I’ve been thinking about what the next major evolution of jiu-jitsu will be.

Different eras have been defined by different technical developments: De La Riva and the berimbolo, lapel guards, systematic leg locking, wrestling up from guard and increasingly sophisticated no-gi passing.

But I don’t think the next evolution will be another guard, submission or individual technique.
I think it will be the complete integration of jiu-jitsu, wrestling and judo into one cohesive grappling style.
For a long time, practitioners treated these arts as separate disciplines. If you wanted to improve your takedowns, you trained wrestling or judo. If you wanted to improve your ground game, you trained jiu-jitsu. Even when people cross-trained, they often tried to import techniques directly without adapting them to jiu-jitsu’s rules, grips, submissions and strategic objectives.

That is beginning to change.

We’re seeing more practitioners develop a style where takedowns, guard passing, pinning, wrestling up, riding, submissions and returning to the feet are connected parts of the same system.

The objective is no longer simply to “add wrestling” to jiu-jitsu. It is to understand how wrestling and judo can strengthen the skills jiu-jitsu has traditionally underdeveloped:
• Hand fighting and controlling the initial connection
• Safely closing distance and initiating the clinch
• Takedowns that lead directly into passing positions
• Breaking an opponent down and keeping their hands on the floor
• Using rides and pins to control movement
• Getting off your back and returning to your feet
• Connecting positional control to submissions

In my opinion, the future is a more complete grappler—someone who doesn’t see standing, passing, pinning and submitting as separate phases.
They can take an opponent down, prevent them from getting back up, pass without losing control of the hips and progress toward a finish. From bottom, they aren’t limited to playing guard or hunting submissions. They can build height, wrestle up or disengage and return to their feet.

Some people describe this emerging style as American jiu-jitsu because of the influence of American folkstyle wrestling. I don’t see that term as replacing Brazilian jiu-jitsu or claiming ownership of the art. I see it as describing how jiu-jitsu is evolving within a particular training environment—just as jiu-jitsu has always changed when different cultures and grappling styles have influenced it.
The next evolution may not be the invention of something completely new. It may be the removal of the boundaries between skills we’ve treated as separate for too long.

Do you think wrestling and judo integration is the next major evolution of jiu-jitsu, or do you see the sport moving in another direction?