only competition I really look forward to and plan to attend is american grappling federation. I've had some bad calls there, but they run a tight ship. Rules are clear, they stage you 15 mins before your match (no running around listening for your match to be called), anr you can truly show up for your match, compete, and leave without wasting $90 and your whole day

[@BoomJitsu]

AGF have been the best tournaments I've ever competed in.

[@MineCrafter8]

I once had a guy tap to me because he got hurt. The ref gave him like 5 min to rest and had the medics check on him. I thought i was waiting to get my hand raised but he just reset us from standing and I ended up losing. Grappling industries 🤷🏽‍♂️🤦🏽‍♂️

[@chuckgreen3629]

Besides the big fat elephant that this is a for-profit company trying to pass itself off as a governing body, most of us have seen injuries like Diego Ramalho ripping Bruno Matias' heel at Nogi worlds 2021 then beating his chest with no repercussion because there's nothing in the IBJJF rulebook about it, whether it's referee duties to protect adult competitors (they mention under 12s), proper conduct by competitors, etc. NAGA actually has stuff though, like "NAGA Referees will perform to the highest standards possible to keep ALL competitors as safe as possible during a NAGA event." and "Submissions must be applied in order to get a competitor to verbally or physically tap, and not with the intention to injure the competitor."

[@chrissugg6781]

Lol naga is an absolute joke.

[@chuckgreen3629]

@@chrissugg6781 and yet they hit a mark that IBJJF missed.

[@JustinColletti]

What’s wrong with for profit companies? They are beholden to their customers in a way that non profits and government agencies aren’t. Would you prefer BJJ organizations were more like judo organizations? Having competing tournaments and rulesets is good.

[@chuckgreen3629]

@@JustinColletti I never criticized for-profit companies, I criticized IBJJF for being a for-profit impersonating a governing body. I've come across plenty of stories about how not beholden to customers the IBJJF is. The theory and practice are different.

[@Jonderlei]

The amount of power trippy bullshit ive heard about ibjjf is enough for me to have no desire to ever compete for them not like ive competed recently anyways but still . The prices are wild enough but all the other shit on top of it seems insane

[@Senth99]

It's not just ibjjf; other competition orgs have raised their price to a ridiculous amount as well.

[@MarcusOryanus]

The belt clip thing is so dumb. I occasionally wear an origin gi and I'm not sure how you can make the case that it's dangerous.

[@cthom68528]

Last weekend, a teammate who is a purple belt wasn’t awarded points for a clear sweep. He ended up losing the match 4-3 and should’ve won 5-4. This was the championship of his division at the IBJJF Houston Open. Our professors protested. The head ref said they were right. He should’ve got his 2 points, but it was too late and it couldn’t be overturned…Exact opposite of the Elizabeth Clay situation.

[@stephensims942]

It can be overturned in line with rules. If the head ref asks the mat ref and he agrees. They fed you some BS cause they couldn’t be bothered

[@michaelpuccio8799]

He probably wasn’t Brazilian and the opponent was. That shit tends to happen a lot at IBJJF

[@aWildNelby]

When a hand is raised, the match is over. If I were Lis, from now on, I’d be running out the door after every match like a Brazilian gold medalist about to be drug tested 😂

[@RoyThe4th]

My son had almost exact same experience, in LA

[@BJJJUDO]

I’ve seen that a couple of times and never agree with changing the score after the match is over under any circumstances. The score dictates the strategy during the match you can’t change it afterwards.

[@willdallas53]

One of my first tournaments was a little tournament in Mississippi. I was a fresh white belt probably three months in. When I got there, I learned that apparently turn out wasn’t what they were hoping for so they combined everybody by weight class. I was expecting a novice division and my first match was against a blue belt. I beat him because I caught him in a guillotine and his neck popped. It was the loudest pop I had ever heard. I actually let go because it scared me and I thought I crippled him and the ref jumped in and stopped it. He was fine and he didn’t tap so the ref went to talk to someone else about it and he came back and said the match was over because he stopped it and I was the winner. I went to the next round and I got destroyed by a brown belt. I definitely appreciate how well tournaments are ran now. As far as reffing goes. I’ve only had one problem with a ref making a call. I was doing another white belt tournament and the guy caught me in a wrist lock. It was illegal at white belt so I was like come on bro you can’t do that and I tapped because he kept it on and then I look at the ref and I’m like come on, that’s illegal and the ref was just standing there like he didn’t know and I was like I don’t even want a dq let’s just keep going and the guy got livid and started saying no this is bs, I beat you and cussing. Then the ref stepped in and dqed him for unsportsmanlike conduct for cussing at me. It was the weirdest 2 minutes I’ve ever had at a tournament.

