The 2022 IBJJF world championships just concluded and we have a lot of new champions. Overall I think most people were a lot happier with these championships than last years and I believe the matches were more exciting overall. It wasn't without problems however.
I should note that I don't have stats for this. There are a few reasons why. 1). I'm not keeping track or gi stats right now, but perhaps in the future I'll start. 2). Flograppling and the IBJJF make it too difficult to watch the matches in a way that let's me collect the stats. I know people like stats, but it's hard enough watching and recording the stats. Searching around for the matches on multiple websites in each division is too many steps for me. If they change things in the future I'll start doing them, but for now, sorry.
Anyway let's look at the winners.
Winners
Men
Rooster Thalison Soares def. Carlos “Bebeto” Oliveira via points
Light Feather Meyram Alves def. Diego “Pato” Oliveira via decision
Feather Isaac Doederlein def. Diego Sodre via points
Lightweight Mica Galvao def. Tye Ruotolo via points
Middleweight Tainan Dalpra def. Andy Murasaki via submission (lapel choke)
Medium Heavy Leandro Lo def. Isaque Bahiense via points
Heavyweight Kaynan Duarte def. Dimitrius Souza via advantage
Super Heavyweight Erich Munis def. Nicholas Meregali via points
Ultra Heavyweight Victor Hugo def. Gutemberg Pereira via points
Absolute Nicholas Meregali def. Erich Munis via advantage
Women
Rooster Mayssa Bastos def. Brenda Larissa via points
Light Feather Anna Rodrigues def. Tammi Musumeci via points
Feather Bianca Basilio def. Amanda Canuto via advantage
Lightweight Ffion Davies def. Janaina Menezes via points
Middleweight Andressa Cintra def. Thalyta Lima via decision
Medium Heavy Ana Carolina Vieira def. Luciana Mota via submission (arm triangle)
Heavyweight Larissa Dias def. Rafaela Guedes via advantage
Super Heavyweight Gabrieli Pessanha def. Yara Soares via points
Absolute Gabrieli Pessanha def. Amy Campo via decision
Trends
Ankle locks
Ankle locks and Aoki locks were happening all over the place. There seems to be a shift in how people are thinking about them and using them. Before you'd always hear about people falling back for ankle locks, but this almost never happened. Usually they occurred when people were in a double guard pull scenario or someone was knocked to their butt. There seemed to be an overall increase in the level of technique and many people were finishing them instead of people just gritting their teeth and hoping for an advantage.
Passing
For years it seemed like guard players were coming out on top and winning BJJ matches. It was too hard to pass and too easy to sweep. This seems to be changing and many people were getting their guards passed and submitted. Even those with good guards weren't able to stop a lot of the passing that some of the newer athletes are doing. There was a lot of outside passing and most of it was ending in the north south position. For a while it seemed like inversions completely stopped these types of guard passes, but it seems like multiple people have figured out the secret to smashing these types of guards.
Technique over Strategy
I was happy to see that more people were trying to actually beat their opponents with technique and skill rather than strategy and gaming the rules. More people were going for the kill and ignoring points to try to win in dominant fashion. There were some stalling wins, but mostly these happened in the finals matches and at least the ones leading up to them had people attempting to win using BJJ.
In the past people would bring down their intensity once that had a small lead. Many competitors this year did the opposite and turned up the heat on their opponents and tried to kill them once they were in a dominant position.
"The future is now old man"
The newer competitors have arrived and the stars from yesteryear are bowing out. Xande Ribeiro and Raphael Lavato Jr. both retired on the mat and others such as Lucas Lepri didn't even show up. The people who did show up were those in the young generation who are in their mid to 20s to teens. Although they are nice and polite off the mats they showed no respect on the mats and came after the veterans hard. Many of them have a forward moving take no prisoners style that is the opposite of the slower points based style many of the older generation have. It seems to be working for them however and their willingness to open their game up has increased their skills to created a more beautiful and interesting style of BJJ.
Lapel Guard
Lapel guard was being used quite a bit and it seems like it has become a permanent part of the game now. On the other hand it rarely if ever actually worked. I was surprised by the lack of sweeps and the number of times I saw people's lapel guards get smashed. It seems like the defense has finally caught up to the offense and perhaps even over taken it. At the top level I wasn't seeing it working as a secret weapon that gave people an edge this year. Instead it seemed more like an annoyance to the passer that just made them do a little more work before they got the pass. I don't know how much of this is due to the specific people that were doing the passing however. I imagine people like Tainan Dalpra and Tye Ruotolo are facing lapel players daily in the training room and during their competition it barely seemed to bother them. Perhaps we need to see a larger sample of competitors, but I was surprised how ineffective it was.
The most effective lapel guard was the 50/50 lapel, which ruined a number of matches. That still seems difficult to escape and pass although I even saw people escape that.
Top players coming out on top
From what I saw most people were winning from top position. Some people wrestled their opponents down or others swept to get on top, but once there it often turned into a passing clinic. People seemed to be better at holding dominant positions also. I don't know if it is just this new generation or everyone's top game improved during quarantine, but I noticed a difference.
