Competition • Riverton, Utah
Jiu-Jitsu competition training in Riverton
A great challenge, and one of the best experiences Jiu-Jitsu has to offer.
Gracie Barra runs its own global competition league, CompNet, with divisions for kids, adults, beginners, and black belts. Our instructors help you decide whether it is the right moment, then build the plan that takes you there.
Is it for you?
Competition can make your Jiu-Jitsu better. The question is when.
You don't have to be a competitor to compete. You have to be curious.
Gracie Barra encourages every student to try it at least once, at any age and any belt. Not because winning matters, but because of what the preparation does to your Jiu-Jitsu.
Our instructors will tell you honestly whether it is a good fit right now. If yes, they build the plan around your division and your game. If not yet, they will tell you what to work on and roughly how long it takes.
And to be clear, it is your call. Plenty of our members never enter a tournament, and nothing about their belts depends on it.
“With lots of positive encouragement from my Professors, I tried it out, fell in love with it, and have been on the roll ever since.”
Coach Kaitlyn, who never planned to compete
What you get out of it
What one tournament actually gives you.
Six things students tell us after their first competition, almost none of which are about the result.
A date changes how you train
A specific Saturday on the calendar turns vague training into focused training. You start working on the two things that will decide your matches.
You find out what actually works
Your training partners know your game. A stranger doesn't. Competition tests your Jiu-Jitsu against someone unfamiliar with it and equally motivated to win.
Nerves are a skill
Standing on the edge of a mat with your heart going is uncomfortable, and it's also trainable. Competition is a controlled place to meet nerves and pressure, and to learn to perform through them.
Putting it into practice
Everything you drill in class finally gets used. At CompNet you face students from other Gracie Barra schools, training the same curriculum with a different game to yours. You get a clear look at which parts of your Jiu-Jitsu hold up under competition rules.
You go as a team
Competitors from the academy travel together, warm up together, and corner each other's matches. Plenty of students say the day was fun in a way they didn't expect.
It gives you a reason to keep going
Motivation naturally rises and falls. A tournament date gives your training a concrete short-term goal, and that works at every belt and every age.
The league
CompNet, Gracie Barra's own circuit.
For many Gracie Barra students, CompNet is a natural place to experience a first competition.
CompNet, short for Competition Network, is Gracie Barra's global Jiu-Jitsu league, formed by and for Gracie Barra members. Its roots go back to the in-house tournaments Grand Master Carlos Gracie Jr. ran in the 1990s. The first official CompNet was held in 2008, in Irvine, California.
CompNet now hosts events around the world throughout the year, with local events feeding into regional championships, regional into national titles, and every result counting toward the CompNet Global Ranking.
Divisions run across a wide range of ages and belt levels, including kids, adults and complete beginners, each in their own bracket. The league exists partly so that a first-timer has somewhere familiar to start.
Gracie Barra's own global competition league, for GB members
Roots in the 1990s; first official event in 2008, Irvine, California
Events around the world throughout the year
A wide range of ages and belt levels, each in its own bracket
Local → regional → national, all feeding the CompNet Global Ranking
Three CompNet registrations included on the Legacy plan
Our Legacy membership covers three CompNet registrations per 12 months of active membership, because we would rather our students have the experience than weigh up an entry fee. One of the three can be used instead for a kid's birthday party on the mats. Compare all three memberships.
The competition class
How you actually get ready.
Nobody is sent to a tournament unprepared. This is the path from "maybe" to standing on the mat.
Tell your instructor you're curious
That's the whole first step. They'll tell you honestly whether your base is ready, and if it isn't yet, what to work on and roughly how long it'll take.
Join the Saturday competition class
Our competition class runs on Saturday mornings and is open to students across GB1, GB2, and GB3. Strategy, higher intensity, and drilling built around the specific situations that decide matches. Your instructor will tell you when it's a good time to add it.
Build a plan around the date
Your instructor builds the weeks leading up to the event around your division and your game, so you arrive having drilled the exact situations you are likely to meet.
Go with the team
You won't arrive alone. Competitors from the academy travel together, warm up together, and corner each other's matches. Somebody who knows your Jiu-Jitsu will be shouting from the side of that mat.
Taught by competitors
The people preparing you have done it themselves.
Gracie Barra founder Grand Master Carlos Gracie Jr. also founded the IBJJF, which organizes major Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu championships worldwide. Gracie Barra has a long competitive tradition, and at Riverton the instructors preparing and cornering students bring extensive competition experience of their own.
Prof. Seidler Rodrigo
Black Belt, 3rd Degree • competing since 2011
He started the same way he asks students to: “I like challenges, so I started competing when I was a white belt.” He will tell you competing shows you a side of Jiu-Jitsu that class alone never does.
See his full recordHe started the same way everyone does: as a beginner who was nervous about a first tournament. That's the point of putting the record here. Meet the whole team.
Common questions
About competing.
How do I know if I'm ready to compete?
Ask your instructor. They have watched you train and they will be direct about whether it is a good moment. If it is, they build a plan around your division and your game. If it is not yet, they will tell you what to work on and roughly how long it takes.
Should I compete as a beginner?
Gracie Barra encourages every student to try it at least once, at any belt. CompNet has divisions for complete beginners as well as for black belts, and it exists partly so that first-timers have a familiar, professionally run place to start. Most people say the preparation improved their Jiu-Jitsu more than the day itself.
What is CompNet?
CompNet, short for Competition Network, is Gracie Barra's own global Jiu-Jitsu league, created by and for Gracie Barra members. The first official event was held in 2008 in Irvine, California, and CompNet now hosts events around the world throughout the year, all feeding a global ranking.
Is competing mandatory?
No. Nothing about your progress or your promotions depends on it, and plenty of our members never enter one. That said, we do encourage it, because a tournament teaches things a regular class cannot: how you train with a date on the calendar, how you handle pressure, and what your Jiu-Jitsu looks like against someone who has never rolled with you. Try it once and decide from there.
Can my child compete?
If they want to, yes, in their own age and belt division. It's optional for children exactly as it is for adults, and we'd rather a child went once because they were curious than because anyone pushed them.
Are CompNet registrations included in my membership?
Three CompNet registrations are included per 12 months of active membership on the Legacy plan. One of them can be used instead for a kid's birthday party on the mats. The Team and Shield plans don't include registrations.
How do I prepare for my first tournament?
Tell your instructor you're interested. Once your base is solid you'll join the Saturday competition class and build a plan around the date.
What is the competition class?
A dedicated session that runs on Saturday mornings, open to students from GB1, GB2, and GB3. Strategy, high-intensity drilling, and work built around the specific positions that decide matches. It sits alongside the regular curriculum rather than replacing it, and your instructor will tell you when it's a good time to add it.
Do you only compete in CompNet?
CompNet is our own league and the natural first step, but our students and instructors also compete in IBJJF events and local Utah tournaments. Ask your instructor which competition suits where you are.
Where is the academy?
2936 W 12600 S, Ste 1&2, Riverton, UT 84065, with free parking right in front. Students come in from South Jordan, Draper, Bluffdale, and Sandy.
Start on the mat
Every competitor here started with one free class.
Come train, build a base, and talk to your instructor when the idea starts to appeal to you. Some students are ready in months, some take years, and some never go. All three are a good outcome, and you don't have to decide anything today.
Send us a message
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Fill out the form and someone from the academy will get back to you shortly.
Beginners are the norm here. Most people who contact us have never trained before.
Full transparency. Ask about pricing, class times, or how a session actually runs. You get the real details up front.
Your first class is free whenever you decide you're ready.
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