So I’ve been blessed with a layover between flights and with nothing better to do. What better way to spend my time then reflecting on the 2015 Pans. Every year the IBJJF puts on the Pans and every year it’s filled with amazing displays of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu at all levels. I’m amazed at the level of the blue and purple belts these days. They are like brown and black belts from a decade ago.It’s intense! Unfortunately, It’s also always filled with various controversies which originate from the rules in place and/or by the tactics use  the competitors during the competition. I’d like to take a moment to look at some of the problems I saw this year.

The first big issue I had was seeing a high level black belt match decided by a refs decision. Nothing is more anti climactic and controversial than leaving the decision of a hard fought battle into the hands of the ref. Every ref out there will have their own bias which will reflect their relationships with the competitors as well as the way they personally practice jiu-jitsu. I know the old saying is, “don’t leave it in the hands of the judges.” But when two grapplers match up so evenly with one another this is not easy. This was the case with Tim Spriggs vs Keenan Cornelius. Both of these monsters are professionals at what they do and when they met up saturday it was as close as a match could be. Keenan was continually tangling up Tim and attempting to catch him with something from the bottom. On top, Spriggs was working aggressively for the pass. In the end, neither man was able to do enough to warrant even an advantage(I hate advantages too). In the end the ref was forced to make a decision. It was a shame too, because it would have been fun to see that match decided with a clear cut point based victory. Matches, especially black belt matches, shouldn’t be decided with a persons opinion. It should be decided a victory that can’t contested. Whether that be a sudden death format, overtime period or something else. Letting the black belts decide their fate would be an improvement.

One thing that seemed more prominent this year was grapplers fleeing the mat. Maybe this has been a problem in the past, but this year it was bad. When I say fleeing the mat I’m talking about grapplers backing up to the line of bounds so that if their opponent comes in for a takedown, they won’t lose points. There were also some grapplers just hauling ass off the mat every time their opponent got anything on them. There was one match in particular I watched where a good half guard player was up against a competitor who was better with takedowns. After an exchange of sweeps the two ended up on their feet with the half guard stylist up 2 points. With 2 minutes left there were over 10 pauses in the match caused by the ref having to recenter the grapplers. This was a result of the half guard player backing up. There were 2 penalties given to him but I mean after 10 times something has to give. If the guy doesn’t want to grapple then DQ him and send him on his way. I’m not saying be stupid and squander the lead you have, and if the remainder of the match was less, than it would be acceptable. But this was a black belt masters 3 match. Meaning it is only 5 minutes. You shouldn’t spend almost half of the match running from your opponent and the ref shouldn’t allow it. I understand that people are just trying to do what they can to win, but that is no way of winning and doesn’t demonstrate the abilities of a grappler.

The last thing I’ll rant about is the use of 50/50. This position has been a thorn in the side of big grappling competitions for around 4 years now. It’s unfortunate too. There were some really good matches this weekend that devolved into teeter tottering. There was one example I saw of this where this super tough, and exciting, brown belt from Alliance got caught in it. During his earlier matches he was attacking from every position. He was going for takedowns, passing the guard and even showed some serious sweeping abilities. He was just fun to watch. Then he got stuck into 50/50. You could see the frustration in his movements and his face. He was trying to get out of the position but couldn’t. Luckily he was ahead by an advantage and managed to keep from being knocked back onto his butt and snagged the win. But it was a clear demonstration of the ability of the position to destroy excitement and the use of versatile BJJ. Instead people get tangled up and it often times ends in this position, and not with a submission finish either. Rodolfo Viera, easily one of the most exciting and fun to watch competitors shared his thoughts on the 50/50 dilemma as well (http://www.bjjee.com/featured/rodolfo-vieira-id-rather-lose-than-win-by-using-that-shtty-5050-guard/). I’m not sure what you would do with the 50/50. Maybe order a stand up after a period of inactivity? I mean you can’t simply ban the position altogether because a few people use it effectively and in no gi competitions where leg locks are legal, it’s a deadly weapon. But in gi competitions with limited options on leg locks, it’s often used as a mechanism to stall or win by advantage. Neither of which is what we are suppose to be doing out there. We are supposed to attempt to submit our opponents, right?

The IBJJF has adjusted the rules over and over to try and fix some of the problems BJJ sport competitions have. They’ve also worked to fix many of the inconsistencies in their reffing, and I applaud them for that. I hope they continue to address the issues that present themselves because in a competition it’s not necessarily the best grappler who wins but the one who exploits the rules the best. That said, the rules have to be used to coerce the grapplers to grapple the way they want. And I think we can all agree, nobody enjoys watching controversial ref’s decisions, stalling, fleeing the mat and two grapplers tangled up with almost no real activity.

Thanks for reading.

Chewy