In my humble opinion, a 1:st degree BB should not promote someone else to 1:st degree BB, as they (per most common standards) can't promote to all ranks lower than 1:st degree BB (i.e. BB without degrees). A first degree with an instructor name attached to the promotion to me signals that it is NOT just a time served degree but awarded by a senior practitioner of a higher rank (still after the promotion). If that is not the case, I would consider it misleading not to display it in Promotion history on Beltchecker etc. as an ordinary nameless time served promotion (whether first claimed through IBJJF or Beltchecker). Myself, I'd rather see a time served 1:st degree promotion, as then, there is transparence. What are your thoughts on the issue?

I didn't even know people could do their own degress based purely on time served.

Long story short: Business savvy individuals of the Gracie family monetized the process and through first mover advantage gained a position where it became a sports standard that you get degrees on BB:s without an instructor following your progression, instead just based on you paying IBJJF hefty money over a bunch of years and in return, you get to claim your degrees on BB based on 'time served' and get the degree certified by IBJJF. Beltchecker is basically a big experiment offering a way to do the same thing with the money grab part removed and a lot of transparency added, to see if these degrees would gain equal acceptance in the wider BJJ community as the IBJJF supported degrees on BB.

I didn't even know people could do their own degress based purely on time served.

In my humble opinion, a 1:st degree BB should not promote someone else to 1:st degree BB, as they (per most common standards) can't promote to all ranks lower than 1:st degree BB (i.e. BB without degrees). A first degree with an instructor name attached to the promotion to me signals that it is NOT just a time served degree but awarded by a senior practitioner of a higher rank (still after the promotion). If that is not the case, I would consider it misleading not to display it in Promotion history on Beltchecker etc. as an ordinary nameless time served promotion (whether first claimed through IBJJF or Beltchecker). Myself, I'd rather see a time served 1:st degree promotion, as then, there is transparence. What are your thoughts on the issue?

http://www.bjjnewsroom.co[...]nstructor/

Lastly… last time I checked there was absolutely zero centralized BJJ authority. Meaning “there isn’t an authority to reference” but if you want to use IBJJF as your authority, when they are not, then it comes down to time served. And it doesn’t matter if you open your mail and put that stripe on yourself, or your training partner takes the letter and does it for you (to follow some sort of martial arts tradition)

To piggyback off of your posts... I mean, there were Gracies, Machados, and other Brazilians that were given their Coral belts by lower ranked black belts. I guess with the big name Brazilians, it doesn't matter who promotes you, but it's an issue when it's everyone else? Who knows. Just saying.

I guess with the big name Brazilians, it doesn't matter who promotes you, but it's an issue when it's everyone else? Who knows. Just saying.

Are there even any records of Mitsuo Maeda giving any of the Gracies a BB (or any other belt promotion)?

There's no record of any of the Gracies having trained with Maeda at all.

I’m not a history expert, but given that this happened in 1918 or so, what kind of record are you talking about ? There is record of him in Brazil at that time, setting up his own dojo, and the connection between that and the Gracie’s “I believe” comes from personal interviews with Helio and Gastao Gracie. What do you mean by no record? That’s interesting, would love your perspective

I mean there's no record. Like nothing, other than some stories told by some people long after the alleged event took place. Maeda died in 1941, and there's not so much as a photograph of any of them in the same place at the same time. Of course, a lack of evidence doesn't necessarily mean something didn't happen, it just means there's no evidence, afaik. In Robert Drysdale's book, 'Opening Closed Guard', he theorizes that Carlos (and Helio via Carlos) were actually students of one of Maeda's students, and probably never trained with Maeda at all.

In Robert Drysdale's book, 'Opening Closed Guard', he theorizes that Carlos (and Helio via Carlos) were actually students of one of Maeda's students, and probably never trained with Maeda at all.

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There's a guy here on beltchecker who has a fantastic bjj history blog. Here is an article he wrote about this student (Jacintho Ferro): https://simonbjj.com/ferro Sorry everyone for getting off topic. Maybe there's already another thread on this?

'I don't know Helio personally , but there seems to be enough evidence to verify the rank. +100pts Anthony'

A no-stripe BB promoting black belts on their own should not happen though, I believe having a "time at black" requirement before promoting blacks of your own is a decent one.

Secondly, I think there are plenty of people who have been a black belt for less than three years (or whatever the time limit is now for degrees) who are capable of judging when somebody is ready for black belt.

a second degree black should be very easy to find on most corners of the world where BJJ is practiced to ok a promotion of a legit brown belt.

Slideyfoot, I personally haven't 'bothered' to get any degrees as I presently have no need for them, but as I see it, I will have to bother before I give out BB:s of my own, unless I want to put my BB(:s) in the awkward position of having an easily disputed BB. Why would any one be in that much of a hurry in any case? Also, if you're that close together in time, I would see it most of all as a mutual training partner relationship, even if you can accurately judge each other. I've had all color belts on no-gi open mats accurately judging me as a BB. Should they then all too me eligible to promote to BB?