Point of information, the Kade Ruotolo - Andrew Tackett barn burner this weekend is a repeat of the 2019 World fickin blue belt final. 2.5 years after that match Kade got his black belt... during a pandemic when 'nobody' was training 🙄 He had up to 12 years training duration at that point. I'm sure the early years weren't as productive as an adults year but you get the point. Hopefully.

Point of information, the Kade Ruotolo - Andrew Tackett barn burner this weekend is a repeat of the 2019 World fickin blue belt final. 2.5 years after that match Kade got his black belt... during a pandemic when 'nobody' was training 🙄 He had up to 12 years training duration at that point. I'm sure the early years weren't as productive as an adults year but you get the point. Hopefully.

I remember the Ruotolo videos thry made as young Kids, and it was already high level stuff, they bring on internet berimbolo tutorials at like 10 years old. They train with Mendes bros, then Andre Galvao. Those kids years are equal as adult, because they use to train like adults.

He was promoted through the adult ranks as fast as possible. He was promoted to black belt faster and younger than the IBJJF minimums.

Whay i think that, because you need promotion to Brown and black, or you will be purple belt for ever. That all.

You do not need IBJJF for brown or black belt. IBJJF wants you to think that, but you don't. Their opinion means nothing unless your professor chooses to follow their rules. It is a choice, not a requirement. It isn't like getting a pilot's license where the government lists the requirements and you must meet them to earn the license.

Are you seriously saying that in 2019, after ~12 years of training Kade was still blue belt skill level?

Of course you're right. But... if you get promoted to black belt you'll be a laughing stock in the BJJ world

No more so than believing that makes you a laughing stock in the BJJ world.

Do you honestly think that's what I said? Or just attempting a poor strawman. If you do, then you probably need to read a little more carefully. The Ruatolos were beyond typical black belt level when they were 16. I didn't think that needed to be spelled out. But claiming they were sandbagging is nonsense. They could not have been promoted to blackbelt any faster. The age requirements are not guidelines, they are regulations when you are competing. If they were promoted to black belt in 2019 they'd have been unable to compete in worlds, pans or euros until 2022. For a professional athlete, taking part in your sport is pretty critical. They spend the min time at each rank and were promoted to purple at 16. That's not sandbagging. Sandbagging exists but you picked literally the worse possible example. 'Yes the pandemic slowed my Grappling skill progression, thought that would be pretty obvious but ok.' And it didn't affect pro athletes, which is who you were referring to. I thought that would be pretty obvious.

Of course you're right. But... if you get promoted to black belt you'll be a laughing stock in the BJJ world

Of course you're right. But... if you get promoted to black belt you'll be a laughing stock in the BJJ world

Ok l, but he have 7th degree coral belt under Rickson Gracie.

There are many other examples of elite people who ignore IBJJF. Your logic is going in circles... Joe said: 'You do not need IBJJF for brown or black belt. IBJJF wants you to think that, but you don't. Their opinion means nothing unless your professor chooses to follow their rules. It is a choice, not a requirement.' You said anyone who did that would be a laughing stock in the BJJ world. When given an example of why that isn't true you responded with saying 'Yeah, but they are legit.' Umm... Exactly. Joe was right. You don't need IBJJF... You need to be legit and IBJJF's opinion only counts as much as you care about it.

I just went and looked and we have 50 black belts in our academy. 5 of them are IBJJF registered. I'm sure the others, which include at least one world champion and multiple guys that have won numerous state and national titles as well as going deep in ADCC qualifiers, will be thrilled to know that they are laughing stocks. I guess we shouldn't forget to include the head of our association, multi time world champion Renato Tavares, in that group as well.

Back to the topic-question and a correction of my first statement: Yes, a purple belt can promote. It depends on the circumstances and there is no rule without an exception. Modification of the topic-question: Should a purple belt promote? My answer is „generally not!“ And I would like to add, that IMO no purple belt should decide by himself if he can promote.

This is the last thing I have to say because it's now tedious and people playing word games. If they were dramatically above blue belt skill level and competing at blue, that is sandbagging. The reasons why are irrelevant. Lol, the pandemic didn't effect pro athletes. Start a new thread if you want to debate all the things wrong with that statement.

The real irony is that you've been blue for 4 years and are still competing in divisions and competitions that you won gold in back in 2022.

People can always compete at higher ranks in several tournaments if they wish. Just not at IBJJF and a couple others which sucks.

Yeah, 9 golds over 2-3 years in the same bracket then jumping on a forum and talking about sandbagging... No hate here, you do you, but that's wild.

Putting all that to one side, in your brain: if you win a division against 5 randomly selected blue belts on a given date then you're just going to assume you would win a division against 5 completely different ones that you've never faced before?? Like no need to even compete, just award yourself the mental victory?? PS: I hope you keep this energy when it comes to voting to validate my purple belt later in the year.

I'm not sure how that's relevant. But obviously not. random people in a division, and somebody has to win. May have been easy on the day. Winning a single tournament doesn't mean much, certainly doesn't mean a promotion is due. But you are entirely missing the point. Complaining about about Kade sandbagging, when he spent 1 year at each rank and couldn't have been promoted sooner is extremely ironic given your 4 years at blue, which as you describe above has been very active and included many golds. I'm not saying you should have been promoted to purple by now. Not my call. I just think the irony is funny given the Kade could not have been promoted sooner, and gold medals at blue 3 years is a row is the typical sand bagging complaint. Anyway, I validated you rank, just so I will be alerted when you are promoted and need re-votes. As an aside, your coaches rank seems very on topic.

But you were blue belt long than I have been! I'll recap the Kade thing one last time. This site tells us the average training duration to black belt is 12 years. Kade had been training about that when he won worlds at blue. He then needed just 2.5 years to get black whereas most people take another 6. That shows he was not blue belt skill level when he won blue worlds, which has been my entire point. That circuit exists in its own little bubble whereby it destroys the entire meaning of what it is to be a 'blue belt'. By the time you're good enough to even medal at one of the big 4 in blue, you'd be beating a 50th percentile black belt which is just stupid. The IBJJF is a laughing stock because they'll disqualify you for having an unfair advantage if you're 100 grams too heavy, if your Gi sleeves are too short, but then gladly pair you against someone who has 2-4x more training than you. I realise this happens because of the IBJJF rules, it's just that I (like many people) don't give a flying fish about them and won't accept any 'can't' nonsense about what promotions are valid. The BJJ belt system generally works better than any other sport belt system, except this major exception that exists solely because of one organisation. I'm not part of that circuit and probably wouldn't get past the 1st round if I entered adult blue so you're way off base to try and pick me as a good example of sandbagging. I know 5 or 6 people that are and if you know what you're looking at on smoothcomp, you'll read the signs. I enter regional competitions, sometimes the standard is good, sometimes it isn't, therefore 9 golds has no relevance.