BJJ Scoring Controversy - UmaPlata

So Team Lloyd Irvin Purple Belt and owner of Third Law BJJ in Naples, FL, Roberto Torralbas was in Baltimore this weekend for the JT Torres seminar.  We were having a good discussion about scoring controversies in IBJJF competitions esp. the Umaplata (or Omoplata).  I have been watching a lot of BJJ matches lately as I have been working on getting the statistics from the 2009 BJJ World Championships and last week at the On the Mat tournament, I got to see the scoring controversy live.

In case you don’t know what an omoplata is, watch this match from the 2001 Abu Dhabi Submission Wrestling tournament…

In the finals of the Blue Belt Open division, my student Evan got caught in a nasty umaplata and was forced to roll onto his back to avoid the submission.  His opponent gets on top and is awarded 2 pts for the sweep.  His opponent then rolled back into the guard to try to finish the umaplata / go for triangle choke but Evan was able to get good posture and pull his arm out.  Now, I asked the referee what the proper call was, since based on what I have been seeing at the IBJJF competitions, the referees were giving and taking away sweep points for advantages and vice-versa, depending on how the position ENDED.  They would award an advantage for a near-sweep but once the grappler secured the sweep, the referees would wave away the advantage, and award 2 points.

Let’s say Evan had been unable to escape the umaplata after his opponent rolled back into the guard and Evan was again forced to roll to his back – would that be another 2 points?  What about a third time?  It seems a bit strange to award multiple points and advantages for the same movement/position.  For example, if a wrestler takes down his opponent with a double-leg and his arms remain wrapped his opponent’s legs, and his opponent manages to scoot away to his knees, forcing the wrestler, to pick his opponent up (with the same double-leg) and put him down again, that would not be award 4 points (2 points for 2 takedowns) – but is it two points for an omoplata?  That seems strange.

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