Photo: by Nec Bezmma Nomen
2014 No Gi black belt world champion AJ Agazarm was a regular on the IBJJF circuit in 2014, competing almost every month around the world. It came as a surprise to many people that in 2015, he only competed in the IBJJF Europeans and the Pan. Agazarm still had a busy year as he competed in all the major professional grappling invitationals: Polaris, Metamoris Underground, ADCC and also works for the awesome Flograppling.com.
In his latest blog post, Agazarm uncovered the truth to his absence: he was suspended for a year by IBJJF for misconduct:
I’ve seen online over the past several months the talk about my competition status and have had many questions posed to me about the same. I feel now is the right time to address these inquiries. Let me start at the beginning.
Over one year ago I competed in the 2015 European Championships. My quarter final match against a Brazilian opponent (pictured above) – someone I knew quite well – ended on points in favor of my adversary. During the match several things happened, including when we rolled out of bounds, but he had a hold of the lapel around my neck.
Because the official deemed that as a ‘legitimate’ submission attempt he was awarded two points, and the lead. I passed the guard and secured the back of my opponent which would have awarded me an additional 7 points and the lead, but I was not awarded the points due to the discretion of the official and time ran out. That, however, is not what upset me.
Photo: http://journeybjj.com
As I stepped off the mat and was walking towards the other side of the gymnasium, I saw my opponent walking towards me, grinning and boasting about his win. I looked at him in disgust, still fuming with frustration and said in Portuguese, “Congrats, your Jiu Jitsu is really beautiful…you just have one position.” I specifically said that because the same exact thing happened in the 2012 PanAm Brown Belt Final against him.
After I said that, we both said some things in the heat of the moment that were offensive to each other in Portuguese. As a result, he chose to write a report against me and I received an email from the Federation a few weeks later, letting me know that as a result, my athlete status with the IBJJF would be suspended for one full year.
Because I was already registered for the 2015 Pan before I received my suspension, the IBJJF honored that and my year punishment was to begin immediately after.