[@Darkenedbyshadows]

The guy shouldn’t have done illegal moves in a White Belt tournament. Ffs, what an asshole. Learn the rules before taking part in any Competition.

[@Helicondrummer]

Moral, always bring a spare gi. If it rips in a match you have to replace it or forfeit, I've also been in the situation where people have used my spare because theirs didn't qualify.

[@clarkthesharkbjj]

Some refs are just biased towards certain competitors. Brazilian bias is a real thing. One time a ref was trying to DQ me for using a banana split even though the IBJJF made it legal for ALL belt levels (it was a local tournament but the rules were IBJJF). Luckily my coach Chris Smith is a certified ref and had them overturn the call. Here’s the video for those that don’t believe me kzbin.info/www/bejne/kKqQgp6BacaAjqc

[@jasonjean2901]

That's my favorite submission! I use it all the time. Do you ever use Eddie Bravo's Electric-Chair Sweep to get on top and make them do the splitz the other way as well?

[@clarkthesharkbjj]

​@@jasonjean2901 nah only from the truck position

[@jeffjitsuvideos]

I was at a world championship years ago and did the rules meeting before the tournament. They went over the 'no spiking' rule where your opponent is doing a single leg with his head on the outside, and you hold his belt and drive his head into the mat, and how that is a DQ. One of the people running the rules meeting was reffing right after this and that exact situation happened and he did nothing whatsoever. I was aghast. It couldn't have been any clearer, and nothing was done.

[@jonathandebruyn6781]

I had a buddy who was dq'd for reaping when his opponent had him in ashi (single leg x) and he passed his 2ndary leg over the top to defend. I can't even put into words how much it wasn't a reap, the ref had no idea what he was doing.

[@Kuduloka]

The closest I've had to toeing that line (not a regular bad call), was being skipped entirely in my bracket. Several years ago, in a small local tournament, I was in the consolation bracket. I won my second match and waited, and waited, and then my bracket ended. Come to find out, whoever was working the brackets (they were all on paper too), wrote that I won, but didn't advance me on the card. Instead they wrote someone else's name in where mine should've gone. At that point, as hard as it was, they told me they couldn't do anything. I was very annoyed at the time, considering they couldn't find a way to fix the problem or provide some kind of compensation for their error. But I also learned a valuable lesson, and I float over judges tables like a hawk ever since.

[@bluebusstop5608]

Something similar happened to me though I actually competed so it was fine. My first opponent did not come so I automatically won. We are waiting for my second match and my opponent's name who hadn't arrived and lost got called. Turns out they wrote down that my opponent won and that I hadn't come. Ended up competing with my opponents name. At least I got him to second place. Won once lost once.

[@BreakdancingMiracle]

Taking back an advantage is pretty bad. It’s such a subjective call at times you just have to roll with that one.

[@talisshelbourne9571]

1. You get screwed as a white and blue belt. You almost always get pushed into one day. It really sucks, especially if you drive down and realize you're not competing. Then you have to wait a whole day, you don't have the advatange of a day's rest in between so you can go all out for your gi matches, and it really messes with your head (at least it mine). I ended up being the first match of the day, my coach made it maybe 10 minutes before when I was in the bullpen ... it was my first ibjjf at blue belt, and it felt like I was starting super cold because even though I tried to warm up, I hadn't rolled. Overall, just wasn't a great experience. 2. Restarts. These are inconsistent and in my experience, have happened at the most inopportune times. Momentum and balance are huge parts of jiu jitsu and if you're able to get to a good position (especially sweeping position from guard), but you have to restart static, that can create a really unfair advantage. I especially think it's unfair to guard players when their opponents push them to the edges of the mat to get a restart. Just because it's the same grips doesn't mean it's the same position. 3. Arbitrary gi and the nogi clothes rules. Ibjjf Chicago in April almost didn't let my professor compete because they said a nogi set he wore was brown instead of black even though it was clearly black AND he had worn the exact same thing to ibjjf okc. Forced another teammate to change his gi because it was too canvas-like or something. Ridiculous. 4. Zero pound allowance. I know this one is there for a reason, and as a smaller competitor, I like that they don't fool around with weight brackets like most other tournaments. But even the ufc allows a pound difference for non-title fights. One of my teammates was off by 0.4 pounds and couldn't compete in nogi. Didn't seem right. I'm a really small competitor so it's nice to have a tournament where I know I'll be facing women my size. But these things always make me weary to compete at ibjjf. I won it at white belt in Chicago, so it has some good memories, but certain parts of it can seem, at times, unfair and/or arbitrary. Especially for the costs.

