The times are changing for Polaris Professional Jiu-Jitsu Invitational. After running 3 submission-only events, Polaris have decided to introduce judges decisions for the 4th edition of their illustrious grappling event. The news comes just months removed from Polaris 3, which saw all main card fights end without submissions, which meant by the nature of the submission-only ruleset, they were declared draws.

The new judging criteria includes positives and negatives points.There will be a limited number of points (three per category, with three categories in total) that must be distributed between the fighters. Negative points can be given, but they are limited to one per 5 minutes.

the full judging criteria is listed below:

For:

A) Aggression & heart

- Pushing the pace of the bout

- Escaping submission attempts

- Initiating exciting exchanges

- Creating a feeling of excitement in the audience

B) Positional control

- Takedowns

- Sweeps

- Achieving mount, back, side control

C) Legitimate submission attempts

- Must cause the opponent to attempt to escape

Against:

D) Stalling and passivity

- Not capitalising on good positions

- Constantly moving backwards

- Exiting the competition area

- Being overly defensive

- Not attempting to advance position

E) Poor sportsmanship / fouls

- Attempting illegal submissions

- Striking

- Any other breach of the rules

- In extreme cases the referee may disqualify or remove another point at his or her discretion

Considering the outcome of Polaris 3, it will be interesting to see these rules enforced, the judging should provide and extra element of excitement for the tournament.

Polaris 4 is tentatively scheduled to take place in the autumn and will likely be available via pay-per-view stream.