The North American Grappling Association (NAGA) is a grappling and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) promotion started in 1995. NAGA Submission Grappling and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournaments are held throughout North America and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. NAGA is the largest submission grappling association in the world with over 700,000 participants world-wide, including some of the top submission grapplers and MMA fighters in the world. NAGA grappling tournaments consist of gi and no-gi divisions. No-Gi competitors compete under rules drafted by NAGA. Gi competitors compete under standardized Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu rules. NAGA also promotes

MMA Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on strike (attack), striking, grappling and ground f ...

events which they term Reality Fighting.

Skill Levels

Competitors in NAGA competitions are broken into weight divisions, skill levels, and age categories.

Adults (18 years & over)

* Novice (6 months total grappling experience) * Beginner (6 months to 2 years total grappling experience) * Intermediate (2 years to 5 years total grappling experience. BJJ blue belts are Intermediate) * Expert (5 years + total grappling experience. BJJ purple, brown, black belts are Expert)

Children (13 years & under) & Teens (14-17 years)

* Novice (6 months & under total grappling experience. Children are not allowed to do submissions) * Beginner (6 months to 1 year total grappling experience) * Intermediate (1 year to 2 years total grappling experience) * Advance (2 years to 3 years total grappling experience) * Expert (3 years + total grappling experience) Total grappling experience includes but is not limited to; wrestling experience, BJJ experience, judo experience, sambo experience, JKD experience, etc. Any training that consists of grappling is counted towards your total experience.

Weight Divisions

Men's No-Gi & Gi

Women's Gi & No-Gi

Children's No-Gi & Gi Grappling Divisions (13 years of age & under)

Teen's NO-GI & GI Grappling Divisions (14 to 17 years of age)

Reality Fighting

NAGA's MMA division, Reality Fighting, holds

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

events in New Jersey and Massachusetts. The rules that govern each match are set by each state's athletic commission. Reality Fighting previous champions include BJJ Black Belt and UFC veteran

Gabriel Gonzaga Gabriel Gonzaga Santos Nogueira (; born 18 May 1979) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist, who competed in the Heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He is perhaps best known for his upset head-kick knockout of ...

, current Reality Fighting Light-Heavyweight Champion and The Ultimate Fighter: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir veteran Mike Stewart and former

UFC Lightweight Champion Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champions are fighters who have won UFC championships. Historical notes At the time of the UFC's inception in 1993, mixed martial arts was not sanctioned in the United States, and did not include weight classe ...

Khabib Nurmagomedov Khabib Abdulmanapovich Nurmagomedov av, ХIабиб ГӀабдулманапил НурмухӀамадов (born 20 September 1988) is a Russian former professional mixed martial artist. He competed in the lightweight division of the Ultima ...

.http://www.sherdog.com Fighter profile Some other notable fighters who fought in Reality Fighting are

Frankie Edgar Frankie Edgar (born October 16, 1981) is an American retired professional mixed martial artist, who most recently competed in the Bantamweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Beginning his career in the Lightweight division, ...

Joe Lauzon Joseph Edward Lauzon Jr. (born May 22, 1984) is an American professional mixed martial artist, competing in the UFC's Lightweight division. A well-rounded fighter, he has the fourth most post-fight bonus awards in UFC history, behind Donald Ce ...

Kenny Florian Kenneth Alan Florian (born May 26, 1976) is an American retired mixed martial artist and commentator who formerly competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He formerly served as an analyst for UFC on Fox from 2011–2018, and he als ...

Tim Sylvia Timothy Deane Sylvia (born March 5, 1976) is an American retired mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter, professional wrestler, and a former two-time UFC Heavyweight Champion. He has competed as a Super Heavyweight and Heavyweight. While he is best kn ...

, Jorge Rivera,

Kurt Pellegrino Kurt Joseph Pellegrino (born May 7, 1979) is an American retired mixed martial artist. He competed in the lightweight division for Bellator Fighting Championships and Ultimate Fighting Championship. Early life Pellegrino wrestled for Point Pleasa ...

, Jim Miller, Dan Miller,

Rob Font Rob Font (born June 25, 1987) is an American professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Bantamweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). A professional competitor since 2011, Font formerly competed for CES M ...

Joe Proctor Joseph Edward Proctor (born August 10, 1985) is an American mixed martial artist who most recently competed in the welterweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. A professional competitor since 2008, Proctor was also a competitor o ...

Matt Bessette Matthew James Bessette (born December 28, 1984) is a retired American mixed martial artist currently competing in CES MMA where he is the reigning Featherweight Champion. A professional competitor since 2007, he has also competed for Bellato ...

, Josh Diekmann, and

Josh Grispi Josh Richard Grispi (born October 14, 1988) is an American former professional mixed martial artist. A professional competitor from 2006 until 2014, he has competed for the UFC and WEC. Background Grispi, a talented hockey player, was kicked ...

References

External links

Official website for the North American Grappling Association
{{Grappling Brazilian jiu-jitsu organizations Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitions Sports organizations established in 1995 International sports organizations Grappling competitions No-Gi Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitions