Bye

A bye is an automatic advancement in a bracket when there is an odd number of competitors or when the bracket size is not a perfect power of two (2, 4, 8, 16, etc.). The competitor who receives a bye advances to the next round without having to fight a match. Byes are a normal part of tournament logistics and are not considered wins or losses in a competitor's record.

In most BJJ organizations, byes are assigned based on seeding or bracket position. In IBJJF events, the top seed (if seeding is used) or the competitor in the highest bracket position receives the bye. NAGA, AGF, and Grappling Industries handle byes according to their own bracket-building algorithms. In round robin formats (common at Grappling Industries), byes are less common because the format naturally accommodates odd numbers of competitors by giving each athlete a rest round.

For youth competitors and their parents, receiving a bye can be both good and bad. The advantage is advancing without risk — you cannot lose a match you do not fight. The disadvantage is that you do not get a warm-up match, which means your first competition match is against an opponent who is already warmed up. Coaches often prepare athletes for the possibility of a bye by ensuring they have a thorough warm-up plan. On JITS.GG, byes are filtered from match records and do not affect a competitor's win/loss statistics or rating.