Scoring Guide to BJJ Competitions: IBJJF, SJJIF, and ADCC

If you are practicing jiu-jitsu for some time and want to take your passion to the next level by competing in championships, then you must know about the different championships in BJJ.

The most famous world championships for BJJ are hosted by IBJJF, SJJIF, NAGA, EBI, ADCC

All the championships in BJJ use a points system to score competitors based on their rules.

The basic rule for winning a match in all the championships is either to make them submit or earn points by placing the opponent in superior positions.

But these championships differ a bit in their rules and method of scoring. Here we will be discussing the scoring guide for BJJ competitions.

Almost every month different BJJ competitions are held by these 3 big jiu-jitsu federations all over the world.

Competing in any of the BJJ championships or keeping up with the news of upcoming tournaments could be quite confusing due to the large number of tournaments being held.

IBJJF was founded in 1994 by Carlos Gracie Jr. it is a non-profit organization that hosts some of the biggest jiu-jitsu competitions in the world.

The famous tournaments held by IBJJF are:

• World IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship, the biggest BJJ tournament in the world. It is also known as Mundials.
• World Master IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship
• European Jiu-Jitsu IBJJF Championship
• Pan Jiu-Jitsu IBJJF Championship
• Asian Jiu-Jitsu IBJJF Championship
• Brazilian National Jiu-Jitsu Championship
• Pan Pacific Jiu-Jitsu IBJJF Championship
• Rio BJJ Pro IBJJF Championship

This organization was initially known as the Jiu-Jitsu Federation of Guanabara founded by the national sports council of Brazil in 1967. The founding members were Hélio Gracie, Alvaro Barreto, Leal Binda and Oswaldo Fadda.

This was the first step to make jiu-jitsu a sport and not a street fighting game. Under this organization, the rules, and belt structures were organized.

SJJIF was founded in 2011 by the members of that time, the motive was to meet the IOC requirements and better ways to promote BJJ.

The famous tournaments held by IBJJF are:

• SJJIF Worlds Gi & NoGi Tournament
• Annual North American BJJ Tournament
• All Americas Jiu-Jitsu Tournament
• Los Angeles International Jiu-Jitsu Open
• Rio International Challenge
• Pan-Americano Jiu-Jitsu Tournament
• Brasil Open Jiu-Jitsu Tournament
• Asian Open Jiu-Jitsu Tournament

ADCC organizes the Submission Fighting World Championship which was first known as the Submission Wrestling World Championship.

It was founded by Tahnoon Bin Zayed Al Nahyan in 1998. The championships organized by ADCC are a combination of martial arts like wrestling, MMA, judo but it mostly resembles BJJ.

The biggest championship organized by this club is the ADCC World Championship.

As ADCC is a combination of some other martial arts with BJJ, its rules differ from the conventional BJJ tournaments.

The difference in rules makes the ADCC championship more exciting for the fighters and the people.

The three major differences in ADCC than other championships are as follow

• In the first half of the match (5 minutes) there were no positive points.
• Pulling guard is not allowed and is penalized with a negative point
• The negative points are not counted in the final sum of players until the match has ended.

Before getting to know the score guides for major BJJ competitions, let’s have a look at the fundamental BJJ moves that can secure points.

It is the most advantageous position for a jujitsuka during a fight. In this position, you are on the floor while your opponent is standing.

The person in the guard has great control of the opponent’s body because he can’t pass the guard easily.

The position is considered as a mount in jiu-jitsu when you sit on the opponent's torso with your face pointing towards the opponent’s head.

It is an advantageous position for the person on the top because the opponent is locked and can be easily submitted.

There are certain types and ways to get into a mount.

Just as the guard, passing the guard also gives you points in BJJ. Guard passes require a lot of practice and skills.

Passing a guard is not only important for your defense but can also be combined with submission.

Sweeps are used to take your opponent down, they are mostly used to reverse a grappling position.

Through sweep, a player can balance the opponent in a dominant position and transition to a more dominant position.

Through sweeps, even the lightweight athletes can make the stronger ones submit.

In BJJ, a takedown is a set of moves that you do to force your opponent on the floor. But if your opponent takes the bottom position before you initiate then it won’t count as a takedown.

It can take years of practice for executing a takedown professionally. Most of the takedowns in BJJ are initiated from wrestling and judo.

Takedowns in BJJ can be executed with perfection if you rely upon your skills rather than strength.

But some takedowns such as the flying scissor throw or any other takedown that results in the opponent’s head hitting the floor are not allowed in BJJ.

There are a lot of international-level BJJ tournaments all around the world. They differ a bit in their scoring criteria.

If you want to compete in any of these competitions, you need to learn the rules. To have a look at the basic rules of these tournaments, click here.

Before competing, make sure to work on your basic moves. If you can perfectly execute the positions, Guards, and passes, submissions, and mounts, etc. 

Then you can effectively compete in any of these BJJ competitions.