Jiu Jitsu

There seems to be a growing trend in the Jiu Jitsu world with people believing that submission only tournaments best display “true” jiu jitsu and “point” tournaments aren’t a gauge of “real jiu jitsu”. I see posters that say remember when submission was the mission etc? Submission has always been the mission, nothing has changed. The argument that top level guys today only play for points vs guys from the past who played for submission doesn’t hold up. Look at matches in the 90’s all the final matches were close, with very few won by submission and many won by advantages.

Everyone on my team plays to finish, most everyone I know will finish if given the opportunity. In 2008, I was up a lot of points on Bruno Malfacine and an opportunity presented itself and I got the tap as any one would. I have never heard some one say yeah I could have submitted him easy but decided to win by an advantage instead. The reason you see top level guys from any time have such close matches has more to do with their skill level than the rules of any tournament.

If you look at point tournaments, the people who win IBJJF tournaments are the same ones who are winning in submission only. There are no guys who do horrible in IBJJF tournaments and then dominate in submission only format, it just doesn’t happen. This is because IT IS ALL JIU JITSU.

I am often asked do I train and think different when I compete in sub only events like Metamoris?

My answer is always the same, YES and NO. My training and my training approach does change because 20 minutes is twice as long as 10 minutes. Does my strategy or thinking change? Absolutely not, Jiu Jitsu is Jiu Jitsu.

When asked about no time limits matches I honestly don’t see the point. Jiu Jitsu is supposed to be realistic and to some degree sport jiu jitsu applies to self defense. How many fights that you seen go on for hours? 30+ minute matches are common in no time limit tournaments and to me this is more a display of heart and cardio (which isn’t bad) than Jiu Jitsu.

In the end do what you love. If you feel comfortable playing submission only then enter submission only tournaments. These days there are a lot of very good ones! If you like regular tournaments play those. If you don’t like to compete then don’t! Competition is only a small part of Jiu Jitsu. In the end we all play Jiu Jitsu, we all love the same thing. Keep training and hope top see you on the mat!