Who referees a ju-jitsu fighting match?
A · Advanced · Fouls and officials · 2 of 2A mat referee runs the match and gives every score and penalty, backed by two video referees who can correct a call when both disagree with it. Where there is no video, two side referees sit at the mat and scores go by majority. An injured fighter has two minutes of treatment time in a match.
How it works
- Mat referee: on the mat. The only one who gives scores and penalties, and who corrects them.
- Two video referees: beside the secretariat, with cameras at opposite corners.
- Both disagree: one stands and shows the corrected score, or the middle score if all three differ.
- No video: two side referees in the safety area. All three signal at once, and points go by majority.
- Table referee: announces points to the scorekeepers and runs the pin clock and the injury clock.
- Head referee: supervises the panel, and reviews any action that leads to a direct hansoku-make.
- Always reviewed: an action that leads to an injury or to a full ippon.
- Injury time: two minutes for each fighter in a match.
- Loss of consciousness: the fighter is out of the tournament, and suspended for three weeks if it came from a blow to the head.
- Coaches: one for each fighter, seated, who may challenge a decision under the Sporting Code.
The glossary has the referee team, the injury time, the coaches, the fusen-gachi and kiken-gachi, the referee gestures and the Sporting Code.
Tricky cases
One video referee thinks a score was wrong and the other agrees with the mat referee. Is it changed?
No.
The three referees want to give three different scores. What is recorded?
The intermediate score.
A fighter is hurt and cannot continue. Who wins?
It depends on the cause. If the injury is the injured fighter's own doing, or nobody's, the other fighter wins by withdrawal. If the uninjured fighter caused it, the injured fighter wins, and if it came from a severe foul the result is hansoku-make.
Can a coach challenge any call?
The rulebook says only that coaches may challenge according to the Sporting Code. That document is not saved, so the limits are not given here.
Why the rule exists
One referee on the mat cannot watch a fist, a grip and the edge of the area at once. Two more views, from fixed cameras, catch what the first missed, and the rule that both must disagree stops the match from being refereed from the table.
Where it differs
| Where | What changes | Source |
|---|---|---|
| With video | Mat referee and two video referees | JJIF Fighting 3.1.1 to 3.1.3 |
| Without video | Mat referee and two side referees, by majority | JJIF Fighting 3.1.8 |
| Injury time | Two minutes for each fighter | JJIF Fighting 10.2 |
| Blackout from a blow to the head | Three weeks' suspension | JJIF Fighting 10.6.1 |
| Ne-waza | The same panel of one and two | JJIF Ne-Waza 5.7; 5.8 |
From the rule book
Ju-Jitsu International Federation, Ju-Jitsu Fighting Rulebook (version 4.0, approved October 2022), Sections 3, 6, 10 and 11 and Appendix II. Checked 14 October 2026. Official document: the federation's Ju-Jitsu Fighting Rulebook.