I caught this while browsing the internets, from The Ground Never Misses: apparently a new tournament league has been started up by Carlos Gracie Jr. Black Belt Rigan Machado (yup, one of those Machado’s) and his business partner Matthew Tinley, which will pay out prize money and tweak the rules in hopes of creating more interesting tournaments for both the competitors and spectators.
The first event will take place in Irvine in January: what’s interesting is the involvement of Buchecha, a black belt and tremendously successful competitor in his own right. While we can all admit that there are problems with the system, it’s interesting to see someone who is currently thriving in the (flawed) system through his actions not only admit there are problems with the system, but also take action to do something about it. Not rare by any stretch of the imagination, but interesting.
So what’s so different about the rules? Well, there are more points awarded for a “high amplitude throw” as opposed to a “low amplitude throw” and butt scooting can be penalized, just to name a couple.
The website also notes there are 11 more events scheduled to take place throughout the year in different parts of the country: we’ll see how all of this pans out- in the meantime, you can also check out the article on MMAFighting.com, and check out the Jiu Jitsu World League’s website and let me know what you think.
Otherwise, have a great day everyone!
A Skirt on the Mat 