The moves and submissions listed below are illegal in IBJJF competitions. For beginners reference, if you are going to do a tournament in the gi, you can assume it’s very likely that it will be under IBJJF ruleset. No gi has more variations of rules such as IBJJF, EBI & ADCC – with each competition differing in both points, rules and time limits.
In this article for the sake of ease, we will only be addressing what is legal and illegal in IBJJF rulesets. The purpose of this is not to settle disputes in a gym setting if a brown belt uses an Estima lock on a blue belt. Each gym will have its own unwritten rules on such things, not only this, but there should be enough communication between people sparring to understand what is OK in the gym and what isn’t.
Table of Contents
Wristlocks
Wristlocks are legal in all IBJJF settings except for white belt tournaments. IBJJF has quite a lot of archaic rules, some of which are old and could do with changing. With that said, the IBJJF does it’s best to protect newcomers from getting hurt. The reasoning behind wristlocks being illegal for white belts is that not much pressure needs to be applied to get injured. If you are new to BJJ, you might not understand that your wrist is in such a bad position before it’s too late.
Bicep & Calf Slicers
Both calf and bicep slicers are only legal at brown belt and above. If you are to do these moves at purple, blue or white belt you will be disqualified. I am not too sure why this is. From personal experience it is probably because this is considered a “pain submission” – that is until it is too late. After this it is far worse that just pain. The video below backs this up, people only know what has happened because of the sound of the arm snapping.
Toe Holds & Kneebars
The same rules apply for this as they do to slicers, only brown belts and above may use these in a competition setting. The reasoning for this is because a kneebar will not feel too much resistance in comparison to a submission such as an armbar. Once the resistance is broken you will end up with a very nasty knee injury, possibly taking up to 9 months to fully heal. A toe hold can be even worse since the leg is twisted, you could completely ruin your knee or ankle ligaments which would require surgery and an even longer heal time.
Completely Banned IBJJF Moves
Heel Hooks & Knee Reaping
This is quite a controversial subject, a lot of people would like these leg locks to be allowed in the Gi. This controversy is for a number of reasons.
- The Gi is meant to be a traditional match for BJJ, which involves sweeping, passing the guard, then either mounting or getting the opponents back. These positions all score points in BJJ as they are considered dominant. Dropping back in someones open guard in to a leg entry bypasses all of these moves and simply allows an easier submission attempt. In more recent times a lot of No Gi matches have become leg lock battles with little fundamental BJJ being applied.
- Heel hook injuries are absolutely horrible. The ligaments in your knee are very weak compared to bones. They also have poor blood flow which means they will take a longer time to heal if they are injured. In addition to this, if you snap your ligament – you will need surgery. The ligament does not heal like bone and you will never have the full mobility you once had. This does not sound very appealing to casual competitors. I can see why a lot of people would not want to compete under this ruleset if there is a chance they could be sidelined for 12 months and need surgery.
The video below looks harmless enough as the guy is almost laughing. Perhaps the pain is not even that bad at this point, however he will have a very long road to recovery ahead of him. If anything this shows how heel hooks are so dangerous as people do not realise the consequences until it’s far too late.
Spinal Locks, Can Openers, Twisters & Other Weird Moves
It goes without saying why these moves are illegal in IBJJF. These submissions are based on breaking the opponents spine, obviously this could potentially paralyse someone, certainly not what a casual competitor wants when signing up for a competition.
The can opener was made illegal because it can hurt the opponents neck and spine in an article we covered here. The twister is also a spinal lock popularised by 10th planet pioneer Eddie Bravo. The twister puts more of a twisting motion on the spine rather than over-bending it in a natural way.
Lastly wrestling moves such as the boston crab and sharpshooter are banned. These are basically inverse variations of the can opener, in which the legs are pulled towards the head.
Scissor Takedowns
Not too dissimilar from a flying heel hook. The scissor takedown can go badly wrong if performed incorrectly and will end a fight instantly. This is because all of the initiator’s weight is put through the knee of the standing opponent at a sideways angle. The knee has a great range of motion when moving backward, but it’s sideways motion is extremely limited.
The video below is not a typical example of a scissor takedown gone wrong as the guy in blue gets his leg stuck in the mat. However the result is still the same, he has probably snapped his LCL ligament and is going to need over 1 year before he is back training properly.
Slamming & Suplex Releases
Slamming is illegal in IBJJF tournaments. This is because it is can cause concussions as well as broken ribs. Whilst some tournaments such as ADCC will allow this, IBJJF will not. IBJJF outlaws this because they probably do not want absolute divisions where a 105kg guy is in a triangle from a 68kg opponent, then he simply picks him up and spikes him to win.
Suplexes are more of a grey area as some judo throws are arguably just as violent but perfectly legal. Suplexes are most likely illegal because they have a greater chance to injure and concuss. Whereas judo throws are generally made to ippon your opponent by landing them flat on their back, we often see wrestling matches where the opponent ends up getting thrown on their neck. This is actually somewhat normal and accepted in wrestling.
Miscellaneous & Obvious
Eye gouging is obviously an illegal move. We saw what happened to Yuki Nakai’s eyes in Vale Tudo from the well known scumbag Gerard Gordeau. Why you would think trying to blind your opponent in a competition is acceptable I cannot explain, however it seems some people see this as more of a grey area unfortunately.
Finger pulling is also illegal. This is most likely because it is just a cheap way to escape a position. If an opponent has swept, passed and mounted your back he will most likely try and choke you. If you bend his fingers when he tries to choke you this is a pretty cheap way to escape and BJJ then becomes a battle of who has the strongest hands rather than who has the best technique. In IBJJF tournaments you must grab all of the fingers together on the hand if you want to remove your opponent’s grip. Single-digit manipulation is not allowed.
A graphic of various IBJJF illegal moves as of 2020
