What a competition game plan covers
A BJJ competition game plan is a short set of decisions you make before the match: how you start on the feet, which positions you work toward, and what you change when the score or the ruleset calls for it. Making these decisions weeks ahead gives you time to test them, so you are not working them out in the middle of a match.
Keep each decision short enough to remember when you are tired. A plan with a step for every exchange breaks down as soon as your opponent does something you did not expect. Build it from techniques you already land against resisting partners, and leave out anything you have only drilled.
Decide how you start on the feet
When a match starts standing, you have three choices: attempt a takedown, pull guard, or wait for your opponent to commit and respond to what they do. Choose by comparing your top game with your guard. If you pass better than you sweep, aim for a start that leaves you on top. If your guard is your strongest position, pulling takes you there without a scramble on the feet. Our guide to pulling guard covers how to pull safely and the rules on it.
Plan a second option for when the first one fails. If you start with takedowns and your opponent is clearly the better wrestler, decide in advance when you stop wrestling and pull. If they keep stripping the grip you need for your pull, decide whether you fight for it again or switch to a takedown attempt.
Plan for your opponent’s choice as well. If they pull guard first, you start on top, so your plan needs a pass for the guards you meet most often in your division. If they shoot, you need a takedown defense you have drilled.
Connect your start to the positions you aim for
Next, link your start to the positions where you score and finish. The guard you pull into should be the guard you sweep or submit from. A takedown should land you where your passing begins, so if your takedown usually leaves you in your opponent’s half guard, your plan needs a half guard pass. Wherever the link is missing, you end up working from a position you rarely train.
Add one answer for the bad positions. Pick the escape you trust most from the pin you end up in most often in training, such as being under side control or mount, and make it part of the plan.
Plan for when you are ahead or behind
Decide before the match what you do with a lead, with a tied score and when you are behind, and how that changes as time runs out. The calls below assume a points ruleset with advantages, such as the IBJJF’s. Select the score and the time left.
You are ahead, early in the match
Keep adding to the lead
A small lead can disappear with one sweep or takedown. Keep working through the positions in your plan and look for the next score.
You are ahead, time running out
Protect the lead
Coaches differ here. Some advise keeping the grips and position you have and choosing attacks that do not risk losing them, and others advise attacking for the finish as usual. Either way, keep trying to improve your position: under IBJJF rules, referees penalize stalling, a second penalty gives your opponent an advantage and a third gives them two points.
Tied on points, early in the match
Work for the first score
Start the exchanges your plan is built on. Once you lead, your opponent has to take more risks to catch up.
Tied on points, time running out
Know how a tie is decided
Under IBJJF rules, a tie on points goes to the athlete with more advantages, then to the one with fewer penalties, and then to the referee's decision. In the last minute, keep attacking toward a score and avoid a stalling penalty. Other organizations break ties differently, for example with overtime or a judges' decision.
You are behind, early in the match
Stay with your plan
There is still time to catch up through the positions you score from most. A rushed attack that fails can cost you position and put you further behind.
You are behind, time running out
Take the risks the score requires
Know what you need: a submission wins at any score, while a sweep or a pass may only tie the score or close the gap. Attack even when a failed attempt could cost you position, since a safe position that does not score will not change the result.
Adjust the plan to your ruleset
Organizations score matches differently, and a plan built for one ruleset can lose under another. Our guide to your first BJJ tournament covers what to check in your event’s rules. For the plan itself, compare three kinds of ruleset.
Under points rules such as the IBJJF’s, takedowns, sweeps, knee on belly, guard passes, mount and back control all score. A plan that passes and reaches your best pin builds a lead on the way to a submission, and can win the match without one.
ADCC rules award no positive points in the first half of a match, although negative points can be given from the start. Plan how you will use the first half, for example to attack submissions or set up the positions you want, and keep enough energy to score in the second.
Submission-only events award no points, so build the plan around the positions you finish from rather than the ones you score from. When no one is finished, some events go to overtime rounds that start from set positions, such as back control, and others ask judges to decide. Find out which format your event uses and train for it.
Test the plan in training
Tell a training partner how you plan to start and ask them to stop it, so you practice your second option as often as your first.
Run some rounds with a set score and time left. Start one with your partner ahead and little time remaining, and another with you ahead and your partner told to come after you.
Record these rounds and check them against the plan. Cut any part of the plan you never reach, and replace a backup that keeps failing. A verified black belt can also mark where your rounds left the plan in a roll review.