Weight categories, explained

A jiu-jitsu match is decided by skill, not size — which is exactly why we separate athletes by weight. Put a rooster-weight against an ultra-heavy and the result stops being about who is better and starts being about who is bigger. Weight categories keep the sport honest.

The classes

ABJJF follows the IBJJF weight structure. In the gi, the adult classes run from Rooster up through Light-Feather, Feather, Light, Middle, Medium-Heavy, Heavy, Super-Heavy and Ultra-Heavy. No-gi uses the same ladder at slightly lower cut-offs, because there is no kimono on the scale.

The weigh-in

• You weigh in IN your gi, on the day, right before you compete — not the night before.
• The number on your registration is a declaration; the scale is the truth. If you miss weight, you do not drop a division, you are out of that one.
• There is a small tolerance on the digital scale for the kimono, published before the event.

Register at the weight you can make on the day, clean — not the weight you hope to cut to. A place in a bracket is worth more than a division you cannot make.

The open class

Alongside the weight divisions, most events run an Absolute (open weight), where size is deliberately back on the table and anyone can enter. It is where the giant-killer stories come from — and it is optional, always.