This is my ibjjf belt record signed by Professor Rogerio Olegario. The black belt will be approved by ibjjf in May of this year because my first registration to ibjjf as a brown belt was made in May 2019 so that I had the authorization to compete in the Italian open 2019 as there was registration requirement, which did not happen in the Italian open 2018. I think I was exhaustive for the international community of the Brazilian jiu jitsu

Black Belt in 5 years? That is very fast. Not too many people in the world that can do that.

I'm not really big on this, but here it is.

You look good there with the championship belt mate

lol. That man is 6'4' and 285lbs.... That's not me.

I too have decided to vote Cosimo's profile, he has provided plenty of documentation and photographic evidence to prove that he got his black belt from Professor Rogerio. Professor Rogerio is also friends with mutual friends of mine who are all top black belts. It would be a wrong if the beltchecker website community were drawn into a witchhunt based on unfounded accusations. The system would easiy fall down. I have been impartial and listened to both sides of the story here and have made my decision based on evidence that has been documented.

You voted for a man who take the belt in 5 years like the real champion, but lives in a city where Jiu Jitsu didn’t exist until 1 years ago , in south Italy where there are only a bunch of real black belt. Congrats

If there is no doubt that this person was actually promoted to black belt, then the critique should be against the promoter, not the promoted, in my opinion. But please post the evidence you say you have of the belt being fake, so people can make their own unbiased opinion and vote accordingly!

If there is no doubt that this person was actually promoted to black belt, then the critique should be against the promoter, not the promoted, in my opinion. But please post the evidence you say you have of the belt being fake, so people can make their own unbiased opinion and vote accordingly!

If there is no doubt that this person was actually promoted to black belt, then the critique should be against the promoter, not the promoted, in my opinion. But please post the evidence you say you have of the belt being fake, so people can make their own unbiased opinion and vote accordingly!

I don't agree UNLESS the promotion was by total surprise (and even then - person could choose NOT to seek validation from Beltchecker for example). Critique should run both ways. I'll propose a hypothetical scenario: let's say a well-known and respected blackbelt has a mental health related episode that they do some questionable decisions in, including promoting several different people to black belt, some of them practicioners some of them not but several gladly accepting the belt. Or what about if we know that someone has gotten a belt, their skill is questioned and a hefty financial transaction / sponsorship has gone down between the deemed-legit belt-giver and belt receiver? Would Beltchecker acknowledge the belt of Bolsonaro, just because it's given by legends of BJJ?

Also this discussion is nice reiteration of the point I have made a couple of times - IMO Beltchecker has to organically be(come) something MORE than just 'checking' (e.g. via photos) if a belt was awarded by a (confirmed) eligible blackbelt. Otherwise it'll become just a rubber stamp to already existing hierarchy / power dynamics (including IBJJF) without adding much real value.

Jorgen, Wait, are you suggesting that as a 4th degree black belt, I should disintermediate my own influence based on that rank? Okay, I agree to. In the first place, I prefer systems have some benevolent chaos rather than overly rigid order without such an allowance. In the second place, come on guys, the belt ranks are silly anyway. Belt ranks are not much more than a century old. Movies, newspapers, and marketers love the idea of ninjas and 'black belts'. As for me, I don't mind teaching something if I know it, I don't mind having a blue belt teach something they are really good at, And most days, I am glad not to have a fart not take a wrong turn on me. The dilemma comes in, that if we are going to have a belt system, and we happen to be holders of higher rank, that can promote, or exert community influence, then that becomes a stewardship responsibility, not a personal power that we possess for personal use, for personal reasons. So, we each have to assess what are the rules that we feel we are expected to follow, and then must try to act responsibly, and fairly, to those we train, and also, even to those from our most heated rivals or rival teams, or rival groups, etc. Just because one might be willing to break the limb of the opponent trying to break one's own limb does not mean we cannot, within the bounds of all out adversarialism in the right contexts, also show respect to our peers, who may have more in common with us than they do apart. Put another way, anybody that has taught a heavy weight and suffered being thrown or crushed by them in the process, and anybody who has a student sweat into their eye a thousand times while teaching a move, who has grappled until they had nothing left, day after day, is probably my brother of a sort, even if they are my most intense rival on the mats or competing for students.

Also this discussion is nice reiteration of the point I have made a couple of times - IMO Beltchecker has to organically be(come) something MORE than just 'checking' (e.g. via photos) if a belt was awarded by a (confirmed) eligible blackbelt. Otherwise it'll become just a rubber stamp to already existing hierarchy / power dynamics (including IBJJF) without adding much real value.

I guess that's up to the community. If they decide to vote based on their own assessment of people's ranks, and not the instructors', then that's how it is. But it will take the average community opinion to support this.

If you vote for me for class President, Recess will be 2 hours, Week ends will be 3 days, not 2, every week, And homework will be replaced with free time. Also, everybody gets a free kitten, or a puppy, or a new firearm, of what ever make and model kitten, puppy, or firearm that you choose. Pizza will be available as an alternative at every meal. And everyone will receive $1,000 a month that will be taken from billionaires, who will be spanked, twice daily for being rich. If you are poor, and would also like to be spanked, that can be arranged, because we have professional spankers of all shapes, ages, and sizes to suit your preference.

