The athletic commission has decided to ban all Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournaments in West Virginia.
This is a very unfortunate event for everyone who trains and competes in our state. We have had small tournaments here for well over twenty years and the jiu-jitsu scene was just starting to get bigger and bigger.
The last two tournaments that I ran here grew each time we had them and this time we were expecting our biggest turnout yet.
Although I will be successful in getting this tournament to proceed via a court order, the damage and hassle have become too much for me to continue with this tournament at this date.
The next step is for me to fight for jiu-jitsu through the courts and prove that it is a safe sport. At this current point in time, the athletic commission feels that their beloved "Toughman" events are far safer than any jiu-jitsu tournament (which any educated person knows is ludicrous).
The banning of MMA in WV is bad enough but the banning of a simple martial art, such as Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, is just crazy!
I will be putting some things together to help legalize Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, once again, and I will also be trying to educate many officials who don't know what the sport is. If anyone would like to offer any help or materials please email me at:
Well, it's no secret. We have it clearly advertized on the web and they have never stopped or cared about a martial arts tournament before. I have no idea why they decided to look into this one.
"How did they tell you that BJJ tournaments were illegal?"
Because they do not support, and will not support, andy repritory restraints or choke holds...
"And what purpose does an athletic commission serve anyway?"
I do not see how they have juristiction and me and my attornies feel that they do not. I have a hearing scheduled soon and will be doing many other things to get this taken care of.
Right now, this is very bad and their end goal, no matter what happens after this particular hearing, is to have it banned 100%
I get so tired of hearing that the issue is "safetly."
We all know that isn't true... I, or anyone else, can provide them with all the fact on how there has never been any serious injuries or deaths in jiu-jitsu (or MMA for that matter) and they will still swear up and down that boxing is safer.
I had just told them how there was 13 deaths in their beloved toughman events last year alone but that didn't matter.
It gets to a point when there has to be something behind the ignorance.
The commission works for free. Meaning, they don't get paid for actually being on the commission.
You have to wonder some of these guys are making their money and fighting so hard for things that don't seem to make any sense to any other educated person.
Judo is banned unless they file for a promters license, follow the boxing insurance policies (which would be rough when you have over 200 competitors) and do the other commission things.
They would also need approval from the IOC and they governing bodies.
