Area of Combat
When 2/3 of the athletes’ bodies are outside the combat area in a stabilized position on the ground, the referee should stop
the match and, noting the position of each athlete, restart the match at the center of the match area with the athletes in
![]() |
Green mats is the combat area, yelllow mats are safety mats |
When 2/3 of the athletes’ bodies are outside the combat area on foot or in a non-stabilized position on the ground, the
referee should stop the match and restart the two athletes on their feet at the center of the match area.When an athlete has a submission hold in place in the outlying safety area, the referee should not interrupt the match.
When an athlete has a submission hold in place and the opponent defends by moving to outside the outlying safety area, the
referee should stop the match and restart the match at the center of the match area with the athletes standing. In this case, when
the referee deems it clearly apparent the athlete under attack initiated the movement that led to exiting the match area, he/she

When one athlete takes his opponent to the outlying safety area while trying to stabilize a scoring position, the referee shall
wait, whenever possible, for an athlete to stabilize the position for 3 seconds before stopping the fight. If this happens, the refereewill give the points and then restart the fight in the center of the combat area.
Any movement that goes beyond the safety area should be stopped. The athletes will be returned to the center of the combat
area in a standing position.
When the fight exits the combat area due to the movement of an athlete attacking a submission in hold, the referee will not
mark two points after stopping the fight. Instead, the referee may give an advantage depending on the proximity of the submis
sion, while respecting the rules of advantages (Article 5th).
page 5 of the rules http://ibjjf.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/20140507_RuleBookIBJJF_v3.pdf