A Russian Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu open tournament descended into chaos just the other day as a brawl broke out between the BJJ competitors, some spectators and even a referee. The Moscow Winter BJJ Cup took place on January 18th 2020 in Krasnonogorsk, just outside the capital of Russia.

The competition was based in a sports hall and for an unknown reason, several competitors started to argue and draw a crowd of people around them, seemingly attempting to calm the heated parties down. As one man started to leave the crowd, another attempted to pull him back and this is when the fight broke out.

This almost immediately escalated as several members of the crowd, both spectators and competitors, started to join in. There are several points in the video below where it seems as though the more sensible members of the crowd have managed to break things up but the damage was already done. Each time that things began to de-escalate, new fights continually sprang up, seemingly unrelated from the original disagreement but equally as intense.

What’s worse is, this isn’t even the first time that a brawl has broken out at a BJJ tournament in Russia. Just last year, in April, an ACBJJ tournament in Pyatigorsk resulted in similar scenes as a mob of angry spectators rushed onto the mats to confront one specific competitor after he allegedly used obscene language at a referee.

It’s not even unique to Russia as we should all remember Erberth Santos instigating the brawl at a BJJ Stars event. Although, despite being banned from all future BJJ Stars events, Santos did later claim that he did not initiate the brawl and was actually the first victim, having received a punch to the ribs and racist comments before anything began.