r/bjj

After years of watching Men of War grappling competitions, one thing is clear: if there’s no submission, the person on top wins. It doesn’t matter if the bottom player has more submission attempts, better movement, or demonstrates better Jiu-Jitsu. Get on top, stall, and hold position—that’s apparently enough.
The officiating has been consistently atrocious over the years. Frankly, I don’t understand why anyone would choose to compete under an organization with such questionable judging.

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I’m a purple belt with around 8 years of grappling experience. I’m also registered blind due to Retinitis Pigmentosa, with roughly 5 degrees of functional vision remaining.

I’m trying to develop a game built around making and maintaining connections, minimising unnecessary scrambles and controlling opponents through pressure, positioning and grips.

My current game:
Standing: Collar ties, underhooks, Russian 2-on-1s, arm drags, body locks, foot sweeps and trips.
Top: Body-lock passing, leg pins, half guard passing, rides, cradles and heavy positional control.
Bottom: Knee-shield half guard, butterfly, shoulder crunch, octopus and turtle.
Submissions: Arm triangles, D’Arces, armbars and Choi bars.

My biggest issue is losing connection during transitions, particularly from bottom. When opponents disengage, change angles or scramble, I can lose track of their positioning and end up reacting too late.

I’ve previously relied on wrestling up, but I’m finding that breaking connection to come up often leaves me exposed, particularly to back takes.

What I’m looking for:
Advice on systems, concepts or specific grapplers worth studying that prioritise continuous connection, strong inside positioning, effective hand fighting and limiting an opponent’s freedom of movement.

I’m particularly interested in developing a bottom game built around sweeps, reversals and back takes without having to disengage or rely on speed and athleticism.

I’m not necessarily looking for individual techniques, but rather overarching principles and interconnected systems that I can build my game around.

Any recommendations or experiences would be appreciated, particularly from people who favour a slower, pressure-heavy, connection-based style.

For me it's progressing through the ranks with the homies I started with at white belt. There may only be 3 of us left, but we all got our brown belts this year.

I'm disappointed that all local legit martial arts studios here where I live are primarily BJJ studios. It's not that I have issues with BJJ. It's just that I like pure Judo better than pure BJJ. But since it's the popular one, I may as well sign up for a local class.

I know it's one of the top arts in terms of combat effectiveness. But is its popularity simply because of its performance in the early UFC? Or it's just that good? Why isn't Judo equal in popularity when Ronda Rousey and Karo Parisyan were successful in MMA?

Thanks.

Hey y'all. I've been training for 3 years and 1 month (yes I count). Got my blue belt December last year.

I hate telling stories so I'll just save you some time:

People at my gym say I'm pretty good and highly technical ever since I was a white belt. I enjoy the sport and it keeps me healthy physically and mentally. Oftentimes I'm beating bigger/heavier opponents and giving upper belts some work.

Coaches and training partners who compete a lot are pushing towards competition. They say I'd do really good.

I don't wanna cut the weight. I don't wanna put in the extra work to get competition ready. I don't wanna spend the money. I don't wanna spend the time. I don't wanna be recorded by strangers, winning or losing.

Am I being a little bitch or are these reasons totally valid? Because I really don't care about competing.

What's fucked up about this feeling is that I want to get to purple, brown and eventually black belt. I love this sport, but just not enough to compete and put myself out there. Feels like an inconvenience instead of something exciting to look forward to.

Thoughts? You can be rude, idgaf. I was raised by sociopaths.

Not including subs

Had my first comp today. Came home with silver, but with only two people in the bracket, it was more of a consolation prize I guess

It definitely made me realise I’m too passive/relaxed in my sparring. I wasn’t as ‘wired’ or aggressive as the other guy, and I think that made a big difference.

To be fair, I only decided that morning that I was actually going to compete and just give it a go. My game plan probably wasn’t tight enough either, and I’ve been off sick for the past two weeks. Not excuses, but definitely reasons I wasn’t bringing my A-game.

I definitely know what I need to focus on now. But how do I get that competition tempo into my sparring? Do I need to be more aggressive/intense in training, or are competitions just naturally a completely different pace?

Also, I definitely feel like I tapped way too early on the day. Is that just something you learn to deal with through competing?

Was having trouble today after taking the summer off from an i njury. I think the black belt I rolled with could tell and dude fixed some big problems I have. It was such simple advice and drilling but some of the tiny details changed everything.

In general, thank you to all the black belts that are helpful to white belts, you’re the best!

I’ve seen a lot of talk about “old man jiujitsu” lately. And I’m just curious, for the older women and smaller guys, do you feel like the typical “old man jiujitsu” style applies to you? Do you have a different game?

I’ve always felt like the things claimed to be “old man jiujitsu” tend to be things that rely on being slow, heavy, and strong. As a rooster weight woman in my 30s, I’m not sure I could make it work for me. But, maybe one day. Or maybe there’s a different side of jiujitsu for smaller old people?

Curious to hear your experiences and opinions.

I’m going to be Thailand in the coming months and wanted to do some training while I’m travelling.

From what I’ve read there are some decent gyms out there that might be fun to try out, but I’ve heard the chances of getting skin infections there are much higher than other places. I wanted to hear others opinions on if it’s worth the risk training over there, and if so, is there anything out of the ordinary I can do to protect myself extra.

I would love to heard others experiences with good/clean gyms as well!

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