Last weekend’s ACB JJ event was packed with some of the biggest names in jiu-jitsu, but some people felt like the matches weren’t necessarily exciting enough given the talent that was on the stage. And ACB JJ president Zaurbek Khasiev was among them.
In an Instagram post on Sunday, Khasiev expressed his sentiments on the recent ACB events, saying:
“DISAPPOINTED!!!
With the experience in organizing BJJ events i have discovered that most of the MMA fighters make much more entertaining scrambles than most of our BJJ fighters. I have been saying for awhile now that i don’t like them fighters giving up the entertainment of combat to get the win by the points. If things keep going this way we will probably no longer cooperate with most of our BJJ athletes and will no longer make BJJ super fights, instead we will concentrate on open BJJ tournaments. No one is interested in watching two guys hugging each other for 15-25 minutes without even attempting to spice up the battle or submit their opponent. BJJ will never gain new fans if the show is so boring.”
Gordon Ryan seemed to take Khasiev’s side, bringing up some discussion points between the differences between professional and amateur athletes and the type of performance expected from them:
EBI founder Eddie Bravo then reposted what Kasiev had written, expressing his thoughts and then extending an offer of his own:
“This is a very old problem. The problem is not the competitors, it’s the point system. The EBI format was designed to solve this problem. Try 1 show with EBI rules and EBI OT and see what happens. We can collaborate. It would be an honor to work with you. Respect ”
Could an EBI/ACB collaboration be in the future? Only time will tell.
The post ACB JJ President Expresses Frustration With Event: “BJJ Will Never Gain New Fans If The Show Is So Boring” appeared first on Jiu-Jitsu Times.