The Two Controversial Finishes From Worlds Everyone Is Talking About

Analyzing two of the most controversial finishes at the 2024 IBJJF Worlds, featuring Tainan Dalpra's disqualification and Mica Galvao's finals match.

Jun 6, 2024 by Joe Gilpin

The Two Controversial Finishes From Worlds Everyone Is Talking About

This year's edition of the IBJJF World Championships has concluded and along with all of the incredible action is some inevitable controversy. This year, there were two notable occasions that have sparked significant conversation among grappling fans. We aim to analyze those situations and how the rules were interpreted in these instances.

Tainan DQ'ed From Worlds

The biggest story from day one of black belt Worlds had to be the disqualification of Tainan Dalpra. He was called for a technical foul in his quarterfinal match with eventual silver medalist Francisco Lo after a version of a reap. This was a shock as the two-time middleweight champion was a big favorite for gold, which was eventually won by Lo's CheckMat teammate Jackson Nagai.

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According to Article 6 of the IBJJF rulebook, technical foul 18 forbids athletes from applying locks that twist the knee. Because of the De La Riva guard that Tainan was using, when he pulled on the foot outside the line of the hip, it was considered a lock twisting the knee. The picture the IBJJF uses in their rulebook is of the same position applied in this match.

It's worth noting his position is legal in adult no-gi competition. Regardless of whether Francisco was injured or tapped, that position alone could have been called a disqualification. This same techniques was called very aggressively at this year's Worlds in the Pyramid. For example, at black belt both Sebastian Rodriguez and Mathias Luna were disqualified for the same infraction even though their opponents appeared unharmed. While unfortunate, this will serve as a memorable message to competitors to be careful in this position not to put torque into the knee or risk the loss.

For all of the fans who are excited to see Tainan back in action, he will be competing on June 20th on WNO 24, taking on Jay Rodriguez in super fight action between top-10 ranked 185lb grapplers. Tickets are still available. Francisco Lo will also be on the card, taking on Jacob Couch in a rematch of the 2023 IBJJF Pan No-Gi Championships.

Where Did Mica's Two Points Come From?

Another controversial ending that left coaches and fans confused was in the lightweight finals, where 20-year old grappling star Mica Galvao won his first IBJJF world championship at black belt. He was facing familiar foe Andy Murasaki of Atos, who he had beaten twice in 2024 IBJJF competition already. The Worlds final was closer than their previous two encounters, tied through the first seven minutes. Then, a big exchange led to the decisive scores.

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While there has been a lot of speculation, the way this appears to have been interpreted by the referees in this instance was as follows;

Mica is in top position, he passes to the front headlock and begins to lock in a submission. He earns one advantage for the near pass.
Both athletes are on their knees in a nuetral position - neither is considered to technically be on top since neither has established a guard and therefore isn't on 'bottom'.
When they are in a neutural position, Mica drops back to complete the guillotine. This is considered a guard pull.
Mica get's on top from that guard, making it a sweep. Mica scores 2 points.
Andy clears the front headlock submission and sweeps to top position. Mica scores another advantage for the submission attempt and Andy scores 2 points for moving from bottom to top in a sweep.

That was the last scoring sequence, and Mica won his first ever World title as a black belt. That kneeling position has been called as neutral more often by referees this season, since neither grappler has a guard position established. Importantly, this is considered different than turtle when one person is behind the other, where the top grappler has an advantageous position even though both are similarly kneeling.