The International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) publishes the most widely used competition ruleset in sport BJJ. Its scoring system is built around positional dominance — the idea that a competitor who controls increasingly threatening positions deserves to win even without a submission.
Position points
Points are awarded when a competitor establishes a defined position and holds it for 3 seconds of stability. The current values are: takedown — 2 points (landing the opponent on their back or side from standing); guard pass — 3 points (moving from inside the opponent's legs to a stable side-control, north-south or similar position); sweep — 2 points (from guard, reversing the opponent so that you end on top); knee-on-belly — 2 points (kneeling with one knee across the opponent's torso while controlling them, foot on the mat); mount — 4 points (sitting on the opponent's chest with both knees or one knee and one foot on the mat); back control — 4 points (chest-to-back with both hooks in, or the body-triangle equivalent). A score is only registered once per sequence — a fighter who passes guard, takes mount and then loses mount and re-takes it does not score the same position twice consecutively.
Advantages
When a competitor comes close to scoring a position but fails to stabilise it for the required time, or comes close to finishing a submission without forcing the tap, the referee can award an advantage. Advantages are a tiebreaker. If two competitors finish the match level on points, the one with more advantages wins. They never override points: a competitor up by 2 points and down by 10 advantages still wins.
Penalties
Penalties are issued for stalling, fleeing the mat to escape a submission, reaping (placing your leg across the opponent's hip in a way that twists their knee), pulling guard without first establishing a grip, and various technical infractions. The first penalty is a warning. The second gives the opponent an advantage. The third gives the opponent 2 points. The fourth disqualifies. Serious fouls — strikes, deliberate slamming to escape a submission, attacking a joint with a banned technique for the belt level — can be instant disqualification.
Illegal techniques by belt rank
This is one of the most distinctive features of the IBJJF ruleset. Techniques are gated by belt: white belts cannot apply any straight foot lock, kneebars, toeholds or heel-hooks; blue and purple belts gain access to straight foot locks but not the more dangerous twisting attacks; brown belts gain kneebars and toeholds; only black belts (in no-gi) gain access to heel-hooks under recent rule updates. Reaping the knee is illegal at every gi belt level. Slamming, neck cranks, and bicep or calf slicers are illegal at most levels.
Match length
Adult match length scales with belt: white belts compete for 5 minutes, blue 6, purple 7, brown 8, and black belts 10 minutes. Master (30+), Senior and youth divisions are typically shorter. World championship finals follow the same belt-based length.
Gi vs no-gi rule differences
No-gi follows the same positional scoring but bans gi-specific grips and allows a broader range of leg-lock entries earlier — most notably, heel-hooks are legal at brown and black belt in IBJJF no-gi competition, where they remain illegal in gi at every level. No-gi competitors wear a rashguard and shorts that meet specific length and material requirements. The 3-second stability rule and the points scale are identical.
What an advantage is and how it breaks ties
Advantages exist precisely because BJJ matches can be technically dense without producing scores — a competitor who threatens a sweep three times, attacks two submissions and controls position throughout but never quite secures a 3-second hold should not lose to an opponent who did nothing. The advantage is a referee's structured way to record "almost" events. In a tied match, advantages are compared first; if still tied, penalties (more penalties is worse); if still tied, the referee makes a single decision based on overall match dominance and aggression.
How a match ends
A BJJ match ends by submission (tap, verbal submission, or technical submission when the referee stops a fight due to risk of serious joint or vascular injury), points decision at the end of regulation, advantages decision if tied on points, referee decision if tied on points and advantages, disqualification for a serious foul or accumulated penalties, or withdrawal (injury, no-show, or a competitor refusing to continue). In some formats — ADCC-style or sub-only — overtime or extended rounds are used instead of a referee decision, but IBJJF uses the points-advantages-penalties-referee hierarchy described above.