This weekend saw an incredibly rare and unusual scenario play out during a BJJ Stars match. Here, Mateus Diniz lost against Lucas Barbosa, even though Barbosa was choked unconscious. So, how did this happen and is it the same rules for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu as it is for MMA?
To cut a long story short, Mateus Diniz was losing the match in the final seconds and late on managed to hit an arm-drag vs Lucas ‘Hulk Barbosa’. Here, he fell into a crucifix variation of which Diniz choked Barbosa with one arm.
With the time up, the buzzer went and the match was over. After much deliberation, Barbosa was awarded the victory due to a points advantage. However, he was also momentarily choked unconscious. Here’s where things get a little complicated…
Firstly, if someone in BJJ or MMA taps or gets put to sleep in the allotted time, then they lose. However, if this happens after the time is up, then the submission does not count as it’s not within the boundaries of the match.
This leads to a degree of interpretation from the judges and refereeing and it’s certainly a grey area. In the case of Hulk, he was deemed to go unconscious after the match had ended. However, other viewers have argued that this happened literally one second before the time limit.
So, the judges made the correct decision in one sense based on their view of things. Whether he was choked unconscious before the time was up is still for debate. Regardless, this loss will definitely feel a bit disappointing for Diniz who unfortunately submitted his opponent and still lost. Throughout the history of competitive BJJ – this is incredibly rare and hasn’t really been seen before.
To conclude, as long as someone is not put unconscious or taps out within the time frame of the match, they cannot be judged what happens after the match. Sometimes, people tap with literally one second left. However, the case of Hulk, he risked going out and gained the victory. With these scenarios, there will always be a degree of controversy too as whatever way the decision goes, someone will always feel harshly done by in terms of scoring and the rules.
