I have been excited about the recent trends in tournaments: longer time limits and sub only.
However, after watching Ad pro, I have noticed that short matches may actually produce more viewer friendly BJJ.
It pushes guys to move the pace. Also, if the match sucks, then it's over fast. Too many matches move at a snails pact when they know they have 15 minutes to go. 
Only little complaint I had about Adcc was it looked like a couple guys got points midway thru the match and were able to stall effectively to get thru the match. Other than that, the shorter times are awesome. No circling and staring matches for two minutes when you know both, or one, of the guys is absolutely going to pull guard. You don't have both guys getting to a position and staring at their grips waiting for the other to make the first move. If someone gets up on points it makes the other move to work and score. A lot of times it just comes down to the guy. Some guys are gonna be entertaining regardless of time limit or rules. But i do like the shorter matches.
I agree that stalling is an issue but it pushes the guy who's behind to move faster and harder
This doesn't apply to one-off matches, but I like the idea of a round-robin or pool format. That way, a guy's day doesn't rely on one match, so there's less incentive to stall and play conservative if you can still rebound from messing up and losing a match. Think Copa Podio does (or did do) something like that, no?
Agreed!
I say 12 mins would be perfect for metamoris. They could add more matches too
Synado - I think Eddie Bravos new format is the ideal tournament style. Typically I don't care for long matches.This... I like Eddies sudden death format
Yup. Eddies format works well because of having a way to declare a winner.
When you watch longer matches, there are tons of matches you say guys pacing themselves for the first 5-10 minutes to ensure they don't gas out. I think those matches would benefit from being shorter, but some matches really develop and show which guy has a little more cardio or determination to close it out with a sub later on.
Its a really tough question that all these promotions like EBI, Metamrois, Polaris, etc are going to be the laboratories for testing.
What is everyone's ideal match length?
Id say 15.
I realize it's logistically difficult, but I'd like to see an ACTUAL sub only event. Like 5 or 6 fights, no time limit, no points.
Only diehards are watching these anyway I'd assume. I can think of a stack of draws from past metamoris events that I wish hadn't ended at 20 mins.
On the point of the OP, I thought that the Abu Dhabi world pro 6 min matches were a pretty crazy fast pace.
EBI one was almost perfect
EBI 2 less so but still exciting
EBI seems to have it down
omoplautistic - I realize it's logistically difficult, but I'd like to see an ACTUAL sub only event. Like 5 or 6 fights, no time limit, no points.Agree w this.
Only diehards are watching these anyway I'd assume. I can think of a stack of draws from past metamoris events that I wish hadn't ended at 20 mins.
On the point of the OP, I thought that the Abu Dhabi world pro 6 min matches were a pretty crazy fast pace.
I loved the matches from the bjj kumite.
I agree that shorter matches make some matches faster pace but I think a short match also makes it much easier to stall.
Here's a hypothetical: 4:40 into a match you sweep your opponent to take the lead, in a 10 minute match you have to at least make a token effort to pass or you'll lose the match on stalling calls, but in a 6 minute match you can blatantly stall out the rest of the match and you'll win before you get points deducted.
Short matches are great. The CBJJO also use shorter matches (7 or 8 mins for black belts I think). Really liking the format of the BJJ Library challenge as well (2x3 min rounds, win both rounds by points or get a submission to win). The alternative is to have no time limit with points, and have a points total to win by (or sub of course). If you have to win by 15 points (or whatever) and there is no time limit, then it removes the motivation to stall when leading.
James
Personally I love the 6 minute match. Conversely , if you have a tournament set with 8 or 16 competitors in each bracket and let's say there's only 6 brackets for weight classes...go ahead and do Sub only or a 20 minute match. I think the current setup of a 10 min black belt match in IBJJF rules is so dumb. It's made for stalling and dicking around. That sanctioning body has a lot they need to revamp. I'm ready to see this rickson igjjf take over.
I like the longer matches when it's a "super fight" type thing with two well known guys. For regular tournaments I like the shorter matches.
When it's me competing, I definitely like the shorter ones. Like chael said, I love jiujitsu like I love chocolate cake but I don't want to do either one for 30 minutes straight. Lol
For these metamoris style events do you think submission bonuses would change the pace?
What if they did 10 mins for the undercard and no time limit for the main event?
Also I'm one of those outliers who prefers points matches over sub only. I love watching guys fight off passes or sweeps. I know, I suck
watching the 6 minute Copa Podio finals on top of the strict penalties for stalling made for some exciting matches.