5 tips to avoid penalties when competing at AJP

June 28, 2023

Penalties (penalty points) can be the difference between a win or loss, especially when facing a 5-minute match in Jiu-Jitsu. A penalty scored against an athlete means that his opponent has one more point, which in turn prompts the penalized fighter to expose himself more, hoping to regain the lead. In such a scenario, a smart adversary might even capitalize on the negative point, stalling the fight to take the win.

But for all the danger that penalties represent during the matches, they are also entirely avoidable. Mauricio "Russo" Gomes, our Referee Coordinator in the UAE, gave us his expert insight into the matter and provided tips on how to escape the five most common penalties in AJP tournaments.

"One of the easiest penalties to avoid is the guard pull without grips", explains Russo, who has worked as a referee since 1995. "When it's time to pull, double check your grips and make sure that it's firm, and then you can pull. Blindly trusting your grip when you're pulling guard may give the opponent a chance to escape it, leaving you in a subjective situation. When in doubt, go up again and redo your grip before pulling."

He then went on to warn about gripping inside the sleeves or the pants, another commonplace situation. "In the heat of the fight, sometimes the athlete tries to grip and ends up with the fingers inside the sleeve or the pants. Focus on the adjustment of your grip, a good option here is to use the thumb to go inside first and make sure that the other fingers are out."

A not-that-frequent but still easily avoidable slip is to zone out when tying your belt mid-match. "When the fight is paused to adjust the gi, some competitors try to take advantage of the 20-second limit to listen to their coaches and check the scoreboard, losing even more time before getting back into the match. This one is really easy to avoid, just focus on tying your belt and get back to fighting."

On the topic of wasting time, a word of warning about stalling. “Avoid stalling because you can pay a steep price for it. In a scenario where the athlete is ahead on the score by one point and the regulated time is almost up, he may choose to stall. If the acting referee decides to penalize him for it, the opponent will get one point and, by AJP rules, in case of a tie, the last one to score takes the win.”

Leaving the best for last, Russo imparts the most useful tip of all: carefully study the rules and pay close attention to how it differs from the regulation of other entities. “Many athletes and professors do not pay attention to the event’s rules. For whatever reason, when they’re losing a fight, they may think the referees went against them, but our team is only there to certify the correct application of the rules.”

You heard it from the expert, knowing the rules is a huge advantage when stepping onto the mats. The AJP Rule Book is available on our website, and you can download it by clicking here!