Looking Back: The 8/20 Submission Only Invitational

Long before submission-only invitationals were the default in pro grappling, a small show in Hoxton, East London quietly got on with it.

Saturday August 23rd 2014 marked the very first 8/20 Invitational. Eight elite purple belts battled it out in twenty-minute, submission-only matches, with a black belt superfight rounding off the card. Spectators got a live DJ, food, drink, and clothing stalls, and the whole night was filmed by EatFilms.

Looking back from 2026, the format the 8/20 organisers put together feels obvious — but at the time, points and advantages still ruled almost everything outside ADCC. Eight rising names, twenty minutes each, no judges, just finishes: it was a small but real bet that fans wanted to watch grapplers try to submit each other.

A decade later, the format has gone everywhere. Polaris is into its long run, Who's Number One has built an audience for the best black belts in the world, ADCC is still the gold standard, and there are submission-only scrap nights on the calendar in academies up and down the UK every month. The purple belt division on those early 8/20 cards is exactly the kind of talent pool that, in 2026, fills the under-card of every major show.

The 8/20 itself was a small London Saturday with a DJ and some stalls. But it was also a glimpse of where this whole thing was going.

See you on the mats.

Originally published in Jiu Jitsu Style. Refreshed for 2026.