Full Disclaimer: I was a harsh critic of many things regarding the first edition of Metamoris: namely that it was a Gracie University, non-sport Jiu-Jitsu oriented commercial (I'd bet my arm Gracie Diet gets some healthy plugs this time around) and the broadcast commentary (having your brother commentating your match, the guy awkwardly staring into the camera, and the fact that it started almost 2 hours late)......
That being said, I'm actually interested and hopeful how the judging criteria will play out:
From the Metamoris Facebook feed (the way all pseudo commentators, peanut galleries, and MMA/combat-related sports self-appointed experts find information) -
"OFFICIAL STATEMENT: Ralek Gracie on the new Judge system for Metamoris.
My second official statement, man this is getting serious. Until I started making big decisions for the future of Metamoris and Jiu Jitsu I never really had any appreciation for what it means to have the responsibility that I would one day have within the art of Jiu Jitsu. For me, Jiu Jitsu at the core is about changing lives and reaching many people with its amazing life changing benefits. To build the event to a global organization and thus support the best athletes in the world, we need to have winners more often than ties. In any business you need to preserve your success or you will not exist, for that reason I have introduced judges. There were two main issues with the Judges that we have rectified with much brainstorming and consideration for the integrity of a pure Jiu Jitsu match. One, the reason the IBJJF concept is limiting is because the points that are scored are very specific for specific positions. The problem is that Jiu Jitsu is not that specific. Two, When watching a match with two pro's its the person who watches beyond any position that really sees the nuances of timing and pressure and overall technique control that will make one athlete more superior than another. We want to do something that will preserve the freedom of the match with no points and submission focus, while giving an overall judgment to our athlete's that goes beyond a few points and can actually define a greater level of technique.
With that said, I am hand picking judges on the criteria that they are not a die hard member of a specific team but rather their team being the art of Jiu Jitsu. They will be interviewed after every event and we are even discussing the option of releasing the interviews for educational purposes. All judges will have at least a black belt and will come highly recommended by the head instructors of different teams for being open minded and in love with the art.
We want to avoid being like a boxing or UFC event since Jiu Jitsu is an art more than a sport. The boxing system works on points and makes it very difficult to ever see a tie. Our system will give each judge the option to vote on either, win or tie and nothing else. If the first judge chooses Rodolfo and the second chooses Braulio, the third will decide the win or tie. If the third judge chooses tie, the match is a balanced tie. If the third judge picks a winner the majority rules, that way it should be obvious that someone is dominating or it will be a tie.
This has never been done before but we have an obligation to keep the art alive in its purest form. The purest form is a self-defense style with full range and no limitations to positions and the deciding factors are submission or overall technical control."
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I'm actually interested to see how this plays out. The selection of judges sounds semi vague BUT perhaps in the right spirit of judging such an event. It will still put some of those judges/guys in a tough, tough spot as the BJJ community (like all communities) can carry resentment for a long, long time.
It's a good start/direction in attempting to retain the heart of jiu-jitsu, submission only, yet declaring a winner b/c this is America, this is a martial art, and we all still want "two man enter, one man leave."
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