The IBJJF has just announced several new stalling rules that will apply to their upcoming schedule of Grand Prix events from 2023 onwards. The intention behind them is very clear, as they’re attempting to encourage the athletes to push the action and not spend extended periods of time in neutral positions. The main position that they’re taking aim at is 50/50, where they’ve introduced a specific rule to combat stalling with lapel or belt grips in that position. The following three rules will all come into force for the first IBJJF Grand Prix event of the year on March 3rd, and will continue for the foreseeable future:
Previous Rule: “Lack of combativeness (stalling) is defined by one athlete clearly not pursuing positional progression in a match and also when an athlete impedes his/her opponent from carrying out said progression.”
New Rule: “Lack of combativeness is defined by one athlete clearly not pursuing positional progression in a match”
Previous Rule: “The referee shall count 20 (twenty) consecutive seconds and signal lack of combativeness with the verbal command ‘Lute’, referring to the penalty to be applied to the athlete.”
New Rule: “The referee shall count 10 (ten) consecutive seconds and signal lack of combativeness with the verbal command ‘Lute’, referring to the penalty to be applied to the athlete.”
New Grand Prix Only Rule: “If an athlete is in 50/50 guard position and grips the lapel or the belt of the athlete, the athlete will have 10 (ten) seconds to pursue positional progression before receiving a penalty for lack of combativeness, as described in item 1. An athlete will receive a penalty, as described in item 2, if positional progression has not been achieved after 10 (ten) seconds, regardless of intention.”
These new stalling rules that the IBJJF are introducing for Grand Prix events will no doubt go a long way toward reducing the amount of stalling that fans see. The promotion isn’t going to be introducing them to any standard format competitions just yet though, although if all goes well then there’s no reason that they couldn’t in the future.
The news that the IBJJF was introducing new stalling rules in their Grand Prix events was announced in a post to the promotion’s official Instagram account:
