Since it was for blue belts and up (No Gi), I did not participate in this Jiu-Jitsu event but I attended to experience it. Currently I am a white belt with two stripes and 5 months into Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
I went on Day 1 out of a 4 Day event. There weren’t that many people as I expected. There were booths in the outer the arena selling acai bowls and BJJ rash guards. There was also the podium for Top 3.
Inside the arena there were about 10 mats total with 5 on each side. Judges wore black suits and masks while the competitors who were blue belts wore rash guards that were blue/black. It was a cool sight to see as there were many different variations of shirts and pants in blue and black. At the time of my visit that morning it was all men competing. I have yet to watch a bout between two female BJJ gals nor children live.
Two final things that I noticed was for one, distinct cauliflower ears and two that the competitors were very aggressive. Some fights had no one cheering for the fighters whereas in other fights, the winner had a whole team to root them on.
Sadly, I did not spend a lot of time at the event nor multiple days because I had other plans and it would have costed a ridiculous amount just to watch with $15/day parking and $17/day passes. Not being able to bring in snacks or water at the gate sort of killed my excited vibe, plus it was COLD – maybe it was just this venue that had tightened up their security as there were shootings here in the past.
Takeaways
– Attending as a spectator at IBJJF sort of calm down my nerves in preparation if I were to attend a competition to fight. I wanted to get a feel for a fight and whether I should compete or not. I didn’t feel like I was ready at the time because I wasn’t “winning” at my home gym.
– The guys there were really aggressive and held nothing back.
– I need to look up the rules and point systems.
