IBJJF 2017 European Championships By The Numbers

IBJJF 2017 Europeans: By The Numbers

We love to look over data from jiu-jitsu tournaments. Analyzing the figures helps us spot important trends in the sport and gives fans, athletes and coaches a better understanding of the game as a whole.

The IBJJF 2017 European Championships was a huge event – over 3900 athletes from 72 countries – but we’re going to take a deep dive into one division: the adult male black belts.

There were 154 male black belt matches across 10 weight categories (including the absolute, or open weight).

The largest category was the openweight with 35 matches. After this was the middleweight division, which had 19 matches.

Division No. of Matches Submissions Sub %
Absolute 35 14 40%
Middleweight 19 9 47.30%
Featherweight 19 9 47.30%
Medium heavyweight 18 8 44.40%
Lightweight 17 6 41.10%
Heavyweight 16 3 18.75%
Ultra heavyweight 8 5 62.50%
Roosterweight 8 3 18.75%
Light featherweight 8 3 18.75%
Super heavyweight 6 1 16.60%
The division with the highest percentage of submissions was ultra heavyweight, with a finishing rate of 62.5%.

The lowest was the super heavyweight division, with a submission rate of 16.6%.

The athlete with the most matches was Leandro Lo, who tallied up 9 matches in his weight division and the absolute, winning 7 by points and 2 by submission (28.5%).

Two athletes shared the top spot for the highest number of submissions.

Alliance teammates Rubens 'Cobrinha' Charles and Alec Baulding (featherweight and middleweight champions, respectively) both won 3 of their 4 matches by submission, a finishing rate of 75%.

Next was Claudio Calasans, who submitted 3 of his 5 opponents. All of Calasans’s matches took place in the absolute division, and all of his opponents were heavier than him.

Overall, 60 of the 154 black belt adult male matches ended by submission – a total of 38.9%.

Method RW LFW FW LW MW MHW HW SHW UHW ABS
Armlock 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 2 5
Choke 1 3 4 2 2 3 1 3 5
Leglock 1 1 2 2 2
Triangle 3 2 4 1 1
Wristlock 1

Stay tuned for more breakdowns like this for future events.