One of the most surprising parts of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is the emphasis on competition. If you train in a different martial art such as Japanese Ju Jitsu or Hapkido, you won’t be expected to compete. Whilst not everyone is expected to compete in BJJ, there’s still the assumption that most people will still compete a handful of times before black belt.
Famously, legendary coach John Danaher never competed whilst training so it doesn’t mean you’ll suck if you don’t compete. Still, it’s often viewed favorably and shows real character both physically and mentally if you do so. In this article, we shall be looking at how much it costs to compete in BJJ.
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BJJ competitions cost $50-100 on average
Scouring the internet and looking at competition costs, the average cost of a BJJ competition is around $50-100. Sometimes, it may cost a little less, and sometimes it may cost a little more. Ultimately, it depends on the reputation of the competition. For instance, if you want to compete in IBJJF Worlds which is highly prestigious, then it will cost between $100-200. Obviously, this is on the higher end of the spectrum, but if you medal at Worlds then it could change your BJJ career (even as a lower belt).
On the other hand, there are local competitions to be found that cost under $50 and may still provide you will hard competition and decent quality rolls. Of course, the reputation of these events won’t be as high or prestigious if you do go on to win a medal.
Other costs associated with competing
So far, we’ve established the cost of an entry fee for a regular competition. However, this is usually only one aspect of competing. The second cost is travel. Depending on where you are, and where you’re traveling to – this can also differ. For example, if there’s a local competition within an hours drive then this is ideal. You could easily drive there or catch public transport and this would cost under $10 in travel money. Overall, this isn’t too bad.
Having said that, some competitors will literally travel for several hours to reach their location. In these cases, a return train ticket could easily cost over $30 or more, depending on the time. This is also something you’ll have to factor in. Returning to our Worlds example, many competitors will even fly from foreign countries to compete.
In this case, the travel costs will literally be higher than the registration fee of the actual competition. As you may have figured, the more prestigious the competition is, the more it attracts more serious competitors, with many who devote their lives to BJJ and probably do it as a full-time profession.
Competing several times per year will cost you hundreds
Based on what has just been said, the reality of competing just a handful of times in a year will cost you hundreds of dollars. If you’re in a foreign country such as the UK, you can often convert this into your own currency and get similar results. Anyway, let’s imagine you competed just three times in a year. This is actually not much compared to many competitors who may even compete over ten times in a single year.
Anyway, if you did three BJJ competitions, on average this would cost well over $200. This is quite a conservative estimate too. The reason is based on the cost of the average BJJ competition, combined with travel fees. Infamously, training BJJ is quite expensive. When you factor in competing it becomes even more so.
Round Robin BJJ competitions are often the best value for money
We’ve all been there, you’re over 30 years old and compete in the Master’s division. You want to compete but there’s one person in your division and registration costs over $100. So, you either turn up and pay $100 for one match, or you stay at home. Sadly, there are some niche divisions like this in BJJ which generally get harder to get many matches the older you get.
However, there is some good news. Perhaps the best way to compete in BJJ is to focus on ‘Round Robin’ tournaments. This means that win or lose, you’re guaranteed more matches. Let’s imagine you enter a competition with six other opponents. You will literally fight all of them and the person with the most wins is given the gold medal.
Typically, these competitions will cost a little more due to the nature that there are more matches going on, so it’s only fair. However, if you do the math then usually they’re the most cost-effective way of competing and making sure you get lots of matches in.
Why do BJJ competitions cost so much?
If you’ve ever trained in a different martial art then start BJJ, you’ll be well aware that in general BJJ costs a lot of money in comparison. Arguably, this is down to BJJ culture which has always attracted more of a wealthier clientèle. This culture has also seeped into BJJ competitions too. For example, a Judo competition may cost $30 to enter, whereas the same format could cost $60 for a BJJ equivalent.
In short, it’s based on supply and demand. There are enough BJJ competitors out there who will happily pay extra to compete. This is especially the case if there aren’t too many competitions within a local proximity. So, this is one of the reasons why competitions cost so much.
In fairness to competition organizers, it often requires a lot of work and in the earlier days, financial risk. Often, they will have to hire out a sports hall in advance and hope to sell enough registrations. This means that they’re eventually rewarded financially for taking risks when their competition is still new and relatively unknown.
Can you win prize money from BJJ competitions?
Prize money can be won in BJJ competitions. Famously, ADCC pays its winners over $10,000, and so forth. Similarly, Worlds also pays thousands to its top, black belt competitors. Looking away from the elite BJJ competitions, most regular competitions do not pay prize money. In fact, it’s also a bit of a meme that you risk breaking your limbs and paying hundreds of dollars for a plastic medal. Sadly, there’s a lot of truth in this.
As for BJJ prize money, there are certain competitions that will pay its winners though. This even happens at smaller, local competitions too. Typically, these will be paid to the winners of the Absolutes weight categories. For example, ten people could pay $25 to enter the Absolutes category, which has a prize pool of $150. This means that it’s still profitable for the event but also has a financial incentive for those to enter. Remember, this isn’t always the case and you should read the competition rules before registering.
Conclusion
BJJ competitions aren’t cheap and they aren’t for everyone. At the same time, some people love doing them and fully embrace the competitor lifestyle. In summary, a typical BJJ competition will usually cost around $50-100 but this doesn’t include travel expenses either.
Remember, there are similar competitive scenes such as Judo, wrestling, and Sambo that will offer similar grappling formats at a fraction of the cost. So, if you do want to compete but can’t afford it, there are some alternatives.
If you want a decent, IBJJF-approved competition gi then check out this Gold gi on Amazon.
