The IBJJF is undoubtedly the biggest tournament organizer in the Jiu-Jitsu world and as such, they are the ones with the most influence on turning it into a more professional sport. Although it is possible for BJJ competitors to earn a living, the vast majority of that is done through selling instructionals or teaching seminars instead of actually competing. It creates a very difficult situation for those aspiring to reach the highest level of the sport, as they have to dedicate a large portion of their time to working another job instead of actually training. Even when they do reach the highest level, they often have to split their time between training and teaching instead of focusing on developing themselves like every other professional athlete. The IBJJF is the organization with the power to change that for the better.
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3 Ways The IBJJF Can Turn Jiu-Jitsu Into A More Professional Sport
It’s not an easy process of course, and many sports that are currently high-paying careers had to languish as amateur sports for decades before they gained any traction. A lot of that development comes from the sport gaining mainstream attention, which is something that BJJ has been steadily achieving with the involvement of celebrities in recent years. The other side of the drive to become a more professional sport is that those in charge have to make positive steps towards it’s growth, which is something the IBJJF has been spearheading for Jiu-Jitsu over the last few decades. Now we have reached a turning point though, where they need to make pretty huge changes in order to push the sport to the next level of professionalism.
Open Up The Highest Division To All Belt Levels
It doesn’t really make sense to have the highest division limited by belt level, because there’s no need to protect black belts from anyone. There are many colored belt competitors out there who have the skills to beat black belts and ADCC generates great examples of this all the time. Because the highest division at IBJJF tournaments is only open to black belts and there are time requirements for belt promotions, high-level colored belt competitors must wait years before they can compete with their actual peers. There’s no real reason to prevent against this unless the colored belt competitors don’t have the ability to keep up with black belts, in which case they would almost certainly prefer to enter at their belt level anyway.
Although that only effects a small number of competitors, there is another way that the restrictions on the highest division have an effect. Grapplers that transition over from competing at a high level in either wrestling or Judo have to start their BJJ competition journey at blue belt, and won’t end up facing black belts at an IBJJF tournament for 4 and a half years unless they win World Championships at colored belt levels first. Just by having a basic understanding of the rules alone, they should be able to win at that level pretty comfortably. If the opportunity was there for skilled wrestlers and Judoka to challenge themselves against elite BJJ competitors instead of blue belts, we may very well see more of them do that.
Separating belt levels and having restrictions on higher belts entering below their rank makes perfect sense, because it allows people to compete against their peers and prevents egregious sandbagging. But locking the highest division away from everyone but black belts actually stops some of the best grapplers from competing against their true peers and encourages sandbagging instead. There really is no downside to doing this and it should create deeper divisions with more elite competitors, allowing athletes to pursue a professional career in Jiu-Jitsu with the IBJJF from an earlier stage without needless restrictions.
Split Major IBJJF Events Into Amateur And Professional Jiu-Jitsu
It does makes sense why the IBJJF World Championship and all their other major events are open for all belt levels to compete in their respective divisions, but it also gives the clear impression that this is an amateur sport. Instead, they should take the same approach they have with the IBJJF Master World Championship and separate out the colored belt divisions into a different event. This could be something like the IBJJF Amateur World Championship with separate white, blue, purple, and brown belt divisions where competitors are testing themselves against their peers and getting ready for a professional Jiu-Jitsu career later on.
This leaves the IBJJF World Championship to be it’s own prestigious event where only the best grapplers in the world compete, and they can extend that format to the three other major IBJJF tournaments as well. This is also means that they can put more money into the production value around it and make it feel like something truly special. This creates a much better experience for the fans in attendance and means that people would almost certainly be willing to pay more for the ability to see it unfold in person. This should theoretically help fund the fact that there would be two separate events for amateur and professional competitors instead of just one.
Something as simple as this really helps demonstrate that the major IBJJF events are all professional Jiu-Jitsu tournaments where only the best competitors will be featured. It should end up looking more in line with ADCC, which not only helps draw more attention to the event and individual competitors but it also helps draw more attention to the sport as well. This has a circular effect where the attendance at the event continues to grow as a result of this increased attention and the event becomes even more of a spectacle as more money is poured into it.
More Prize Money And Less Expense For The Best Competitors
This is the single biggest factor when it comes to turning Jiu-Jitsu into a professional sport, and it’s also the quickest change that the IBJJF could make. It really is crazy that the best competitors on the planet have to pay to enter the World Championship, and the prize money that they might potentially receive if they win is very low. It took until 2019 for their to be any money awarded to the IBJJF world champions and as of 2023, the most anyone can ever win at the IBJJF World Championship is $10,000 if they win a weight class with 33 or more competitors and $15,000 if they win the absolute division. Realistically, grapplers can earn more than this by winning grand prix tournaments for promotions like Polaris or Enigma Jiu-Jitsu.
It just doesn’t make sense that the biggest and most prestigious Jiu-Jitsu tournament pays less than other grappling events, unless it isn’t a professional tournament at all. It’s undoubtedly a big expense, but the prize money really should be greater than competitors can hope to win at other events. Winning an IBJJF World Championship is a huge achievement and it should be rewarded as such, with a prize that’s bigger than competitors could get elsewhere. Even if the prize money was just increased to $25,000 per weight class and $40,000 for the absolute division, it’s at least more substantial than what most other .
What goes hand in hand with this is the fact that the professional Jiu-Jitsu competitors who compete at the IBJJF World Championship also have to pay to enter the tournament. They already have to earn enough points to be able to register for the event in the first place, so nobody should be leaving that tournament financially worse off just by entering it. Even if they didn’t actually pay for travel and accommodation, just making it free to enter for those who qualify would go a long way toward making it a more professional event. It should feel like an open invitation for the best in the world to prove themselves, not something they have to pay to get the privilege of doing.
Conclusion
If the IBJJF implemented all three of these policies then they would not only create a more professional environment for their own tournaments, but they’d probably have a knock-on effect for the rest of the Jiu-Jitsu world too. If the four major IBJJF tournaments were all open to any belt level but exclusively for professionals as opposed to amateurs, then the talent pool would immediately be deeper and the production value would go through the roof. Combine that with entering it and winning it both being more attractive prospects, and we would get events that feature every single elite grappler in the world battling it out in front of huge crowds.
