Copa podio penalizes the worm guard

Copa Podio decide to penalise worm guard “in the name of the Show”, they said.

 

The Copa Podio promoter said to the media:“In traditional events, the title and medals are more important than the show, and for this reason the lapel guard and a number of other positions are so successful.In the traditional structure of jiu-jitsu, very often, winning the title, even with a somewhat boring style and lots of tie ups, is what generates seminars, which is still the leading source of income for fighters. The show is relegated to the background in these cases and this has never been the professional proposal of Copa Podio, precisely as there already exist major events with this purpose”.

Keenan Cornelius, one of the innovator of the modern sport jiu jitsu, one of the athletes that use this kind of guard so extensively in competitions, respond in this way:

“The entertainment of jiu jitsu does not lay in the spectacle of the fights themselves. As most of these are slow moving and boring anyways. But it lies in the appreciation of the intricate techniques and innovations of the sport. When the closed guard was first used in martial arts no one could deal with the position. No one could escape and it revolutionized the martial arts. Where would jiu jitsu be if someone had declared closed guard as illegal on the sport. The same can be said about any innovation. To be afraid of change is what really hinders the sport. Progress is impossible without change, and those who can’t change their minds can’t change anything.”

In my opinion is not a fault of new position if Bjj is so boring nowadays. Penalizing some techniques or position is not in the philosophy of jiu-jitsu. "Anything goes" is one of the golden rules to preserve the art to transforming itself in a sport with too much restrictions. The main goal of jiu jitsu is not to be pleasant to see but to be efficient in sport competition and effective in real life situation. Efficiency and effectiveness, I think, are not two diametral and opposite pole like Rickson believe. Only the intention of the athletes to stop the fight with stalling techniques is  boring and it's the only thing that all federation should penalize, to make our martial arts more dynamic and full of action. The spectacular side of jiu-jitsu is not the purpose but just a consequence of this approach. Jiu-Jitsu is fun to do and when it is done well it is also fun to watch.

The future of sport jiu-jitsu will be more oriented toward a show with rules and limits, to make it more fun to watch (or much more boring...who knows), or it will be a sort of competition to prove the effectiveness of bjj for street confrontations? We'll see!