Skipping belts. Your thoughts?

Daniël Bertina · 2020-09-15T10:01:48+00:00

What are your thoughts about people skipping belts. For instance, getting promoted straight to brown / black? Ray Stevens, judo Olympian, got promoted straight to black by Roger Gracie & Mauricio Gomes after a couple of years of privates. But he's Ray Stevens, death machine. I know some folks who aren't Ray Stevens, but did get upgraded like this... I know a guy who's been an active grappler since at least 2005, but was never ranked in BJJ. He eventually got bumped straight to brown, and medalled in his divisions (naga, ibjjf). Still, is this kosher? Your thoughts.

Aris

Black belt 3rd degreeVerified

60 forum posts5180/1000

5 year(s) ago

Yeah, dunno but likely, because they will have her compete in IBJJF as a black for sure.

I don’t know that girls age but if you go a bit back if I remember correctly one of Mayo brothers got promoted few months earlier than he was supposed to be promoted and he had to wait few months until he matched the criteria. So if what you say it’s true most likely the ibjjf will wait until she matches the required criteria.

Daniël BertinaOP

Black belt 3rd degreeVerified

880 forum posts15560/1000

5 year(s) ago

I see no real reason why people shouldn't be allowed to compete up at competitions. That would solve most the problems described on this thread. As to the original question. I think going straight to blue is fine, but i would prefer people spent at least a month at each belt and at least pay some lip service to tradition. If Jon Jones is willing to walk around in a blue and purple belt then frankly everyone else should be willing to. I can't get terribly excited about it all because everyone knows there are blue belts who train 3 times a week and blue belts who hold UFC titles, i'd actually like some sort of bar on the belt that distinguishes hobbyists and people who make their living from combat sports.

For the longest time, bjj in the Netherlands had only 3 divisions, white, blue and elite (purple, brown, black). Because there simply weren't enough higher belts. It was always fun.

So, many a time we saw purple belt monsters win over browns & blacks. Heck, I've been housed in competition by people with "lower" rank myself many a time...

A fanatic purple belt mat rat, fed on shrap metal & acai, is (should be!) a danger to all living things

Edited 5 year(s) ago

Jan Vlastník

Black beltVerified

58 forum posts2265/1000

5 year(s) ago

For the longest time, bjj in the Netherlands had only 3 divisions, white, blue and elite (purple, brown, black). Because there simply weren't enough higher belts. It was always fun. So, many a time we saw purple belt monsters win over browns & blacks. Heck, I've been housed in competition by people with 'lower' rank myself many a time... A fanatic purple belt mat rat, fed on shrap metal & acai, is (should be!) a danger to all living things

Btw, in Czech we have mainly:
WoW submission-only (GI: white, blue, purple/brown/black and NOGI: beginners, intermediate, elite)
ADCC
IBJJF
UAEJJF

..totaly 25 black belts (+3 foreigners living in the Czech Republic for a long time).

Btw, for me you can be black belt if you have a competition skills or lineage.
In all other cases, the people around you do not accept you because everyone has their own metrics. Everyone has their experience based on which they assess the skills of others. There is no standard in BJJ such as in JUDO. BJJ is just PUNK.

Jimmy Tang

Black belt 1st degreeVerified

43 forum posts4035/1000

5 year(s) ago

I think it gets fuzzy due because there are few types of black belts. Instructor types, older, training a long time(like me). There are competitor black belts - medal chasing, mat rat, youngins. Ceremonial type - guys who get the black belt because they became world champions in MMA but don't really train "sport" BJJ. Maybe Ray is considered more on the ceremonial type- I don't know anything about him or his relationship with Roger and Mauricio. Travis Stevens is a competitor so I can see why he went through the ranks.

I thought the story for Sergio Penha skipping to black belt was because he "needed to be a black belt" in order to have a match with Rickson regardless of how good he was.

I remember the Miyaos having to sit out a year because they get promoted too quickly? I think Marcelo Garcia had to request an exception for Dominique to compete because she was getting promoted quickly through the ranks as well. As much as everyone bags on ibjjf, they provide an organized tournament with some of the best gi competitors in the world.

Erin Wedekind

Purple beltVerified

11 forum posts1050/400

5 year(s) ago

One of the people I'm referring to went from white to brown. I have known him as a competitive grappler & MMA fighter since the early 2000's. I have no doubts about his skills. He's very skilled in a bunch of real martial arts (judo, kickboxing etc). His first instructor was kinda iffy, but he's now affiliated with a super good local BJJ black belt, whom I also know personally. My main point would be. What's the rush? Why not be a kickass blue belt & a kickass purple for a while, wreck shop, and then become a kickass brown belt. Why skip the queue?

We call that "sandbagging."

Daniël BertinaOP

Black belt 3rd degreeVerified

880 forum posts15560/1000

5 year(s) ago

I am almost ready to say that a division filled with crazy, jacked purple belts will be a 'badder day for you' than a division filled by black belts bjj dads (like myself)... Almost.