Takedowns in BJJ are somehow a taboo subject.
Sometime in the early 90s, a group of Brazilian pioneers of our sport sat down at a table and deemed takedowns to be worth two points. They structured the rules and regulations for competitive BJJ (IBJJF) and till this day the whole world follows suit.
In almost every rule set, outside of ADCC, there is not much incentive to spend so much time developing takedowns when they are only worth two points, and so much risk can be had along the way via counters and submissions. So why not just pull guard and play it safe?
I am the guiltiest of this myself. But with any rules, people find ways to exploit them and do whatever it takes to win.
In my opinion, to have our sport continue evolving, we should not add additional rules to limit guard pulling and double guards, etc. but simply change the takedown to 4 points instead. If it’s deemed on the same level as Mount and back mount, students will have more incentive to learn our sister languages of wrestling and judo.
With a strong takedown game, BJJ in my opinion undoubtedly turns into the strongest and most effective grappling art. As a plus, we won’t ever have to defend ourselves on “but bro, pulling guard won’t work on the streets.”
2 thoughts on ““Takedowns in BJJ” – Alex Masterskya”
Great suggestion on the change to 4 points for takedowns. A two point takedown verses a four point throw is a possibility, but may get too subjective. I was organizing a tournament a few years ago that awarded an advantage to the standing opponent on a guard pull, with the logic being that in a self-defense situation, it’s generally agreed the person on top is at an advantage. I’m a Judo and BJJ guy, but I’ve used Judo on the street, and know how effective throws can be on the street. They should not be dismissed by BJJ. That would be a disservice to the arts original intention.
this, honestly, would be dope 🫰