Mikey Musumeci recently shared his frustrations with IBJJF competition, arguing that the ruleset discourages real engagement and rewards overly strategic play.

Speaking on the Overdogs BJJ Podcast alongside Jackson Nagai, the discussion turned to how modern competitors approach matches.
Nagai was the first to speak:

I think it’s the rule. The rules change the game.
So we need a better rule to make people go forward.

Musumeci agreed, pointing to his own experience competing under IBJJF rules:

My experience competing in IBJJF, it’s what Jackson said, but nobody actually wants to fight. It’s all strategy.
It’s so easy to lose in IBJJF.

He highlighted a recent example from Nagai’s Pan Ams final, where he believed the scoring didn’t reflect what actually happened in the match:

Jackson was dominating this guy. I watched this match… like 100% of the time dominating.
Like if you didn’t know the scoring of IBJJF, you’d think the match was 100 to 0.

But then because of the weird rules, he ends up down by like an advantage or something with like 15 seconds.

Musumeci argued that the ruleset can actually punish athletes who try to attack and engage:

It’s so easy to lose in the IBJJF ruleset because of how many variables there are… How actually attacking and doing jiu-jitsu doesn’t favor you.
It makes it easier for you to lose.

Everyone just plays strategy. Nobody even wants to fight in my divisions.
Most of them are just trying to hold and play strategy.

According to Musumeci, real jiu-jitsu often only begins once an opponent is forced to chase the score:

Then it’s easier for me to do jiu-jitsu with them… I can attack, I can do things.
But it’s very hard to attack somebody that’s just holding.

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