Who can give black belt stripes?

I agree…NEVER promote yourself. Ever.

That’s why the IBJJF exists. Well, mostly to make money, but the one benefit is that they can sort of vouch for ranks past black belt…for a fee, and then another fee, but at least they can verify that you’ve spent the required time at rank to be able to qualify for the next degree and is a sort-of legit way to get stripes.

Judo federations do as well, although they are more accepted and keep better records than the IBJJF. They sent me a letter saying it was time for my nidan (2nd degree) and to get prepared for the test…etc… I’m like, “bich lemme train again first”

2 Likes

The old Helio and Carlos way was better imo. This time in grade makes anything above Black belt honorary which was never the case in BJJ or Judo. The lower grades up to 7 th degree were based in skill and merit. Rickson was promoted to 7 th degree by 30 because he was top dog in Rio. Carley was promoted to 7 th degree at 22 by Carlson when he was beating him. Rigan was a 5 th degree at 22 because he was Barra’s top guy. in the old days of BJJ and Judo also up to 7 th degree was based on fighting/competition results(Judo its now 5 th degree). Another thing is this blue at 16 and Black at 19. Rolls was awarded his Black at 16 and both Rickson and Royce 17. Ive seen pics of Royce and Sylvio Behring wearing blues under 16. Also how can Carlos Jr award Red belts when he was a 6 th degree because he has a organization? Their are living Red Belts that can promote these guys.

Impossible to scale that in a worldwide martial art like BJJ. You can do it in a small, tightly knit art where everyone knows each-other. But across the globe…? No.

What happens in most every martial art is that the high ranks become pure politics; there is a incentive to promote “your” guys as high as possible, as quickly as possible, so you out rank the other guy’s organization. It’s rank inflation. Time in grade avoids that political nonsense. If you want to see the most extreme example of this, just look at both the American jujitsu scene and the Kenpo scene. Just go to an American jujitsu camp, clinic or convention and it is an OCEAN of people with extremely high ranks --a “Red Sea”.

But, back to BJJ…how does one figure out what a 5th, 6th or 7th degree black belt is supposed to be skill-wise, as they are getting older and older and less able to physically do a lot of the things they did when younger…? No fair way that I can imagine.

Time in grade (while not perfect) is realistically, overall, probably the fairest way to do it.

2 Likes

exactly! The world of BJJ was much smaller then and you don’t have people just going around with challenge fights at other people’s gyms and felonies (ralph gracie withstanding)

I think the time served thing is reasonable. I like to think of it as measuring wisdom in the art

But lets take Roger or Jacare who both have multiple World Championships and got their black belts in 2003.Should they move up at the same pace as someone who got their black belt the same year but never competes? I say no. Judo manages to do it and they have way more practitioners than BJJ.

Keep in mind judo and bjj black belts arent equivalent in regards to where the practioner is on there journey.

I had a judo sensei that was a head honcho of some judo organization tell me that a judo black belt is equal to.about a bjj purple belt. A bjj black belt is about equal to a judo black belt 4th degree.

1 Like

Sure, there could be some provision that if you win a worlds you get promoted to the next stripe --I mean they could do all kinds of complex things, but why…? Why make it more complex?

Is there ANY danger that Roger or Jacare are not being recognized or celebrated enough for their achievements? Getting another stripe wouldn’t mean anything close to winning a World Championship. I’m a 4th degree Black Belt myself. You think any of those 2nd degree Black Belt world champions out there are in any, way, shape of forum jealous of me? LOL! We all know where we stand in BJJ.

Black Belt stripes just mean someone has been an active Black Belt x amount of years. Period. Nothing else. It’s just a little signifier, it’s not your BJJ resume or a representation of your exact skill level. It’s like getting an award for “20 years on the job” at your company; everyone gets one great employees, crap employees and people in the company know who’s who.

2 Likes

time wise that is correct.

I’ve never heard of this. Seriously is it a thing? Fuck…that’s not cool.

I don’t know about this. I know someone who is very well respected that split form their team under poor circumstances. They contacted the IBJJF about stripes since they were due and were basically told to stripe themselves and the ibjjf would recognize it.

1 Like

ibjjf? who the fook is dat guy?

3 Likes

You don’t know about what exactly?
That promotions are traditionally given by instructors to students?

Well best practice is that instructors promote their students. Clearly actual practice and ibjjf have allowed room for fuzziness.

I should’ve quoted you. It was the post about promoting yourself. Clearly on your way to black I agree. However, stripes at black are a different criteria and I’ve personally seen the ibjjf of all people make exceptions.

got to admit that I’m a little bummed these days… I’ve overdue for my 3rd stripe but I’ve been training at a couple of different places that friends own since my home academy has been closed since the pandemic (we lost our location)