By Timothy McNamara

Weight Cutting:
Two days before a tournament is not the time to decide you will experiment with weight cutting. Weight cutting is a process. Weight cutting takes practice. Weight cutting often has side effects on physical performance: particularly for those unaccustomed to the process, the various methods, and the physical toll it exacts on your body. It would be ill advised to decide tournament day is the time to try the new flying omoplata shoulder lock to kimura trap you saw on youtube. It would be equally ill advised to try and drain your body of weight and water several days before an athletic competition if it is your first time doing so. Going onto a forum is not the place nor the avenue to explore weight cutting.

In Other Words: save the new ideas and changes to routine for another time (not days before your first tournament)

Skill divisions:
Trust your coach(es) to help you determine what is your appropriate skill division. This is more for the no gi competitors but for the (slightly) older competitors, or for the competitors eligible for both the adult and the masters categories: it’s better to compete, learn and be back in the gym on Monday than do 8 divisions, get hurt, and be out of training for weeks or months on end.

In Other Words: trust your coaches to place you in the correct skill divisions and the correct number of divisions based on their experience.

Game Planning:
Again, defer to your coach(es). If you pull guard in training at the start of every match that should probably be what you do in the tournament. If you prefer top position, the flying armbar at the start of the match may not be your statistically preferable first move at the word “Go”. Stick to the submissions, transitions, and sweeps which you rely on in training. Competition is tough enough with the tension, waiting, stress, shouting, pressure…..you do not need to try out something you saw last night on youtube because you couldn’t sleep the night before the tournament.

In Other Words: do what you’ve been doing in class and training.

Go To a Tournament to Just Watch:
If you’ve never competed before, you should go and watch your teammates and coaches. Experience the feel of the crowd. The tension. The shouting. The announcers calling people to the mat. Sit and watch. See how much “hurry up and wait” can take place even at well run tournaments. Experience for yourself the long haul that is a day competing at a grappling tournament. You will be surprised at how tiring the whole experience can be, just by watching your teammates and the various divisions play out. If you haven’t competed, you might show up at 9am, wound up like a Tasmanian devil on amphetamines, but realize that your white belt Gi division normally does not start until 3pm or later.

In Other Words: Go see for yourself what a tournament setting and day feels like rather than show up completely unprepared.

Bring snacks:
In keeping with the “hurry up and wait” part of a day competing: bring snacks. You will get hungry. Your blood sugar will become low. The nervousness and tension of a day competing and even that very first match will likely shock your body if you are unaccustomed to grappling competition. I know, I know, you played football in high school, or you wrestled, or you played Judo. However, this is a different experience. And the pace, the setting, the venue, the rules are all different to some extent. Bring snacks, a sports drink, plenty of water, and some light snacks like fruit, peanut butter, some sandwiches, something that is moderately healthy, but not too heavy that you can force yourself to eat so that your blood sugar levels do not crash.

In Other Words: Bring snacks more than you think you will eat. The future favors the prepared. The local pizza joint’s $3 pizza slices will not feel good in your tummy in the middle of your teammates, coaches, and spectators screaming at you to pass the guard as you’re down on points and you feel like your lungs are filled with concrete.

Have Fun:
Last but not least, you’re there to learn. Remember this. If you go out and try the things you do in class and in rolling with teammates, you will have learned regardless of the outcome.

In Other Words:
To quote Master Carlos Gracie Jr.: “There’s no losing in jiu-jitsu, you either win or you learn.”

There are usually three main arguments used against Submission Only matches.  First, people argue that Sub Only builds bad habits for MMA or self defense.  Second, people say that you’ll be here all day.  I call this the “Chicken Little” argument.  Finally, people argue that takedowns and other fundamental BJJ techniques are a part of the game, and should be rewarded as such.  Let’s call this one the “Reward” argument.

Here, I’ll discuss some of these common arguments, giving my take as both a competitor and a coach (as well as tournament promoter).  Take it all with a grain of salt, but please remember that while I do enjoy more traditional matches with points and time limits as well, I’ve been in a unique position to see literally thousands of matches under this format over the last five years, competing in many myself, and coaching students in even more.

1.  Positional Dominance doesn’t always equate to a win in a “real” fight

For those who would make the argument that Submission Only tournaments aren’t “pure” because they allow one person to be positionally dominated by another with little to no repercussions, consider Anderson Silva, arguably the greatest MMA fighter of all time. How many matches has Anderson not only lost on points (assuming standard BJJ scoring for the points), but also been completely dominated? Certainly at least his match with Travis Lutter, where Silva was taken down, passed, and mounted in round one; or both of his fights with Chael Sonnen, where Anderson would have been down by double digits.  Many MMA fights have certainly seen the eventual victor clearly positionally dominated from a traditional scoring perspective.  And yet, there was the definitive finish at the end.

The bottom line is that it’s not over until it’s over.  Points aren’t inherently bad, but to have a fair and balanced group of tournaments for participants and coaches to select from, it’s always good to have variety and options, and US Grappling’s Submission Only tournament series provides just that:  options.

2.  If you have a time limit, and both competitors lose (or there is a draw) if there is no submission, it completely changes the dynamic of the contest.  If one competitor is outmatched and realizes he or she can simply hold on to survive (rather than tap), that makes it possible for him or her to hold on!  However, if there is no time limit whatsoever, both competitors tend to open up and realize that their fate is in their own hands.

