Sick scramble in Bangtao #bteamjiujitsu

Alright, I’ve seen some of the takes rolling in here about that B-Team scramble footage, and while I appreciate the enthusiasm, a lot of y’all are missing the forest for the trees. This isn’t just about the *moves*; it’s about the *context*. One comment upthread was talking about how this is the "future of BJJ." I'm not so sure.

What I'm seeing is a very specific type of scramble, born out of a very specific ruleset, and amplified by a very specific meta. If you’re not allowed to stall, if you’re perpetually chasing submissions, and if you’re not allowed to rely on an extensive guard retention game because of time limits or aggressive passing, *of course* you're going to see these wild positional resets. It's the logical conclusion when the cost of being slightly out of position isn't a reset to guard, but a loss of position entirely, or worse, a leg entanglement.

This isn't new. Go back and watch some of the old ADCC absolute division footage from the early 2010s – guys like Braulio Estima were scrambling like this when the stakes were high, trying to avoid being pinned or caught in a bad leg entanglement. The difference is, back then, it was often a last resort born of necessity, not the default operating procedure.

My big takeaway from this Bangtao footage? It reinforces the notion that the current leg-lock meta, particularly in formats like WNO or even Polaris (before some of their more recent adjustments), rewards a kind of high-risk, high-reward scrambling that de-emphasizes positional control in favor of opportunistic attacking. It's exciting, absolutely. It's also incredibly fatiguing and requires a gas tank that not everyone possesses.

I’m not saying it's bad, but let's be real about what we're looking at. This isn't the universal future of BJJ; it's the highly specialized evolution of competitive grappling under specific, often aggressive, rulesets that prioritize submissions and penalize stalling. If we went back to, say, IBJJF no-gi rules with their emphasis on points for passing and takedowns, you’d see a very different kind of grappling emerging from that same room.

So, is it "sick?" Yeah, I guess. Is it the inevitable endpoint for everyone? I'm not buying it. What do you all think? Are we just evolving, or are we simply responding to incentives?

The discussion surrounding the recent B-Team footage and its potential implications for the "future of BJJ," as one comment upthread suggested, brings to mind a historical parallel concerning the evolution of rule sets and the strategies they incentivize. While the dynamism in the clip is undeniable, it is worth considering that what appears to be a new frontier in grappling often has roots in earlier iterations of the sport, particularly in how differing competition frameworks have shaped technique.

For instance, the early days of submission grappling competitions, such as the inaugural Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) Submission Fighting World Championship in 1998, featured a ruleset that, while distinct from later IBJJF regulations, still placed a premium on positional control and takedowns, albeit with points for guard passing and sweeps. The absence of strict time limits on certain submissions and the allowance of heel hooks from the outset fostered a particular strategic approach. This contrasted sharply with, for example, the rule evolution in the Japanese Pancrase organization from its founding in 1993, which initially allowed open-hand strikes and rope escapes, subtly influencing the grappling exchanges by creating different incentives for positioning and submission attempts compared to a pure grappling context.

The modern no-gi landscape, particularly in promotions like EBI or more recently ADCC, which implemented significant rule changes like the "standing start for overtime" in 2019, consistently pushes athletes toward aggressive, low-commitment scrambles, as points often only accrue in the later stages of a match, if at all, and judges’ decisions sometimes favor perceived aggression. This environment naturally breeds the kind of chaotic, rapid exchanges seen in the B-Team footage, where positional stability is often traded for immediate submission threats or re-scrambles. This is not necessarily a "future" that has no precedent, but rather a reflection of a ruleset that actively rewards this particular type of engagement, much as early judo rules under Jigoro Kano, emphasizing throws and pins, cultivated specific standing and ground techniques that diverged from earlier jujutsu forms focused on battlefield applications. The question then becomes not just about the moves themselves, but about the specific rule-set under which these moves are being developed and showcased, and whether these rules are truly pushing an entirely new paradigm or simply re-emphasizing aspects of grappling that become dominant under specific competitive structures.

Watching that B-Team footage, my joints start aching just from the scramble. At 53, with a few years of brown belt under my belt, my focus has really shifted to longevity. I had to stop drilling triangle chokes from the bottom after a nasty tweak in my right knee during a Sunday open mat back in 2021. Now, my warm-up routine is almost 20 minutes long, mostly consisting of hip mobility drills and resistance band work, before I even think about stepping on the mat. It's about training for the body I have today, not the one I had at 23, or even 47 when I started. Coach Tom always says, "The best submission is the one you can still do next year." That really resonates.

It's interesting to see everyone dissecting this. HoG Drama Desk is right that context matters, but the context here is pretty clear: it's a B-Team scramble. It's not supposed to be "longevity BJJ" like Linda is talking about. We drill 30-minute scramble rounds at my academy three times a week. It’s a completely different kind of training than what most people see in a typical gym. You don't get good at these positions by just rolling light. You have to push the pace. I tapped to a toe hold from a scramble against Diogo Reis at Worlds in 2022 because my entries weren't tight enough, and that changed how I approach open mats now. It's about being sharp in those high-intensity moments.

These high-level scrambles are always fun to watch, but it's tough to reconcile with the reality of most people's training. Alex mentioned 30-minute scramble rounds, which is great if you're a full-time competitor, but as a brown belt for 12 years with two kids and a demanding job, I'm lucky to get three sessions a week. Each one means an hour commute and two hours on the mat. That's four hours just to hit a regular class. Adding dedicated scramble rounds on top of that just isn't feasible, not with a mortgage and braces on both knees. It's easy to forget that what's being shown in a B-Team highlight isn't what most regular folks are doing at their local gym, trying to get an hour in before dinner.

Alex talking about 30-minute scramble rounds at his academy is wild. I mean, it’s awesome if you can do that, but the financial reality for most of us purple belts trying to compete makes that kind of dedicated, intensive camp prep a pipe dream. I just dropped $160 for the IBJJF New York Open last month, not even counting gas and the hotel split with my teammate. That’s a significant chunk of a teacher's paycheck for a few minutes on the mat. "Context matters," like HoG Drama Desk said, but the context for a lot of us is also balancing work, training, and trying to afford the next tournament entry fee, let alone full-time comp training.