Last week, there was a great a step forward done for the professionalization of Jiu-Jitsu: The IBJJF had announced today that it had increased prize money for top black belt ranked athletes by the end of the 2015/16 season (the day before the 2016 Worlds).
BJJ players ranked number 1 on the male and female adult black belt rankings will each receive a $15,000 prize, instead of the $10,000 that was initially announced a few months ago.
From IBJJF.org :
IBJJF is proud to announce that it has increased the CASH PRIZES for the Black Belt Adult competitors for the 2015/16 season!
Effective today, top ranking Male and Females athletes for the 2015/ 2016 ranking season will receive the following:
1st place – $15,000 (USD)
2nd place – $4,000 (USD)
3rd place – $1,000 (USD)
In December 2012, the first step was made by IBJJF towards professional BJJ. The fact that the International Federation of BJJ (IBJJF) has for the first time ever awarded prize money for first place (5,000$) and second place winners (1,000$) during the IBJJ Pro league was a significant achievement. In 2015, there were 5 more Pro IBJJF events (NY, Santa Cruz etc..) with total prize money of 25,000$ per event for black belts. The IBJJF went one step further, introducing a ranking system where they would award 10,000$ (increased to 15,000$) to top ranked male & female Black Belt competitors for 2015/16 Season.
The news was very well received by all, but some people including MMA fighter and former world brown belt champion, Vinny Magalhaes still criticised the Federation. Vinny posted a comment on the IBJJF’s Facebook, which he then deleted. The comment was captured by a member of Reddit BJJ forum:
IBJJF Adult Black Belt League – Ranking Awards
The 1st place athlete in the Black Belt Adult Male and Female division at the end of ranking season 2015/16 will receive an award of $15,000 (USD)*