[@scottbedding6643]

In all judo competitions in UK they have video playback. In at children's competitions. So if there is a awkward decision or coach disputes it, video is played back.

[@mrkamtOK]

local tournament (ibjjf rule set) , one of the refs judged by rules of UWW, and officials goes like "well, if you upset you can roll again"

[@gunfather83]

I've seen a lot of bad calls in ibjjf due to the refs. I've had an ibjjf ref call control in overtime when I was in bottom half guard.

[@jasonjean2901]

I went to a major BJJ tournament put on by the Asian Sport Jiu-Jitsu Federation as a blue belt. I'm a big guy, 6'2" and 315lbs., so I have issues finding gis which fit me. At the time I had blue gi pants that I liked wearing and a black gi top. It said in the rules that we weren't allowed to have gi pants and tops which didn't match, but we asked the tournament organizers and explained the situation, and they said it was okay. I went through my first match with no issues. My second match, however, was pretty crazy. I found out later that the referee was the coach for my opponent, and he was doing his best to mess with me. He told me, only once the match was supposed to start, that I needed to put on matching gi pants or I was disqualified. I explained that the tournament organizers said it was okay, he didn't care. Then we pointed out that I had already completed a match dressed like this with no objections, and, again, he didn't care. Luckily, I had a pair of black gi pants to put on (which barely fit and were very tight). Then, when the match was set to start, the referee walked up to me and yelled into my ear "be careful!" I never hurt anyone that tournament, I won my three matches, I got the gold medal, got to stand on the podium, and realized that I didn't like BJJ tournaments and I would wait at least a few years before attending my next one. My tournament prior to that was a local tournament, which I also won as a white belt. When the tournament started, we were informed that the white belts were allowed all forms of leg-locks (including heel hooks) and wrist-locks. I was booted out of my division after having signed up because the organizers were okay with my weight, which I had told them, but not my size, apparently; I could only compete in the Open-Weight Division. Also, the entire crowd was cheering for my opponents the entire time, which was a pretty strange feeling (all my opponents were roughly half my age (I was 38-years-old at the time and they were all roughly 20-years-old). Simply put, I'm done with tournaments for a long time. People seem to hate me just for showing up. Yeah, I'm big, and I'm strong, but I'm not flexible, I have bad cardio, and I can't move as well as the younger, fitter guys. For some reason it's a kind of insult simply to show up and want to compete, but I don't need to deal with that for my BJJ journey.

[@shrimuyopa8117]

Generally speaking I enjoy the IBJJF tournaments better than the other local tournaments in my area. They obviously cost more but they usually have more competitors, so I get a decent sized bracket (6 - 8 people). Also they start on time or early and I check-in 30 minutes before I compete (weighing in just before-hand so people can't do crazy weight cuts). I don't like that my Gi has to be basically perfect but I always bring two just in case and at the same time it makes sure that my opponents have long enough sleeves for me to grip. At the end of the day I will continue to compete at IBJJF tournaments (I still compete at other local tournaments too) but if something even remotely better comes along that is as respected, I am making the switch permanently!

[@danielskrivan6921]

The one tournament I've been to (as a spectator), I didn't get to see our guy fight. His fight was supposed to be at like 2:00. Around 12:30 my friend and I went for lunch. When we got back at 1:30, it was already over. Our guy was bloody from a punch, which gave the win to his opponent. My professor was absolutely furious. From what I can tell, our guy was stuck in the bottom position, either open guard or knee-on-belly. The other guy wasn't even trying to do anything, basically just grabbing by the collar and trying to flatten him. The effort resulted in a punch or elbow to the mouth, which resulted in quite a serious laceration. My professor said he thought our guy was doing much better, and should have won the match. Because our guy was actually trying something, and the other dude was just bench pressing down.

[@rodrigoandrade256]

In this case the rule was reinforced right, unfortunately. If the opponent didn't punch your friend on purpose, he cannot be punished over an accident. On the other hand, if your friend is seriously injured, he cannot continue fighting. Therefore, DQ. Something similar happened to a friend of mine who got a cut on his head from his opponent's elbow and got a DQ because the bleeding wouldn't stop. Everyone was mad but the application of the rules was definitely right.