More importantly, simple math proves that it can (and does) work!  Check out data from thousands of Submission Only matches.  The average match length is 8 minutes, and as long as that statistic is taken into account, it most certainly can (and does) work.

To paraphrase Royce Gracie, if you’re stuck in the middle of the ocean, but you know that within a few hours a lifeboat is going to come pick you up, you’re most likely going to wait for the lifeboat to arrive.  On the other hand, if you have no idea when (or whether) a lifeboat is coming, you’re much more likely to swim in the direction you’re most likely to find land.  Similarly, if you know a time limit is eminent, but feel overmatched, you may have a tendency to hold on and wait so that you don’t “lose” the match.  Compare and contrast this to realizing that the only way you are going to finish the match is to make the other person tap, or tap yourself!

3.  Transitions from positions are their own reward.  If the takedown is a fundamental part of BJJ that should be rewarded as such, use the takedown to advance your position and set up a submission!  If you believe the mount or back should be awarded a set number of points, show why this position is so dominant for you and finish your opponent.  Many high level judoka and excellent takedown artists have used this strategy to great success in both MMA and sport jiu jitsu in recent years, and I have seen this strategy work well in Submission Only matches quite frequently.

No matter what your opinions are on the subject, I believe they are valid, and should be considered when thinking about the big picture.  Give the Submission Only concept a chance when considering options, and you may be pleasantly surprised by the amazing vibe at all of these events.  People are, across the board, less stressed out when competing.  The typical sense of camaraderie is amplified at these events.  Overall, it’s a fantastic experience every competitor should have at least once!

Having run literally thousands of matches with no time limits whatsoever, we at US Grappling believe that we have cracked the code as to how to make it work, logistically.  If you aren’t convinced, just come be a spectator at one of our events.  There is never a spectator fee at any US Grappling events, so you can come watch at no charge!

US Grappling’s Submission Only tournament format boldly proclaims, “No points, no time limits, no excuses.”  While this is designed to catch the eye of the reader and cause an emotional response, the fact remains that there is simply no more definitive outcome in all of sports than a match which requires that you beat an opponent by submission.  Not thoroughly convinced?  Consider what else is out there:

Imagine a boxing match where knockout was the only way to win, and there weren’t any rounds. You’d see guys slugging it out and nearly killing one another (some of the time), and fighters would be able to fight perhaps once a year in order to get such a definitive victory.  ”Knockout Only” could certainly be a definitive victory for the boxer, but it’s hardly a sustainable model for a competition.

How about wrestling? You could certainly have a “pin only” wrestling tournament, but there most definitely is some subjectivity (and plenty of room for human error) with the refereeing. What if your shoulders aren’t actually on the mat, but from the ref’s vantage point, he believes both shoulders are pinned?

With a submission only tournament, there is simply no way to present a valid argument against your loss, other than possibly saying you didn’t tap.

Team sports are even worse with restrictions on what has to happen, how it has to happen, and (most importantly) when it has to happen.  People argue over basketball, baseball, soccer, football… “The refereeing was terrible!   Some awful calls.”

“But matches will take all day!  It can’t be done on anything other than an extremely small scale!”   We beg to differ, and so does statistical analysis from over 20 Submission Only tournaments, with more than 5000 matches, where the average match length is 8 minutes.  Sure, you’re going to have anomalies, just like with any event.   There will be some matches that last more than 20 minutes, and a small handful of matches that could last longer than an hour (usually 2 or 3 matches per event), but for every long match, there are several very short matches.

Which brings us to the main point: adding time limits to any sport is going to change the dynamic completely.  People are going to stall just to survive, and then brag about surviving for however long the match time limit was.  Sure, not everyone is going to view a draw as a win, and some tournaments have elected to eliminate both competitors if there is no submission within the time limit.  Nevertheless, the dynamic of knowing that all you have to do is hang on definitely changes strategy in a way that is not conductive to truly hunting for the submission.

Enjoy the purest form of combat in existence.  US Grappling runs Submission Only events that are the real deal.  There are never any time limits, and every single match will have a decisive outcome. No other style of tournament can hope to promise this.

For some people, the stress of being a referee can be a miserable experience.  I have been involved in one way or another in US Grappling tournaments for years, and have always looked forward to the experience of being a referee.  Shortly after getting my purple belt, there was a referee certification clinic put on by US Grappling in the gym I regularly train at.  I got invited, went, and I was hooked.

The referee clinic was a good experience.  I was nervous at first, but the more I learned and listened, the more I understood how to do well at tournaments.  My understanding of why points were scored and how the decision was made helped me to change and develop my overall tournament game plan more effectively.  Up to that point, I was willing to settle on my back and play guard.  After going to that clinic and discussing it with a local competition machine “Bagels”, I had an epiphany.  Bagels told me “You score from the top.  The only way to even score from the bottom is by going to the top”.  He was right, and my game plan for competition changed.

An experienced ref understands positions, how they change, and where they end up.  By standing on the mats and watching hundreds of matches over the tournaments I’ve worked, I understand those things better than some, and not as well as others.  I feel that seeing all of those matches, getting to watch what’s fresh and new, and be exposed to all of those different styles has helped me not only as a referee but also as a bjj practitioner.  It’s a great way to give back to the bjj community, and will only help you in the long run!

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Sean Zorio is a purple belt under Guy and Rob Pendergrass