The Gorilla Contenders ruleset is the same as the ruleset for Gorilla Invitational.

• RULES:
• Matches are won by submission or judge's decision
• All submissions will be allowed on Gorilla Invitational. Smothers, cranks, twisters, heel hooks etc are all allowed at all belt levels.
• No strikes of any kind. For example, If the referee thinks you are striking when going for collar ties, you will be warned. This will affect the judges' scorecards should the match go to a decision.
• Nails and toenails must be cut short and will be checked prior to your match. If they are not you will be made to cut them mat side. If you fail to do so within the given time period you will be disqualified.

• No fish hooking, scratching, poking, penetration of the eyes or bending fingers.
• No slams. If you get airtime during a takedown in one motion this is fine, but any deliberate attempt to injure or spike your opponent at any point of the transition will result in a DQ.
• Try and stay in bounds. If your takedown requires you to run your opponent across the mat out of bounds, the referee will stop you on the boundary and you will be reset from neutral.
• Avoid playing the boundary, try and keep the action in the middle of the mat. If you are avoiding wrestling exchanges by playing the boundary but not commiting to the action, this will play into the judges decision.

JUDGES CRITERIA:

In Gorilla Contenders, the referee will be the sole judge in the event of no submission.

The main thing judges are looking for is legitimate submission attempts that have to be defended by your opponent.

Should there be an even level of submission attempts on either side or none at all then judges will be looking for who dominated positionally during the match.

If the match ends up being a stand-up match then takedowns or near takedowns / initiating attempts will score over your opponent.

Submissions score highest! If you get your guard passed and you get mounted for most of the match but manage to escape and lock in a tight submission that your opponent has to defend, you will win.

Push the action! If neither of you can get any subs/takedowns/passes/back takes to land then whoever pushed the action the most will win.

Defending and staying safe taking no risks will not win you the match if the score is neutral.