Ares Judo
“We're Joe Chraniuk and Aaron Turner. The two founders of Ares Judo. We've both been brought up in the sport of judo, as competitors, officials and coaches. After time and time again being left frustrated at the poor state of judo events in the UK, we decided we had enough. There had to be a change. So in 2024, we decided to start Ares Judo using our experience in the sport to make this the best judo event in the UK, and haven't looked back since.”
“Ares is a judo league built around atmosphere. Lights. Music. A bar. A crowd that actually feels like one. We took what MMA and boxing do brilliantly around their product and brought it to a sport that's been missing it for far too long. We launched with a one-off event. Now, we're running four divisions: Ares Premiership, Ares Championship, Ares Super Cup and Ares Futures.”
“British Judo loses too many people, and it loses them at the worst possible moment — around 18, when players either go full-time or drift away from the sport entirely. We wanted to give them a reason to stay on the mat. Somewhere they fight because they want to be there, not because they need ranking points. Somewhere clubs work together rather than against each other. To keep people in the sport, and keep British Judo alive.”
“The point system is simple: reward throwing for ippon, and take the fear of one mistake out of the contest. The current judo ruleset makes judoka fight with much more hesitation and less excitement.”
“Under our ruleset, they get a second chance — and what you see is more expressive, more attacking, more honest judo. The kind people actually want to watch. We truly believe the Ares Judo ruleset is the way forward in judo and is a huge part in what makes Ares events great for both spectators and fighters.”