For years in BJJ it seemed like guard was the place you wanted to be and to win at the top level you needed to play the "seesaw" strategy. People were trying to sweep their opponent and then stay on top until time ran out. Now people are looking to progress position and finish, which makes IBJJF matches watchable again. Its nice to see guard work too, but it was refreshing to see more work from side control, mount, back etc.
Standouts
A lot of people had great performances and luckily this years worlds was much better than it has been in years past. It seems many of the younger competitors have changed their style to become more spectator friendly or at least they're trying to win using BJJ instead of just stalling.
Mica Galvao was especially impressive. Anyone that young(18 years old) winning worlds would be impressive, but he won in an impressive manner by dominating his opponents. He looked very sharp from top and on bottom. I was afraid we would get another snooze fest when he fought Tye Ruotolo, but Mica turned up the heat and beat him in dominant fashion. I'm sure he has many of the other competitors in his division scared and we'll have to see if he stays at this weight or moves up to challenge the next division up.
Nicolas Meragali looked borderline unstoppable also. He switched thing up this time and had John Danaher in his corner. Going into the finals he entered will all submission wins, but he was going against teammate and world champion Eric Munis. He couldn't finish with all submission and in fact lost one of the matches, but it was a very impressive run none the less. His nogi training seems to have added to his gi game and he looked sharper than ever.
Tye Ruotolo also looked very impressive defeating Johnatha Alves, Lucas Valente and Levi Jones-Leri. That was by no means an easy path to the final and although he didn't win the championship he looked impressive getting there. For only training gi for a few weeks before hand he looked very good.
Meyram Alves just conquered his first championship. I wasn't too familiar with him coming into this, but I think he will become a bigger name due his exciting style. His finals match wasn't super interesting, but all the matches leading up to it were really fun. His style is similar to the Ruotolos with lots of movement and jumping on submissions.
The Bad
This year was much better than previous years and they have certainly fixed somethings. It still was far from perfect however. I realize it is hard to get the athletes to do play in a certain way, but there were times when it was frustrating to watch. In the Tye Ruotolo vs Jonatha Alves match they were fairly quick to give out penalties, but in other matches they weren't. I know they've wanted to stop stalling for a while and although they have become more strict in the last 2 years it really isn't enough. I believe the problem is the subjective nature of the calls. Of course refs need some sort of discretion, but having something a bit more concrete such as time limits would help. I think one factor is that refs don't want to DQ anyone, but honestly I'd like to see more people DQ'd as a warning to others that they can't stall their way to a championship. The 50/50 lapel play is particularly bad. I don't think it should be banned, but they need to penalize people harshly for stalling in that position.
The same could be said about playing the edge of the mat. Sometimes they were strict and other times they let things go. This is a shame because in many cases the whole outcome of a match is decided by 2 points, so someone running out of bounds to avoid a sweep or takedown causes them to lose.
I believe this year had more leg locks in the IBJJF than I'd ever seen before, but there were also some bad calls. Tomoyuki Hashimoto was DQ'd when he went for what looked like and Aoki lock. The IBJJF hasn't clarified whether the Aoki lock is or isn't legal, but it has been used in multiple matches in the past. After this DQ others used it and won their matches. As I've said previously this should be legal and the refs should stay out of the matches. Another problem happened with Kennedy Maciel when he turned inside on an ankle lock. The rule states you can't turn inside unless the opponent moves that way on their own. In this case it seemed like Kennedy just followed his opponent, but the ref didn't see it that way and instantly DQ'd him. I can understand stopping the match or even restarting them, but an automatic DQ is way to harsh in my opinion and allows the refs to determine the matches instead of the competitors in these gray areas.
When are they going to fix the body triangle rule? I saw matches where Kaynan Duarte and Mica Galvao both took the back with a body triangle, but didn't receive points. Luckily they both ended up winning, so it didn't matter, but one day perhaps it will determine the outcome of a match. There is no logical reason the rear body triangle doesn't receive the same points as normal back mount. This position has been popular for about 20 years now and at this point it seems like the IBJJF is refusing to recognize it just to make people mad.
The bottom line is that the athletes have worked hard to improve and make the matches more exciting and technical. The IBJJF should do the same and try to improve their rules and judgements, so there aren't tons of people complaining about things after every event.
Overall
I think this was a big improvement from last year. Things were more exciting overall compared to previous years and we got quite a few new champions. Luckily there were no closeouts either, which was a major problem last year. Although its always nice to see people win multiple times, it does get a bit boring seeing the same old faces every year. Now there is a new class with new rivalries to look forward to and that keeps things exciting. If the IBJJF irons out their rules and refereeing problems I think things can be even better. I'm happy to see the competitors taking it on themselves to make things better though. It seems that in the past few years everyone in BJJ has been working to grow the sport and make it better, which is a good thing for everyone involved.
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