Sub Only

The sport of grappling has several rulesets, each of which has its own intricacies, strategies, strengths & weaknesses. None are purer, or more central to the spirit of the martial art of jiu-jitsu than submission-only.

No time limit, sub-only grappling is stripped of all of the subjectivity that comes with referee decision; it’s stripped of the game playing that comes with point scoring varieties of grappling competitions. The game of no time limit, submission-only is simple: the first person to tap loses.

There’s no complex rulebook with points and penalties. There are no rounds, judges, or scoring criteria. The way to win is primal and instinctual. Make your opponent give in, no matter how long it takes.

The grapplers who thrive in this ruleset harness the most important attributes of a skillful grappler. They execute positional control, they can survive in and escape bad positions, they can flow with their opponent’s energy, they can endure the test of competition for extensive lengths of time. And most of all, they have what it takes to bring a match to an end.

This most basic of grappling formats requires athletes to dig deep in their toolkit, as no number of skills is more valuable than the submission. It is the crux of grappling; it’s the knockout blow. And it’s the only way to prove with any certainty who is the better grappler.