[@danielskrivan6921]

@@rodrigoandrade256 I didn't see it, but it could almost be argued that he did. At the very least, that he did so negligently instead of accidentally, because it's not like he was trying a technique.

[@paulietlg]

Article 1.1.3 of the rulebook: The ruling on the result of a match may only be changed under the following circumstances: • If the score on the board has been misread; • If the athlete declared winner submitted his/her opponent using an illegal hold previously unnoticed by the referee. • If the athlete has been disqualified erroneously for using a legitimate hold. In this case, if the match was interrupted and the athlete disqualified prior to the athlete under attack tapping out, the match shall be restarted at the center of the match area and the attacking athlete shall be awarded two points. In the event that the athlete under attack should tap out prior to the interruption and disqualification, the athlete performing the hold shall be declared the winner. Obs: Subjective interpretations of the referee on the awarding of points, advantages or penalties will are final and not subject to change. 🤔

[@kylieminou7775]

My issue is money, they charge way too much for competing, plus bjj classes and annual registration. Last year I went to the ibjjf comp and they gave us a t-shirt and it should have read "I win in a ibjjf comp and all I got was this lousy t-shirt", ah well

[@DaD3athShaman]

I had a teammate catch his opponent in a Guillotine off a shot, but they went off the mat shortly after hitting the ground. The ref restarted them on the feet despite my teammate clearly having the position for a couple seconds.

[@pierretobgui1792]

This shit happened to me before too 😂 My opponent and I both tied at the end of the match but they gave me the win. As I’m walking off the mat they told me to come back, said they made a mistake with the advantages and gave him the win. The dude I competed against was really cool though we were both ok with both results and shook hands but his coach then started talking crap to me. Never had any other bad experience competing other than that one time.

[@WakeUpUniverse66]

Once the call is official and the winner is announced then that's it. If anything the Ref should be penalized rather than the fighters.

[@WakeUpUniverse66]

Otherwise winning BJJ matches will just come down to litigation

[@joshjosh5856]

It’s impossible to deny if you’ve ever been to an ibjjf that there isn’t bias towards Brazilians. It doesn’t even seem as though ibjjf even pretends to cover it up as in our experience it’s been very blatant.

[@bigbadwolf5033]

I'm going to my very first IBJJF this weekend, first ever BJJ competition period, actually. Thanks for giving me a few things to be aware of heading into it.

[@RevengeOfThaNerd]

Come back and tell us your experience. I have my first one coming up in 2 weeks.

[@bigbadwolf5033]

@@RevengeOfThaNerd I went 1-1 and took silver in my bracket. Made some new friends. Opponents had great sportsmanship. The people working the event seemed rather lackadaisical. Saw a lot of quick DQs. They're serious about the rules.

[@RevengeOfThaNerd]

@@bigbadwolf5033 that's for the follow up. Whew I'm getting a case of the nerves lol

[@RevengeOfThaNerd]

@@bigbadwolf5033 and congrats

[@bigbadwolf5033]

@@RevengeOfThaNerd thank you, sir. Good luck out there on your event, too!

[@Psichlo1]

I have competed IBJJF a few times and had teammates that have as well, and this happens all the time. Not to the extent that you're talking about, but shady behavior nonetheless. I watched a competition where this woman clearly beat the heck out of her opponent, who happened to be Brazilian, and her coach kept yelling at the ref, "you're supposed to be helping her" in Portuguese. I have seen competitors not awarded points when they should have, and wins that were turned into losses. It's one thing to see mistakes happen once in awhile, but it seems to be becoming more and more prevalent. The last IBJJF comp that I did was in Nashville and my opponent tapped two or three times and verbally said I am done, and I looked at the ref and he wasn't even paying attention, he was looking at another match on another mat. I don't understand why people put so much value in IBJJF when this type of thing happens all the time, especially at the higher levels like pans and worlds.

