Kron Gracie recently sparked controversy with a social media post addressing the issue of undeserved belt promotions in BJJ. His comments came in response to a thoughtful perspective shared by Rhadi Ferguson, a former Olympic judoka and BJJ black belt, about the humbling journey of learning BJJ.
“When you get a black belt, you go all the way back to white belt and you learn all the moves that you didn’t learn the first time and then all the fancy stuff that you thought you needed,” Ferguson explains.
This cyclical nature of learning is a fundamental aspect of the BJJ experience, where practitioners are constantly challenged to re-evaluate their understanding and embrace new techniques and strategies.
Ferguson emphasizes that the stripes on a belt are not merely a signifier of a certain “grade” or “ranking.” Instead, they represent an equation of “time plus experience equals wisdom.” Those who have earned higher belt ranks have accumulated the invaluable assets of time and experience, which in turn have imbued them with a depth of wisdom that transcends the physical techniques.
“They got time that you don’t have, they have experiences that you don’t have, and they have a wisdom that you don’t have,” Ferguson says, highlighting the importance of recognizing the true value of these promotional markers.
In his post, Gracie expressed frustration with what he perceives as a trend of promoting students simply for consistent attendance rather than skill and understanding of the art. He suggested that some instructors, including himself in the past, have felt pressured to award promotions to retain students, even when those students may not have truly earned the next belt level.
“What’s what happens when u have a sh*tty coach that gave u a black belt when you didn’t deserve it, most black belts are just blue belts that keep training, coach has to promote because it’s embarrassing that the guy didn’t get promoted, I’ve gave some belts to people who didn’t deserve it out of pressure cuz they train forever, the worst I’ve felt in Jiu-JItsu – never again.”
Gracie’s statements align with concerns previously voiced by other prominent figures in the BJJ community, such as Andre Galvao and Lucas Lepri. These instructors have criticized the practice of promoting students prematurely, often driven by financial incentives or fear of losing students to other gyms.
According to Galvao, the root of the problem lies in the financial incentives driving instructors to promote students prematurely. With many schools and instructors relying heavily on tuition fees, the pressure to retain students can lead to undeserved promotions. “I think that change is already happening, all this is a change. And always where there is change, there will be criticism. I think if the changes are positive to sports, then great. I think competitions with different rules is nice, I see no problem with that. But what denigrates the sport must be neutralized. I do not agree with the way they belt promote people for nothing today.”
Gracie told Tatame:
“I’ve already lost students in the past because I didn’t promote them. I’ll promote them when I think I should. It has nothing to do with asking for a promotion. It does not change anything, it’s just a demonstration of their progress.”
Lepri added:
“It’s a delicate situation (promotion), but it is something important to discuss. There are many teachers today who give belts for fear of losing students, just thinking about business, several others who hold the students for a long time, afraid of the students open gyms near them. There are many interests at stake, it is hard … it’s a lack of confidence from the instructor.”
“I think there’s room for everyone, and it depends on whether you do a good work or not. The lack of trust creates this problem, and the way that many promote as well, it’s complicated … To get a black belt in three, four years, means that you are selling out Jiu-Jitsu. ”
The room for all this confusion exists because there’s no consistent criteria for even a single belt in BJJ so there’s everything from Online Blue belts to people who roll and test for a promotion and as one would expect, the skill disparity between the two is prominent.
