FILA grappling

History

In 2004, Jason Townsend and members of the Titan Wrestling Club at Cal State Fullerton, including Chris Carlino and Art Barker, started developing a set of rules and an official international rulebook for grappling. This wrestling club served as a platform for testing these rules, and a series of test events were organized across the country under the International Submission Wrestling Association (ISWA), led by Townsend.

The ISWA applied for admission with the General Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF), which in turn contacted FILA regarding the application. This led to a meeting in Abu Dhabi between FILA President Raphaël Martinetti and Jason Townsend. Martinetti proposed that ISWA allow FILA to adopt its rulebook and integrate into FILA's new World Grappling Committee, led by Jean-Francois Court and Anne Pellaud. The ISWA agreed, seeing FILA as the best path forward for the sport.

FILA and ISWA representatives also met with Sheikh Tahnoun Bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the Abu Dhabi Combat Club, Guy Neivens, and Renzo Gracie. However, FILA couldn't reach an agreement with the ADCC, which ultimately did not participate in FILA's amateur grappling development. Townsend was appointed as the Head of Grappling Panamerica in FILA's "Associated Styles" department.

In 2007, FILA started its inaugural grappling season, culminating in the first unofficial World Championships in Antalya, Turkey, during the 2007 World Wrestling Games. Team USA dominated, winning all 9 gold medals with prominent athletes like Jeff Monson, Ricky Lundell, Darren Uyenoyama, and Felicia Oh.

Mat

The UWW-approved grappling mat measures 9 m in diameter, including a 1.5 m border known as the protection area. An orange band 1 m in width is drawn along the inside of the circumference to indicate the passivity zone. The area inside the passivity zone is called the central wrestling area, which measures 7 m in diameter.

For Championship competitions, the mat may be installed on a platform between 1.1 m or 0.8 m in height.

Rules

Uniform

Since various forms of submission fighting are traditionally practiced both with and without gi, FILA implemented both trends in order to cover the full spectrum of techniques associated to each particular style. Therefore, FILA tournaments generally had gi and no-gi divisions to enable all submission fighters to compete to their highest ability no matter what their fighting background might be. The FILA grappling gi practitioner's uniform was similar to a judogi, but often with tighter cuffs on the pants and jacket. No-gi grapplers wore FILA-approved shorts and a tight-fitting sleeveless, short sleeve or long sleeve rashguard. Grapplers were not required to wear shoes during the match, but those who chose to wear shoes needed to wear ones approved by FILA. | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110527181509/http://www.fila-official.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=498&Itemid=100275&lang=en | archive-date = 27 May 2011 | url-status = dead

Matches

Duration

UWW senior grappling matches are a single round of 5 minutes.

Scoring

The FILA grappling regulations were based on a progressive point system that encourages submissions over technical points. Points were awarded for takedowns and dominant control positions according to the following progression: side mount

A takedown is worth 2 points when an athlete transitions from stand-up to the ground while maintaining top control for three seconds. If a competitor pulls guard, the opponent is awarded 2 points if they maintain top control for three seconds. Additional points can also be scored if a competitor establishes the following positions:

• Side mount: 2 points (takedown) + 3 points (side mount) = 5 total points
• Full mount: 2 points (takedown) + 4 points (full mount) = 6 total points
• Back mount: 2 points (takedown) + 4 points (back mount) = 6 total points

A competitor can score 2 points for a reversal by escaping from a bottom or disadvantageous position and gains top control for at least three seconds.

A competitor can score 3 points by maintaining control for three seconds from side mount, 4 points by maintaining control for three seconds from full mount, and 4 points by maintaining control for three seconds from back mount.

Points

FILA grappling rules contrasted with wrestling's greater emphasis on takedowns, due to its radically different point-scoring system. This has led to greater time dedicated to training on the ground, resulting in enhancement and evolution of groundwork techniques by grapplers.

UWW Grappling weight classes

Men's grappling

• 62 kg
• 66 kg
• 71 kg
• 77 kg
• 84 kg
• 92 kg
• 100 kg
• 130 kg

Women's grappling

• 53 kg
• 58 kg
• 64 kg
• 71 kg
• 90 kg

World Grappling Championship

The World Grappling Championship was the most important of FILA's annual Grappling tournaments. The first of these competitions took place on in 2007, with the last taking place in 2013.

Since FILA's renaming to UWW, the World Grappling Championships have continued to be hosted under the UWW banner, with the 2023 World Championships taking place in Warsaw, Poland.

FILA World Grappling Championships

UWW World Grappling Championships

References

References

1. "Grappling Rules and Regulations".
2. Irving, John. (February 15, 2013). "How Wrestling Lost the Olympics".
3. Gile. (May 19, 2013). "FILA World Wrestling Federation Drops Grappling and Amateur MMA".
4. "United World Wrestling, World Grappling Committee".
5. "Global Association of International Sports Federations".
6. Abbott, Gary. (March 4, 2009). "Jason Townsend named Head of Grappling Panamerica".
7. Abbott, Gary. (September 12, 2007). "US Sweeps nine gold medals at Grappling World Championships in Turkey".
8. "Regulations - Grappling".