General Rules

AZBJJL Rules

The AZBJJL adopts the IBJJF rule set for all tournaments. Please follow the link below for the most up to date rules.

IBJJF RULES

UNIFORM REQUIREMENTS:

Please check important info about uniform HERE

Team POINTS:

Points will be awarded to the top 8 athletes in a bracket as follows:

1st: 90 points

2nd: 30 points

3rd: 10 points

4th: 10 points

5th: 5 points

6th: 5 points

7th: 5 points

8th: 5 points

Attention Parents:

Please review your child’s registration and confirm if all the divisions are registered properly. Full competitors is available a month prior the competition. If any corrections need to be made, you must do so by the Athlete Correction Deadline. NOTE: No changes, refunds or credits are possible after this deadline. Your child’s registration does not include the spectator fee.

Athletes should be in the warm up area at least 30 minutes prior to the time assigned for his or her division on the schedule.

IMPORTANT!! The weigh in system is the same used by IBJJF. The competitor will weigh in before his first match. If you don’t make weight, you will be immediately disqualified. Please make sure that you are in the correct weight category. You cannot change divisions, if you do not make your designed division. No changes will be accepted on the day of the tournament, and no refunds will be made. We offer an extra scale for people to check their weights before.

IMPORTANT!! Each academy can only have two athletes in the same division (of age/weight/belt). If your academy has problems regarding the number of athletes in each division, please send and e-mail to tournament contact email address.

We are not responsible for choosing which competitors will represent their team in the case of more than 2 competitors signing-up from the same team. If no e-mail is sent, then the first 2 competitors registered will represent their team (Team A, who score points for the school). The remaining competitors will be separated into “Team B”, “Team C”, etc. Example: Points scored by “Team B” will not count towards “Team A”.

Weigh-In Policies and Procedures for the Kids Division (4-15 yrs):

If a child weighs in over their weight limit, is registered in the wrong division, or have no matches in their registered bracket (chose not to move in age/weight/gender or alone in bracket) they will NOT compete in their division. However, they will still receive a chance to compete in a separate bracket where they will be matched-up accordingly (belt, age, gender and weight) against another competitor in the same situation. These matches will be exhibition only, no points will be awarded towards their team.

During the tournament, any mistakes on the brackets that were not corrected on the check-day (Tuesday before the tournament) will lead to immediate disqualification. NO CHANGES WILL BE MADE AFTER THE REGISTRATION CHECK DATE!

Every athlete will be given an opportunity of AT LEAST one match. There will be a designated Mat Coordinator responsible for setting up matches in cases of only one competitor in the bracket or disqualified competitors, upon coaches, parents, and organization approval. These matches will be EXHIBITION ONLY and no points will be awarded towards their team.

White, Grey and Yellow belts will compete in different divisions. Orange and Green belts compete together.

We don’t guarantee that all kids will have more than one match.Exhibition matches are available for children who had only one match. When there are only two kids in the division, they will compete in a best-of-three system. Divisions or weight classes are subject to change. 

 Athletes who are alone in their bracket are eligible to receive a full refund of the registration fee if they cancel their registration before the athlete correction date. Instructions on how to do this can be found at: https://support.smoothcomp.com/article/89-how-to-change-weightclass-or-cancel 

Attention Coaches:

All schools must be affiliated with AZBJJL, operate under a certified team, with their lead coach being promoted by a recognized Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt. We do not support unrecognized or self-promoted individuals in order to maintain our high standards within the BJJ practice.

If a team has multiple schools competing under one name, coaches will receive entry based on the number of students representing their specific school. The coach’s name will be at the door. Below is coaches' breakdown:

Schools with 1 competitor and 10 competitor – 2 coaches

Schools between 11 and 20 competitors – 3 coaches

Schools with over 20 competitors – 4 coaches


The AZ BJJ League will be implementing the AZBJJL BLACK BELT ID card for coaches. Our initial plan was to implement this system in 2020; however, the plans have changed with the pandemic. Since then, AZBJJL has signed a deal to host tournaments at Legacy Sports USA https://legacysportsusa.com in Mesa for the next five years, starting in February 2022.

In this meantime, for the upcoming events: 2021 Kids Cup, No-Gi AZ State Championship, and Novice Cup on December 4th & 5th, we are going to test the coaches (Black Belts only) area.

With the AZBJJL Black Belt Card, you will be able to attend the events for the rest of the 2021 events free of charge, and you will be able to coach from the coaches' area in 2022. IDs from any other organization will NOT grant a free pass to black belts to attend the event or the coaches' area.

The coaches area has been the biggest request and feedback from the coaches. As a result, we will be experimenting with new procedures to find the most effective system, which will vary based on the setup of the new venue and the cooperation of the coaches following the rules. You will need an AZBJJL issued coaches' ID to enter this area.

From now until December 31st of 2021, you can register for your BLACK BELT Card free of charge, and it will be valid until December 31st, 2022. After 12/31/21, there will be an annual fee of $25. 

There will be a strict code of conduct for the coaches while inside the coaches' area.

Coaches conduct code applicable to AZBJJL sanctioned events

  • The coach's action inside the competition area is limited to communicating with the athlete. Tactics and strategies advise, motivating, instructions to unpredictable situations, injuries.
  • The coach must remain in the designated coaching area during the whole match.
  • No comments are to be made towards the referee at any time during the match.
  • At any time, there will be no inappropriate language or gestures allowed towards the referee, opponents, event officials, or spectators.
  • Hitting, tapping, kicking the publicity panels or other equipment inside the competition area is prohibited.

Penalties

Any coach who does not follow this code's article, in or outside of the premises, will be prevented from joining their athlete(s) inside the competition area during the event. 

Additionally, the coach, athlete, or the academy are subject to penalties, such as suspension of membership, participation in other events, or can be banned from AZBJJL sanctioned event sites.

Regarding the annual fee of $25, 80% of this amount, $20, will be DONATED to the 501 (c)3 nonprofit organization, Tucson-based, Higher Ground, and 20% of the amount, $5 be used for processing fees and extra expenses. 

Higher Ground works with youth and their families experiencing poverty or trauma by empowering them with character skills, stabilizing their communities, and supporting their social, mental, emotional, physical, and other dimensions of health. Higher Ground does this two ways: 1) by implementing different programs such as martial arts, dance, and arts 2) implementing community schools models across Tucson.

Transparency is a keyword when you're donating or working with a nonprofit; that is why we will give you quarterly updates of how many people are registering with the League and how much is being donated. If you would like to know more about visit  www.jiujitsutribe.org and www.higherground.me 

Any time any organization wants to implement new procedures, most likely, it will not satisfy everyone, and it's no different with the AZBJJL. For those who are not aware, we are one of the longest-running tournaments, not only in the United States but in the World.

It has been twenty CONSISTENT years of promoting jiu-jitsu in Arizona, inspiring people to challenge themselves in competitions so they can grow technically, physically, mentally, and emotionally. Within these twenty years, we have made decisions that didn't make everyone happy; however, we always with the best intentions of providing an even better service every year. If we didn't make some difficult decisions along the way, we would not have grown the tournament from a forty-competitor in-house tournament to what we currently have.

AZBJJL does NOT focus on promoting anywhere but in Arizona, so if you believe in our work and intention to take the BJJ scene to another level, this tournament is for YOU!

To apply for the ID card please visit:  https://smoothcomp.com/en/federation/28/membership