With January just around the corner, it’s no surprise that the Jiu-Jitsu World League is gaining plenty of attention. With just over three weeks before their inaugural event, competitors are gearing up and getting ready to start competing. Their instagram account has been flooded with images of both the stars and unknowns of BJJ announcing their intentions to attend.
So we decided to take a look at it, and pass on whatever information we could about the league to help you make the decision of whether to attend or not.
Location
To begin, their first event is in Irvine, CA, as so many other major BJJ events are, making it easily accessible to the West Coast academies, and anyone who can afford to travel. Their CEO, Matthew Tinley, has declared in an interview with BJJLegends that the major events will not all be held in Southern California, but that they plan to hit every spot in the United States. Some of the places he mentioned for upcoming tournaments are: Las Vegas, Chicago, Florida, Northern California, Toronto, and multiple spots in the New England area.
Points
One of the unique things about their league is the ongoing points system. Here is the match points breakdown:
On top of that, are the points that determine your ranking within the league:
Victory: 10 Points
Submission Victory: 2X Points
Win by 20 points or higher: 2x Points
Win Weight Class: 100 Points
Second Place: 50 Points
Third Place: 25 Points
Open Weight Class: All points double
All points you earn in any competition go towards a point total for each competitor, which will create their ranking system. The more points you earn, the higher your rank.
Weight Classes
The open weight class is also divided into two groups, heavy and light. The light open weight division encompasses the Rooster weights through the Light weights, while the heavy weight class covers Middle weights on up.
Prize Money
Both of Male, black belt open weight classes offer $5,000 to their winner. The female classes do not offer any cash prize (at least not that has been disclosed). When asked why, Matthew Tinley told BJJLegends, “Our tournaments will have women’s absolute class. We encourage all women to participate in our events. We will offer prize money for women once their registration numbers approach registrations for men. As Jiu-Jitsu is equally exciting and fulfilling for women, we are committed to improving Jiu-Jitsu for women.”
Other than the black belt absolutes, winners of all other brackets will be rewarded with merchandise, and other goods that will supposedly equal more than $1000 in value. One such prize, is that by winning your division, you will be granted free registration to all other Jiu-Jitsu World League events in 2015.
Aggressive Rules
Should You Go?
If you can, it seems like it would be worth your time. But like most things, we won’t really know until it’s gotten off the ground. We here at Jiu-Jitsu Times wish Rigan Machado and all others involved in this event the best of luck.
