Another marketing tool or a solution for this dilemma?

That is what Dan Gable had to say about steroid use by grappling athletes, and that is good enough for me.

The 'old Gracies' most certainly did not wear the Gi to fight in Vale Tudo. In most cases they did not wear a gi. A simple Google search will prove that. Carlos, George, Helio, Carlson, Robson, Rickson etc all were pretty much bare chested for their vale tudo matches. They did some Gi matches for sure but it was not the only way they fought.

I can't see the post that claimed they only fought in the Gi. Maybe it was deleted. But lol. Sounds like somebody watched UFC 1 and nothing else. Forgetting all the other Gracies. 'Royce always wore a gi' is simply not true. why do people make these claims without checking them

Dan Gable is a phenomenal wrestler. But that affords him absolutely zero expertise of physiology and psychology.

No one said that. Are you a ventriloquist? Because, it would seem like, on the last post, you were throwing your own voice. Saying something, that no one else, here, besides you, said.

Someone did post that the Old Gracies only wore a Gi to fight. I responded. /of story

Dan Gable is a phenomenal wrestler. But that affords him absolutely zero expertise of physiology and psychology. He is entitled to his opinion, but that's a very weak appeal to authority. In generally it's a mistake to believe that every statement a person ever makes is sincere. A famous statement from Dan Gable. 'If I knew I was going to Wrestle in the finals of the Olympics against a Russian and I knew he had been training specifically to beat me, but then I knew the guy was on Steroids, That would HELP me. Whereas some might think 'oh he's cheating, for me you didn't pay the price. You're not as committed as I am. It'll tear him apart. He may be strong, but all I have to do during that 9 minutes of wrestling is loosen one single wire in his brain, make him do something that isn't perfect, and he'll fall apart.' Believing that Dan is being sincere there is naïve. Thinking that's how steroids work is ignorant of how steroids work. The reality is the the Russian elite wrestler has dedicated his whole life to his sport, is entitled committed and focused on nothing else. And on top of that is on steroids. Imagine thinking Alexander Karelin lacked toughness. LMFAO

No one said that. Are you a ventriloquist? Because, it would seem like, on the last post, you were throwing your own voice. Saying something, that no one else, here, besides you, said.

It seems more like a way to think, like a coach motivation speech to believe in yourself and go crush your opponent. Something else, even if you don't have a beautiful paper who claims you're a psycologist or something like that, being an athlete like he was and then coaching teams and champions for decades give you some understanding of human nature at least.

The phrase confidently incorrect seems appropriate. lol

Of course. It's clearly a statement on intent, positive mental attitude. It's a bit silly to think he meant it literally and to think that steroids are actually a disadvantage in those area. Crazy to even point that out.

You seem to have a Pot - kettle, serially. Although, outliers are also a thing. I don't mind admitting my mine, when they occur.

Not sure how pot kettle apples there. You were incorrect. I was not. You have a very unusual syntax in your posting style. Hard to follow what you are trying to say sometimes.

This has gotten off topic. Does anyone have thoughts on allowing students to train almost exclusively nogi, but requiring learning gi specific techniques for the belt rank in question if the student wants promoted?

Maybe this was dicussed before but I want to pick up some of Your todays opinions for the following question: should I promote people who train noGi only? This is actually a question in my gym and I am straight on a „no!“-position at the moment. If someone wants to compete I will surely sign for the adequate level but a belt is part of a Gi and noGi is no belt for me. Some thoughts?

If you never wear a gi, that tells me you don't want a belt.

And who should want a rank belt, except children?

Not the people training nogi, that's for sure. :P

Does anyone have thoughts on allowing students to train almost exclusively nogi, but requiring learning gi specific techniques for the belt rank in question if the student wants promoted?

These last few posts do bring up an interesting thought. It's always been said that you don't need belts in Nogi because you have no GI to wear it with. However one could easily make the argument that you don't need colored belts or a ranking system anymore in GI than nogi. I'm going to spend way more time thinking about this than I should.