[@SingleShotSingleTake]

Helpful as I prepare for my first comp in few weeks (JJWL, Houston)

[@naoimhinfada6233]

Eh JJWL is a different animal, and, having competed in both the IBJJF and JJWL, in some ways it's better. You can weigh in at 8 AM if you want, even if your mat time is 5 PM, so you can actually drink something and/or eat before your fight even if you had to cut. They're a lot looser with the gi restrictions insofar as you can actually wear a rash guard under your gi if you want. And you're guaranteed at least two fights (if you're in a bracket with only one other competitor, they do best 2 of 3), which is soooo much better because, as we all know, this crap ain't cheap. Also, the rash guard they give you for early registration is actually pretty decent quality. I've only been to two of their events, and only competed in one of those two, but after watching bunch of the guys from my gym compete, plus doing it myself, it seemed pretty well organized and I can't really think of any really questionable reffing decisions.

[@SingleShotSingleTake]

@@naoimhinfada6233 I appreciate all the cool info.

[@mcnistru]

I just got 2 matches over the weekend and both of my opponents got me in a can opener, I got elbowed in the face, head-butted, plus some other small stuff and the referees didn't seem to care, even more one of the referee let, in a different fight, a purple belt match, a knee-bar go for more than 10 seconds without a single care in the world...

[@shrimuyopa8117]

I watched the Elizabeth Clay match on Flo Grappling. They screwed her over so badly.

[@rodrigoandrade256]

To me, the line is when the rule is reinforced. If it's reinforced right, great. If it's reinforced wrong, they can either correct it AT THAT MOMENT or never correct it. On the instagram example you gave, after her hand was raised it should've been DONE. No matter if the judge was good or bad. Hand raised? Done. On the Gi case, after the match started...DONE. Theoretically it should've been done after the Gi check, but I think everyone would understand if a judge or someone else saw it afterwards and reinforced it. But never during a match.

[@rich45davis]

140e for a competition, that's my main problem with IBJJF, oh and the other 40e you have to spend to sign up to them.

[@utah_koidragon7117]

I have seen some bad calls at IBJJF tournaments, just like I've seen some bad calls at tournaments run by other organizations. I'm not sure either of the examples here are really that bad. I didn't see Clay's match, but advantages are for the most part scored objectively. (With the exception of whether or not the ref determines a sub attempt to be legitimate enough to count as an advantage.) So depending on how she was awarded the advantages in the first place, it could very well be possible to review it and determine one was awarded mistakenly, and if I was the other athlete, that sounds only fair. As for the belt buckle on the gi . . . I can certainly see how it would be disruptive to stop a match as it was going on, and it's something that should have been caught in the check-in, but . . . Knowing the rules is ultimately the athlete's responsibility, right?

[@דודישראלי-ל1ל]

Just compete in No GI I dont compete in GI no more I do train some time in GI because of my timetable in my gym

[@Stratos0317]

Not getting an advantage and 4 points for saying my name in an accent before the match starts. 😮‍💨😅

[@timmgoodman]

IBJJF publishes “illegal moves” for kids. My son’s opponent performs an illegal move, on him and hurts him. Ref says “stop that” and let’s the match go on. I spoke to them about it, they said yeah we let kids do illegal moves and don’t disqualify them, because we want them to have a learning experience.

[@joshuabidencope6875]

My biggest issue with ibjjf is that you have to weigh in right before your match, rather than just when you get there. Your weight can fluctuate by a few kg throughout the day and if your match gets pushed back into late afternoon and you’re close to weight cut off then you’re not able to drink water for a lot of the day. Also if you’re competing in a few divisions, you could have a few matches and want to rehydrate afterwards but if you drink as much water as you want, you could be dq’d from your next division. I’ve competed in a few different organisations. Ibjjf is by far the most organised, but because of this rule, it’s my least favourite to do

[@vicn1349]

It disincentivizes weight cutting which is great. Sometimes it’s better just to compete a weight class higher if you’re worried about it.

[@bsenka]

Making a mistake is one thing, but it feels like IBJJF refs sometimes just make up rules on the fly.

[@joejitsuway960]

The line is when the "bad call" isn't really a bad call, it is an intentionally bad call that conveniently always seems to favor certain teams or people who know Portuguese. There are way more bad calls at small local tournaments. But you can be pretty sure those refs are hungover and could not care less who wins the match.

[@tylerratliff6754]

How do you feel about Grappling Industries? Compared to other tournament organizations

[@Chewjitsu]

I've heard a lot of good things about them.

[@theodorsimak2458]

One time a ref refused to let a friend fight because he wore a mouthguard

[@phillip4307]

Kinda unrelated but I saw someone saying they should score by ride time and I think it's a great idea

[@chuckgreen3629]

That unfortunately goes against the Gracie philosophy of going to a draw and claiming moral victory

[@phillip4307]

@@chuckgreen3629 lol

[@VTdarkangel]

If it is a scenario like that where they failed to catch it during a gi check, then that is on the refs. They should let him finish his match and then try to rectify the situation. Do not stop a match for something the refs should have caught long before.