If you vote for me for class President, Recess will be 2 hours, Week ends will be 3 days, not 2, every week, And homework will be replaced with free time. Also, everybody gets a free kitten, or a puppy, or a new firearm, of what ever make and model kitten, puppy, or firearm that you choose. Pizza will be available as an alternative at every meal. And everyone will receive $1,000 a month that will be taken from billionaires, who will be spanked, twice daily for being rich. If you are poor, and would also like to be spanked, that can be arranged, because we have professional spankers of all shapes, ages, and sizes to suit your preference.

Also this discussion is nice reiteration of the point I have made a couple of times - IMO Beltchecker has to organically be(come) something MORE than just 'checking' (e.g. via photos) if a belt was awarded by a (confirmed) eligible blackbelt. Otherwise it'll become just a rubber stamp to already existing hierarchy / power dynamics (including IBJJF) without adding much real value.

I absolutely agree with Jorgen here. I would like to say something in the discussion started around Carone's belt (I don't know him but I know the Italian scene and even more my native region scene, which is where the participants of this feud all live, so I'm very well aware of the rumours around his person). First of everything, the fact that people who do not know him verify the belt based on pictures, but people who know him, people from the region (three black belts already with I all know by having personally spent a lot of time on the mat together) all agree on dispute him, should by itself raise more than a flag. Disputes on beltchecker are so rare that starting one should immediately have everyone carefully consider if it's the case to verify based on pictures or not. Second, the fact that a black belt with a lot of stripes over the red band is or was a fierce competitor, fighter or teacher or whatever, does not mean that the same person is not engaging in the debatable activity of selling belts. And in this particular case, while I'm friend with very skilled and knowledgeable black belts who got promoted by Olegario, I also know of more than one occurrence where, and there is no way to say it differently, the belt has been bought very quickly. And I can confirm by memory that this practice got him banned from the Italian representative of IBJJF, even if a google search unfortunately comes out with no results. And here we come to the 3 questions posed by William: 1) Did the promoted black belt have years spent rolling, practicing, and/or Jiu-Jitsu teaching on the mats? 2) Did the promote black belt have competition matches in grappling at various expertise / belt rank divisions, or MMA competition? 3) Did the promoted black belt's students have competition success? While the answer to the first one is pretty straight forward (yes/no), a positive answer to question number 2 is not particularly meaningful because I can buy my belt, enter a tournament in a 2 or 3 men division, get wrecked and post about my silver or bronze medal. Hurray?

I absolutely agree with Jorgen here. I would like to say something in the discussion started around Carone's belt (I don't know him but I know the Italian scene and even more my native region scene, which is where the participants of this feud all live, so I'm very well aware of the rumours around his person). First of everything, the fact that people who do not know him verify the belt based on pictures, but people who know him, people from the region (three black belts already with I all know by having personally spent a lot of time on the mat together) all agree on dispute him, should by itself raise more than a flag. Disputes on beltchecker are so rare that starting one should immediately have everyone carefully consider if it's the case to verify based on pictures or not. Second, the fact that a black belt with a lot of stripes over the red band is or was a fierce competitor, fighter or teacher or whatever, does not mean that the same person is not engaging in the debatable activity of selling belts. And in this particular case, while I'm friend with very skilled and knowledgeable black belts who got promoted by a certain guy, I also know of more than one occurrence where, and there is no way to say it differently, the belt has been bought very quickly. And I can confirm by memory that this practice got somebody banned from the Italian representative of IBJJF, even if a google search unfortunately comes out with no results. And here we come to the 3 questions posed by William: 1) Did the promoted black belt have years spent rolling, practicing, and/or Jiu-Jitsu teaching on the mats? 2) Did the promote black belt have competition matches in grappling at various expertise / belt rank divisions, or MMA competition? 3) Did the promoted black belt's students have competition success? While the answer to the first one is pretty straight forward (yes/no), a positive answer to question number 2 is not particularly meaningful because I can buy my belt, enter a tournament in a 2 or 3 men division, get wrecked and post about my silver or bronze medal. Hurray?

I am going to offer a slightly different point of view to what you just described. You were promoted by Din Thomas. I knew Din when he was a white belt, and we all fought, and sent fighters, to fight in the South Florida / Miami area Shoot fighting and NHB events back in the mid nineties. I have watched Din progress to his current rank of Black belt, And I know personally that he is of the right rank, and right skill level to promote. If you report that Din Thomas promoted you, and I contact Din and he affirms that he promoted you, and I vote for you based on that corroboration research, that is not voting to affirm someone's rank 'based on pictures'. Now, regarding Rogerio, I understand that you are under no obligation to vote for people like Jacopo or Carone that Rogerio promoted to some belt level or other. However, for me to stop voting to affirm Rogerio's confirmed promotions based on an allegation or a rumor that he is 'selling belts', I am going to need more than just an allegation or rumor, and some degree of proof of same, Otherwise, every local area could pick a competitor and make such an allegation, particularly if there was bad business or competitive blood between that one team / coach, and the other teams. I say this respectfully to all parties. But over the past three decades involved with the Jiu-Jitsu community, I have seen some pretty cutthroat business behaviors and social behaviors between competing local teams in my time. And I have also seen people who made extremely dubious promotions. It is a thorny problem for everyone else not involved in the local politics.

Curious to see what everyone's lineage looks like. Also feel free to post your opinions on the importance or lack there of, of bjj lineage. How many steps from the source are you?! I am a blue belt under Allan Goes and my lineage is: Mitsuyo Maeda > Carlos Gracie > Carlson Gracie > Allan Goes > Me