Keenan Cornelius and Josh Hinger criticized BJJ guys who promote themselves as “world champions” when they have only won lower-level tournaments a while ago.
In an episode of their Matburn podcast, Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belts Keenan Cornelius and Josh Hinger took aim at competitors who misleadingly promote themselves as “world champions” after winning less prestigious tournaments.
The pair discussed how some BJJ practitioners will claim world champion status after winning events like NAGA or Grappler’s Quest, which are open tournaments anyone can enter. Cornelius and Hinger argued that true world champion titles should only come from winning the adult black belt divisions at the IBJJF World Championships or ADCC.
“It’s misleading,” said Hinger. “If you claim to be a black belt world champion when that’s actually not what you won, I think that’s misleading.”
Cornelius agreed, adding: “Oh yeah, but that’s been rampant in jiu-jitsu forever. People say they’re world champions when they win a NAGA just because it’s the NAGA World Championships. They’re out there saying they’re world champions. ”
The two black belts emphasized that winning masters divisions or lower belt levels at the Worlds does not equate to being an overall world champion either. They expressed frustration at how some competitors take advantage of casual fans’ lack of knowledge about the different tournament levels.
“There’s so much misinformation in jiu-jitsu,” Cornelius noted. “It’s very easy to fake stuff and people just accept it. It’s like, man, there’s so much to learn in jiu-jitsu. That’s probably one of the things they need to learn—like this guy’s a world champion. There are just so many world champions that everyone’s a world champion. So they’re like, ‘Oh, he’s a world champion.’ ”
While acknowledging that winning any tournament is an accomplishment, Cornelius and Hinger stressed the importance of being specific and honest about one’s competitive achievements. They encouraged the BJJ community to maintain integrity when promoting themselves and their titles.
