And to confuse matters even more. If memory serves, it was Neal Melanson who started awaring people belts in Catch Wrestling - which is not a thing. And the belt colors were... wait for it.. blue, purple, brown and black. In Catch Wrestling. He promoted Randy Couture to a Catch Wrestling black belt, which is bizarrely hilarious.

That would 100% offend the old timers in the UK 😩🇬🇧😂

so what? At the end of the fight you win. or you learn from it. The graduation belt just holds the jacket together!

so what? At the end of the fight you win. or you learn from it. The graduation belt just holds the jacket together!

Is there any source anywhere on who is supposed to have promoted Gokor to BB in BJJ and when?

Not very long time ago with 2019.

In the early days of Beltchecker, there was a bit of a fuss regarding the belt rank of a guy who trained under the Hayastan system. Which is Gokor Chivichyan and Gene Lebell's concoction. It's not BJJ, eventhough their athletes sometimes compete under the BJJ ruleset. The gentleman was not amused that his rank was being disputed, and deleted his profile. Last I checked, Karo is a Hayastan black belt, which is not BJJ. He might surely have the skillset of a high level BJJ black belt, but i don't think he holds that rank officially.

And to confuse matters even more. If memory serves, it was Neal Melanson who started awarding people belts in Catch Wrestling - which is not a thing. And the belt colors were... wait for it.. blue, purple, brown and black. In Catch Wrestling. He promoted Randy Couture to a Catch Wrestling black belt, which is bizarrely hilarious.

https://youtu.be/f3Musdr4[...]XF7eNJoUAz This is a really interesting watch. Does anyone know if Karo is actually a blackbelt in BJJ? He says he is, because BJJ is just Judo on the ground or ‘newaza’ but is he actually a blackbelt? No doubt he is black belt level. The man was a monster.

Gokor has given him a black belt with degrees in his grappling system. Which requires you to be at the level of black belt in judo, Sambo, and jiu jitsu. After watching the interview l think karo was saying yes he’s a black belt level. It’s sometimes a cultural misunderstanding because of his broken English and the way he responds to questions.

The IBJJF recognise Gokor as a 2nd degree black belt. Nobody is doubting Gokor, he’s a legend.

I’m very close with Gokor. He is not only my coach but a great friend. I’m aware of his ranks and although he holds that rank, Rodrigo handles the bjj belt promotions in our organization. Rodrigo Antunes Guimarães Is a 4th degree bb and also a student of Gokor.

The IBJJF recognise Gokor as a 2nd degree black belt. Nobody is doubting Gokor, he’s a legend.

Which really doesn't seem to be according to IBJJF:s official requirements (not speaking about grappling level here — there is really no set requirements on that, as long as someone legit promotes you). Gokor in the 2019 interview admits to an almost complete lack of knowledge about the rules of BJJ while the IBJJF lists him as certified 2:nd degree BB, which would mean he got himself a rules seminar certificate ('IBJJF approval requires you to earn 70% or more on the test taken') before the IBJJF masters competition. Ryan, did someone promote Gokor to BB in BJJ? Who and when? I personally like BJJ being challenged as not being the only source of good grappling and Hayastan is an excellent example of that — why would Gokor even want to represent BJJ? If he actually does, I think that's actually honoring for BJJ, but would still like to see him have his lineage in order for the degrees, if only for formalities.

At this time he has Rodrigo handle the bjj side of things. Like you said i don’t think he is very interested in representing at this time. I have never asked him or really felt the need. He himself promotes in judo and Hayastan. He has a student Rodrigo who promotes some of the guys in bjj. Mainly the guys who like to compete. Gokor does give the nod of approval, but doesn’t hand out bjj belts or certificates at this time.

Oh, and now you've also posted this on your profile. Your own evidence shows Rodrigo and not Gokor as the one who promoted you, just as you've written earlier in this thread that it's the case with BJJ promotions in your academy.

Call gokor his number is on his website. And yes I do believe that you are mentally ill and not consistent with your antics. You’ve said in the past that a picture of a black belt on an ibjjf podium is enough evidence from you. My blue belt came from Dave Brockelhurst who got his bb from Shawn Hammond in Tennessee. I trained with Hayastan guys after that and continued to cross train in bjj and judo for 15 years. Gokor promoted me to both purple and brown in his system which I have been transparent about. Rodrigo approved my brown belt under Gokor’s recommendation. I don’t know who gave gokor his bb in bjj, nor do I care. Obviously he got it from somebody lol. It has always been said machado but I don’t know that to be 100 percent because it didn’t come from his mouth. These things aren’t important to me. If it’s a big deal let the votes do their thing. I have provided enough info to you.

No need to call Gokor. I trust his judgment on his Hayastan promotions and I trust them to be at least on par with the same belt in BJJ. I also see no reason to question you being registered with IBJJF as promoted in BJJ by Rodrigo. If that was what the promotion history on your profile said too, I wouldn't have downvoted. If someone registered on here and claimed he got his BB in BJJ from Alexander Karelin, but his evidence showed someone else (very legit BJJ BB) being the promoting instructor, I would down vote as well. Even if they would be as mature as to call me a mentally ill fly on Karelin's ass. As I said before, please point out more specifically where you think I've been inconsistent with my voting and I have no problem reviewing those profilers again.