Submission.
Control. Overtime.

1. Competition format

Main divisions

-75 kg and +75 kg use a double-elimination format. An athlete remains alive after one loss and enters the losers bracket. A second loss eliminates the athlete from Gold/Silver contention.

• Winners-bracket regulation: 5 minutes.
• Losers-bracket regulation: 3 minutes.
• Bronze Match: 5 minutes.
• Gold Final / Reset Final: 5 minutes.
• Absolute: single elimination; all regulation matches are 5 minutes.

A separate Bronze Match is held between the final two eligible athletes not advancing to the Gold Final, as designated by the published bracket. The event bracket published before competition controls the exact placement path.

For true double elimination, if the undefeated finalist loses the first Gold Final to an athlete who already has one loss, a Reset Final may be required so both finalists have equal elimination conditions.

2. Match result

A match can end by:

• physical tap;
• verbal tap;
• technical/referee stoppage;
• medical stoppage;
• disqualification;
• withdrawal / no-show;
• OSG Overtime result.

There are no points, advantages or subjective referee decisions based on aggression, control or submission attempts.

3. Legal and illegal techniques

Legal submissions

All conventional controlled grappling submissions are legal unless specifically prohibited below. This includes:

• chokes and strangles;
• armbars, kimuras, americanas and wrist locks;
• straight ankle locks;
• kneebars;
• toe holds;
• inside and outside heel hooks;
• leg entanglements and reaping;
• other controlled leg locks that do not depend on an illegal spinal attack.

Guard pulling and flying attacks

• Controlled guard pulling is legal.
• Jumping guard is illegal. An athlete may not jump full bodyweight onto a standing opponent merely to establish guard.
• Flying submissions are legal when the movement is an immediate submission attempt and is applied with control.

Scissor techniques

• Scissor takedown / kani-basami is prohibited.
• Traditional scissor sweeps are also prohibited under the Event 1 ruleset.

Spine and neck attacks

Deliberate spinal locks are prohibited. This includes twisters, deliberate cervical cranks, can openers used as submissions, full-nelson spinal pressure and similar intentional spinal twisting or extension. Incidental neck pressure created by an otherwise legal choke does not automatically make that choke illegal.

Other illegal actions

• strikes, headbutts, biting, eye gouging or fish hooking;
• groin attacks or hair pulling;
• individual finger or toe manipulation;
• intentional slams or spikes onto the head/neck;
• attacking after the referee has stopped the action;
• deliberately fleeing the mat to escape a locked submission;
• unsportsmanlike or abusive conduct.

4. Stalling

OSG requires active engagement. A competitor may defend, control and strategically slow an exchange, but may not deliberately avoid meaningful grappling in order to reach Overtime.

Stalling includes

• repeatedly backing away or circling without attempting contact;
• repeated disengagement from standing after contact is available;
• holding a static top or guard position without attempting to improve position, submit, sweep, pass, stand or create meaningful offence;
• remaining completely defensive for an extended period after the referee has demanded action;
• repeatedly leaving the competition area to break engagement;
• using grips or body positioning only to freeze the match with no attempt to progress.

Three-offence system

1. Stalling Offence 1: official warning.
2. Stalling Offence 2: second official warning.
3. Stalling Offence 3: immediate disqualification.

The referee may first give an informal “ACTION” command before recording an offence, but is not required to do so when the stalling is obvious. Stalling offences carry across regulation within that match. They do not decide a tied match; a tie still goes to OSG Overtime unless a third offence causes disqualification.

5. OSG Overtime

If regulation ends without a submission or other decisive result, the match enters OSG Overtime.

Normal matches

Each athlete receives one attacking turn and one defensive turn.

Gold Finals, Reset Finals and Absolute Gold Final

Each athlete receives two attacking turns and two defensive turns.

Starting positions

The attacking athlete chooses either:

• Back Control — seated behind the defender with two hooks and a seatbelt, with no choke already locked; or
• Spiderweb / Armbar Position — standardized armbar control with the defender allowed the prescribed defensive hand connection before “GO”.

