Belt System in BJJ

[JFG]

I've been reading up on other forms of martial arts and I've seen this a bit myself. It seems a lot of schools award students far too often and easily and as a result the black belt means much less then it actually should.

I get the feeling that belts are much harder to earn in BJJ and that it truly means that you are doing well when you progress to the next belt level.

Am I right in my thinking? Or does BJJ often hand belts out like nothing as a way of keeping students interested as well?

[aseepish]

Promotions in BJJ are performance-based. In other words, in order to get your blue belt, you have to be able to "hang" with the other blue belts on the mat, during sparring. Some clubs have required techniques or actual belt tests, others don't. In my case I was told by my instructor at the end of a class to bring a blue belt to my next session.

Some clubs have a stripe system as well.

[SamuraiGuy]

Thats not neccessarily true.... I've heard of Gracies giving people blue belts after one seminar... the gracies dont care they get payed, and its not like this person is going to matter to them or bjj, and if they are going to matter, they will eventually earn the blue belt.

I know a person who got one of these, but hes a brown, possibly black under Jacare know... which he deserves.... he owns me so easily...

[LoneHusky]

Don't judge a man by his belt color.

[sapatiero]

Originally Posted by SamuraiGuy

Thats not neccessarily true.... I've heard of Gracies giving people blue belts after one seminar... the gracies dont care they get payed, and its not like this person is going to matter to them or bjj, and if they are going to matter, they will eventually earn the blue belt.

I know a person who got one of these, but hes a brown, possibly black under Jacare know... which he deserves.... he owns me so easily...

Yeah - Royce tends to watch guys rolling at his seminars, then give out blues depending on aptitude. Not sure if I completely agree with this (I didn´t wear my Royce blue, but waited till I got it from Gracie Barra).

Having said that, a belt from Rorions academy is well deserved, and there are purple belts that have been training for 17 years.

I´m staying in Barra at the moment and on Carlos Jr.´s side of the family they have some awesome black belts & world champions but IMHO the standard varies a lot within a belt.

Generally, I think it´s harder to earn a belt in BJJ than most (all?) other arts. And remember to watch out for the guys that aren´t interested in the belt - the belt don´t make the man

[JaredExtreme]

Originally Posted by sapatiero

Having said that, a belt from Rorions academy is well deserved, and there are purple belts that have been training for 17 years.

That's because Rorion doesn't promote anyone but his sons to black.

[OmaPlata]

Originally Posted by JFG

I've been reading up on other forms of martial arts and I've seen this a bit myself. It seems a lot of schools award students far too often and easily and as a result the black belt means much less then it actually should.

I get the feeling that belts are much harder to earn in BJJ and that it truly means that you are doing well when you progress to the next belt level.

Am I right in my thinking? Or does BJJ often hand belts out like nothing as a way of keeping students interested as well?

Its 100 times harder to advance in BJJ than other arts. Most schools dont want a represenative going to another school and getting worked, or a tourny.

[Sensei Saki]

I think you mean "it's" or "it is" not "its". Who said
100 times harder to advance in BJJ than other arts is?
Quite honestly, I wouldn't worry myself about that. But not all of them?

[BoarSpear]

Originally Posted by OmaPlata

Its 100 times harder to advance in BJJ than other arts. Most schools dont want a represenative going to another school and getting worked, or a tourny.

I guess they dont mind scooting around the ring on their ass in a tourny though EH?

i assume that butt scoot crap Royler was using on Sak is a BB technique?
it didnt appear too effective, even in the ring...maybe they oughta demote him until he can use those awesome GJJ techniques their all so proud of more effectively

[cam427]

Boar,

Stop winding everyone up. Royler is very good at what he does but was badly outmatched in that fight. What he was doing was useless and just a method to try and stall and hold on until the end of the fight so he could say he was never beaten (if he made it to the end it counts as a draw). It is some crazy Gracie thing where they like to claim to be unbeaten.

He is still one one of the best grapplers in the world and has beaten many people from many styles in many different types of competition.

JFG,

In general someone who has a high belt ranking in BJJ will have earned it and will be at a high standard but this is not always the case. There are greedy people in BJJ like every other style. The difference is that it is harder to pull it off because BJJ people like to roll with senior people so they are usually exposed very quickly.

I have also been at a Gracie seminar where a big bunch of blue belts were handed out at the end without any proper testing (and a refusal to provide any certification). I have also seen an article on a website for a UK magazine where a member of the Gracie family had contacted a number of people and offered to sell them a black belt for $5000.

I have also been in clubs other than BJJ where it was incredibly difficult to grade.

Many styles (Vale Tudo, boxing, wrestling, and many others) have no belt system but produce many great fighters.

Forget the belts. Just enjoy the training and see where it leads you.

Cam

[SamuraiGuy]

lol funny story related to bjj belts...

rolling with a purple belt, he starts killing me, so I do the "white belt flail"... after about 30 more seconds his belt somehow is caught in mine and pulled off of him.. (we were doing a conditioning, roll with a bunch of people in a row drill so his gi was a bit untidy at this point)

so he chokes me out, I tap, and when I sit up, his belt is still tucked in mine, and he says..

"y'know just cause you took my purple belt doesnt mean your gonna beat me"

then he laughed...

it was in like a funny tone though lol, hes not some jackass... oh well I thought it was funny...