History of the SJJIF

Led by Professor João Silva, in March of 2013, the Sport Jiu-Jitsu International Federation (SJJIF) was founded by professors João Silva , Patricia Silva, Samuel Aschidamini, Edison Kagohara and Cleiber Maia.

These individuals realized the importance of organizing and structuring the sport of Jiu-Jitsu and understood that this would be a journey that would need the collaboration and partnerships of everyone with love for the sport. It was understood among these individuals, that with the sport constantly changing and growing popularity around the world, a unified body was necessary to make Jiu-Jitsu a standalone sport that could represents itself independently in the Olympic Games.

Since its inception, the mission of the SJJIF has been to make Jiu-Jitsu an Olympic Sport. By formulating one set of rules, the SJJIF has helped unify existing federations by creating high quality and reliable competitions internationally. It aims to expand its goal of unifying existing federations and transition the sport to Olympic standards that embody the Olympic spirit.

SJJIF hosted its first international event, the SJJIF World Championship, on December 14 and 15 of 2013 at the Long Beach Pyramid in Long Beach, California USA. The SJJIF has grown tremendously since its founding and it has already had sanctioned events and federations in North America, South America, Asia, Europe, Africa and Oceania.