Each attacking turn lasts a maximum of 60 seconds.

How Overtime is decided

1. The athlete with more Overtime submissions wins.
2. If submissions are equal, the athlete with the lowest total defensive escape time wins.
3. If the totals are exactly equal, one additional sudden-death pair of attacking turns is run and repeated as necessary.

If a defender does not escape within 60 seconds, or is submitted, that defensive turn is recorded as 60.00 seconds for escape-time calculations.

6. What counts as an escape?

An escape is not counted the instant a grip or hook is briefly cleared. The defender must clearly exit the Overtime control and maintain a recognized escaped position for three continuous seconds.

Back-control escape

The defender must remove effective back control and reach a stable position where the attacker no longer has back control. The defender must hold that escaped state for three continuous seconds.

Spiderweb / armbar escape

The defender must clear the trapped elbow line and break the immediate armbar control, then maintain a recognized escaped state for three continuous seconds.

Positions that do NOT count as an escape

• The attacker transitions from Spiderweb to Mount.
• The attacker transitions from Spiderweb or another control directly to Back Control.
• The attacker transitions from Back Control to Mount while maintaining dominant control.
• The defender is momentarily free for less than three continuous seconds before the attacker re-establishes Mount, Back Control or the original submission control.

7. Main-division prizes

Prize tiers are based on the number of checked-in competitors, not simply paid registrations.

Submission bonuses — medalists

• Each qualifying regulation submission: +€20.
• Each qualifying OSG Overtime submission: +€10.
• Gold, Silver and Bronze medalists are eligible.
• For Event 1, submission bonuses are capped at €100 per medalist.
• No bonus is paid for walkovers, no-shows, unrelated medical stoppages or non-submission disqualifications.

Bracket minimum

• 12+: bracket is guaranteed to run.
• 8–11: OSG may run the bracket with the reduced purse above.
• Under 8: bracket will normally be cancelled or merged only with athlete consent where appropriate.

8. Absolute prizes

The Absolute is single elimination and uses a progressive purse. No per-submission bonus is paid in the Absolute; instead it carries a dedicated Submission of the Night award.

9. Best Submission criteria

Each main division has one Best Submission award. The Absolute has one Submission of the Night award.

Only legal completed submissions are eligible. Regulation submissions receive preference because they begin from organic match positions; Overtime submissions may be considered only if no regulation submission clearly merits the award.

Judging criteria

• Technical quality — 35%: mechanics, control and finishing detail.
• Setup and transition — 25%: quality of the sequence leading to the finish.
• Difficulty / resistance — 20%: how much technical defence had to be overcome.
• Creativity — 10%: unusual or innovative execution without sacrificing control.
• Safety and cleanliness — 10%: controlled application and immediate release after the tap.

A fast submission is not automatically the best submission. Any submission involving illegal conduct, ripping, ignoring a tap or unsafe application is ineligible.

10. Event footage and media use

OSG records competition for event operations, highlights, athlete promotion and marketing. By accepting the event media terms during registration, a competitor permits OSG to use footage from their matches, interviews and awards for OSG websites, social channels, advertisements and promotional edits.

Important: this page assumes you meant OSG when you wrote “AGI”. If you literally intend to grant AGI marketing rights, the registration/media clause should be changed before publication.

11. Safety, conduct and referee authority

• Competitors must release immediately when the referee stops the action or a tap occurs.
• The referee may stop any action that presents an unreasonable immediate injury risk.
• Intentional submission ripping results in disqualification and forfeiture of prize money.
• Three stalling offences in one match result in disqualification.
• Serious unsportsmanlike conduct may result in removal from the event.
• Medical safety overrides competitive continuation.

Referee calls on taps, illegal actions, escapes, stalling and safety are final during the match. Clear administrative or timing errors may be reviewed by the Tournament Director.