Fresh off a win at the second installment of the World Series of Grappling, Mahamed Aly was asked whether tournaments with big prize money or the coveted IBJJF Worlds were “better” to win. Aly answered the question with a post on his Instagram page:
“Somebody asked me last night:
“Is it better to win worlds or a tournament that pays 20k?”
That question still stuck on my head.
I know IBJJF worlds is the most important thing I did on my career. I don’t regret anything. But EVERY world champion gets frustrated after they win worlds.
You win today and tomorrow you still have to pay your bills in order to keep your dream alive.
Fighting BJJ is still a hobby(and that’s sad). The really job is to teach. You teach seminars, classes, or online…
That means that the athlete can’t be just an athlete. We still struggling a lot.
And most people won’t even talk about it 😔
I think every world champion and medalists should talk about this. The amount of work that we put together is unreal… you do that for 10 years then you realize that it doesn’t guarantee you anything in life(you have to do other stuff) not even a symbolic amount of money at least to pay for your trip, diet or the beers for celebration 😂.
That put world champions(the ones who want to be just athletes) in a situation that they’re forced to fight MMA or these submission only tournaments.
WE NEVER GONNA WIN THIS KIND OF TOURNAMENTS. Simply because we don’t train under these rule sets. We only have 24 hours a day and we are trying to win worlds.
In result: we give opportunity to people who win shit to beat us in this kind of tournaments. Simply because we’re not used to these rule sets and we struggling for money… That’s why I always support the IBJJF pros and I think everybody should do the same.
I think every IBJJF grand slam(Europeans, pan ams, Brazilian nationals and worlds) should be paying the athletes too… Im just sharing my thoughts with you guys. Im still trying to figure this thing(life) out… Thank you very much !!!”
What do you think about Aly’s comments? Would you rather win $20k in prize money or one of the most prestigious titles in the world?