[@devriestown]

Im going in one in three weeks pretty pricey. Weights are weird. For gi you weigh in including your gi weight. Why ? As long as you weigh in on weight why does gi weight matter?

[@GuyfromSC2]

I mean most gi's are 3-5 pounds

[@r7killer]

Elizabeth Clay got robbed with that kinda call for sure.

[@vicn1349]

I’m not a fan of the rule that if a person gets head and arm control from top half guard then they will be awarded an advantage. I also don’t like how someone can pull closed guard and hold it for the entire match while to pretend to do a collar choke and never open their legs. Seen and experienced this and it’s just not a good look for the sport to not penalize the opponents and get them started on the feet again. I think if you pull guard you need to show more initiative to sweep or submit. Hugging a dude with your legs the entire match while attempting collar chokes doesn’t deserve a win

[@hoverda]

Chicago open 2015 no gi, blue belt, ended up getting in lockdown half went for electric chair got it on with seconds from submitting my opponent when the ref says you can't use that submission only as a sweep or I'lll disqualify you. Now I knew it was legal so I told her if it's totally legal as a submission my opponent goes no no it's not only as a sweep and I realize if I argue further I'll be disqualified. So now my opponent knows he just needs hold out for like 20 seconds and not get swept and he'll win the match. I lose, my teammates are all like what the hell happened? We find Comprido who was the head of our organization at the time explained the situation to him. Big meeting with the refs after 10 minutes the referee comes over to me and says "sorry I fucked you on that one"

[@hadenmccoy4432]

you gonna be at ibjjf st. louis?

[@jiujitsujunkee]

I dont really like the IBJJF. It's kind of like clothes, you're paying twice the price for a product that's not necessarily better, but you're paying for the name. I'd much rather spend half the money on a round Robin tournament, where I'm guaranteed 3 or 4 matches per division.

[@SaulGude]

Was the opponent Brazilian?

[@zeehutt7876]

I remember my third tournament which was multiple matches. I was punching up in weight but one match me and my teammate said I got robbed. Start of another he just deducted two points and told me to deal with it so I stepped off the mat.

[@Kuduloka]

I don't follow. Why did they deduct two points?

[@zeehutt7876]

@@Kuduloka I’d like to know also

[@Kuduloka]

@@zeehutt7876 you said something about your teammate, and you or him got robbed. The grammar makes it hard to follow exactly what happened or to whom.

[@zeehutt7876]

@@Kuduloka "my teammate said I got robbed." you need to check your reading glasses sir.

[@Kuduloka]

@@zeehutt7876 Thanks. I'll go to the eye doctor, after you go back to elementary school and learn English.

[@joshwilliams6517]

IBJJF is standard

[@user-uk9er5vw4c]

they are just thieves

[@donnyisstrong]

ADCC > IBJJF JJWL > IBJJF

[@Mr850man]

Racist against brazillians, liked and subbed

[@ianhenderson3078]

Origin Gi > IBJJF

[@JustinColletti]

This is a tricky one. Both your examples seem to be about GOOD calls that were made too late. If someone didn’t earn a point or advantage, they shouldn’t get it, and if someone, by the rules, did earn that point or advantage, they should do get it. I just wish that happened before a hand was raised. Similarly, if someone is wearing attire with hard plastic or metal bits that could potentially cause a life altering eye injury or the like, they should have to take it off. Even if it seems like it’s so minor. The problem with both these examples is that they are of good calls made much later than they should have been. Is that bad? Yes. But if they hadn’t been made, you’d have a situation where the other party would be rightfully criticizing IBJJF for making a bad call and selectively enforcing the rules, even once alerted to the fact they were objectively going against their own rule book. While both of these situations are annoying and seem like a travesty, I can respect that they are biased in favor of being sticklers to the letter of the rule set, rather than the opposite, which leads to even more of a a mess. Personally, I’d prefer fewer rules, strictly enforced. It’s a tricky balance: Too many rules, and there is too much gamification of the ruleset. Too few and refs decisions are even MORE arbitrary and subjective, and the tournaments more dangerous. But for all their failings, I’ve found the IBJJF refs to be the most consistent and competent on average of any of the tournaments I’ve been to. Like with anything, there are strengths and weaknesses to their approach.