When asked about the ecological approach to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training that has recently gained attention in online discourse, fifth-degree black belt and ADCC champion Robert Drysdale had clear and direct opinions about what he considers rebranded traditional methodology.
“Okay, so ecological is basically how Brazilian has been training forever. It’s nothing new. They just put a name to it,” – Drysdale explained in latest podcast appearance.
Drysdale stated matter-of-factly when the topic was raised during a recent podcast interview. Drysdale’s perspective reflects a broader skepticism about what he sees as the commercialization of established training methods. He elaborated on why he believes new labels are applied to old concepts:
“And the interesting thing about labels is, and it’s very ingrained in American culture, there are some strengths to this. But you have to find a way to monetize everything.”
He used the example of the kimura submission to illustrate his point:
“So if I say, you know, if I give an old product, if I say Kimura and you’re like, ‘Oh, Kim, I already know Kimura. I’ve learned a thous.’ But let’s say you rename the Kimura. You call it something else. You call it a trap, something something, and then like, ‘Oh, what is that?’ And then all the other people are like, ‘Oh, you got a new label on it, it’s something new.'”
According to Drysdale, this repackaging serves a specific purpose in modern martial arts marketing:
“We also have this mentality of progress that old is bad, new is good. So anytime you have something that’s new, you can put a new label on it and sell it to the public.”
When pressed about whether the ecological approach offers any genuine innovation, Drysdale remained unconvinced:
“I don’t think it’s new. I think it’s just what everyone’s always been doing. You’re expected to learn how to figure things out.”
He acknowledged that while he has done some reading on the ecological system and reviewed articles about it, his conclusion remained unchanged:
“I’ve done some reading on the ecological system. There are some articles about it. I don’t think it’s new. I think it’s just what everyone’s always been doing.”
