Combat Jiu Jitsu is a competition pioneered by Eddie Bravo. CJJ combines Brazilian Jiu Jitsu techniques with open-hand strikes. Despite its growing popularity, CJJ has received criticism from some individuals within the martial arts community.
One of the primary criticisms of CJJ is that use of open-hand strikes is seen by some as contrary to the principles of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, which emphasizes control and submission over striking. Critics argue that this shift towards striking on the ground detracts from Jiu Jitsu’s traditional focus on technique and skill.
Additionally, there are concerns about the safety in CJJ matches. CJJ is held in Mexico due to trouble with an athletic commission made them relocate. The last big CJJ event was to feature Gordon Ryan and Werdum however after the California athletic commission representatives showed up and wanted to test competitors, the event was called off.
An argument can be made that the addition of strikes increases the risk of injury, particularly to the head and face. Opponents of CJJ suggest that these risks outweigh any potential benefits, and that the sport is not worth it. To put it succintly, CJJ is less intense than MMA and still very far from BJJ so it theoretically alienates both the casuals in the MMA base and the BJJ hardcore fans (who are almost always also BJJ trainees interested in watching sport BJJ).
But Craig Jones came up with a hilarious idea as to how to improve CJJ/EBI rulesets. The Aussie ADCC silver medalists would have us merge CJJ rules with powerslap to produce a more compelling version of the overtime format (that’s also been excessively scrutinized).
It all started when UFC veteran Josh Barnett shared his opinion of Dana White’s controversial new venture on the El Segundo podcast:
“Yeah, it’s absolute garbage. And I’ll caveat it with this. There are people participating in it that I’ve met that are good dudes, that they’re getting them. They didn’t make it. They’re just taking advantage of the opportunity. And so I get it, you know, but I’d rather see people do something more traditionally sport and athletically minded.”
“It’s just it ain’t healthy. But in this day and age, in this state of modernity, we live into like everyone wants to self. Everyone’s selling their a*s and s**t online. Why wouldn’t you just… ”
Craig Jones piggybacked off of that conversation and added:
“You know, I ran this idea by Chael Sonnen and it was something.
“So we obviously already have like, yeah, we have combat jujitsu. And it goes to overtime. Why don’t we just incorporate power slap as the overtime? It’s like you would never see me look for submission faster than if I had to have a slap off with my opponent off. ”
Considering Australia doesn’t even exist under the flat Earth model, it’s unclear if CJJ creator Eddie Bravo will ever get exposed to this million dollar idea.
