On Episode 97 of the Jits and Giggles Podcast, host Alysa Couce asked Josh Wyland, BJJ competitor and gym owner, whether the belt system is outdated. What followed was one of the more grounded takes on the topic from someone who has lived on both sides of the mat.
“I think belts and stripes and stuff are good, but I do think people put way too much weight on belts in the community. That needs to change somehow. I’m not sure how that can change, but it’s definitely possible, because it’s not a thing in wrestling.”
When Coast asked him directly whether the belt system is outdated, he did not dodge it.
“Yes. I think the belt system is outdated for a specific pool of jiu-jitsu practitioners. If you’re someone who is ever competing, the belt should not be a big deal to you at all.”
He was careful to separate competitors from hobbyists, giving genuine credit to what belts mean outside of competition.
“If you’re a hobbyist and you’re doing jiu-jitsu, no different than you would do like trade school or going to college, where it’s like, ‘Hey, I just want to learn a skill that keeps me in shape, makes me feel like a badass, makes me feel cool,’ and I want some form of recognition every time I level up, like a video game, there’s nothing wrong with that. Everyone wants some sort of representation of their progress. So I think for hobbyists, it’s a great thing. It’s a great thing to see the belt on your wall in your room and be able to tell your kids, ‘Hey, that’s when daddy worked really hard for something.’ Very motivating. And that way I think it’s perfect.”
For competitors, though, his view shifts sharply.
“For people who come in and talk a lot, they’re like, ‘Hey, I want to compete,’ but then they’re worrying so much about their belt, I’m like, ‘You don’t really want to compete then, because competition is nothing about your belt level. It’s about your skill level.'”
He backed his point with personal experience.
“The guy I beat at AIGA, he was a black belt under Vagner Rocha, world champion. I was a purple belt at the time and I beat him. The belts don’t matter.”
Wyland connected the belt obsession to a broader problem in the community.
“The jiu-jitsu community loves tearing people down. If you have a high level guy and they lose to a purple belt, it’s like, ‘Oh, that person sucks.’ In wrestling, it was nothing like that. If you were a stud and you got beat by like a freshman or up-and-coming guy, it wasn’t that you were no longer a stud. It’s just now that person’s a stud as well. But in jiu-jitsu, it’s the opposite. People want to tear you down if you lose to someone who is below you. I think it’s a very disgusting way of thinking in the community that needs to change.”
