Beatrice Jin is a BJJ black belt ranked in the top 10 of the IBJJF in the lightweight division, but her relationship with judo has been anything but simple. After a two-year break from judo competition and barely any training in the discipline, she decided to enter a local judo tournament to test herself on the feet, with a clear goal in mind: win every match with a throw.
Jin had last competed in judo in 2023 as a green belt, earning a promotion to blue belt after that tournament. Following that event, she redirected her focus entirely toward jiu-jitsu, pushing toward major competitions like Europeans, Pans, and Worlds.
“I really had this limiting mindset that if I trained or did anything else that wasn’t jiu-jitsu and just strength and conditioning for jiu-jitsu, I would be wasting my time,” she explained.
Her guard-pulling habit was so ingrained that the last takedown she executed in a jiu-jitsu tournament was an ankle pick at a Grappling Industries event in 2021. Going into this judo tournament, she wanted to do things differently.
“I really wanted to show that I actually did know some actual judo and that I wasn’t just walking into the sport and not respecting it,” she said.
Jin competed in three matches. In her first, against a yellow belt in judo and blue belt in jiu-jitsu, she secured a cross collar grip and converted it into a clean sumi gaeshi. Her second match proved more challenging, going against a blue belt in judo and purple belt in jiu-jitsu.
Jin repeatedly attacked with seoi nage entries, eventually landing two waza-ari scores for the full ippon win. The match also featured a brief rules debate when Jin attempted a bow and arrow choke from turtle position, a move the referee left unaddressed at the time.
That gray area came to a head in her third match against a brown belt. After hitting a seoi nage and rolling directly into a bow and arrow, her opponent tapped but protested the technique. Following a discussion with referees, Jin received a shido for the choke.
Rather than argue further, she refocused and ended the match with a drop tai otoshi. “I went up to that girl, I shook her hand, and said sorry, and that was it,” she said.
Reflecting on the experience, Jin noted how her jiu-jitsu training had quietly sharpened her overall grappling game. “A lot of things like positional awareness and gripping, I know it’s not the same techniques at all, but just the awareness of the possibilities I feel like has improved,” she said.
She also found herself appreciating what judo offers that jiu-jitsu rarely does. “I just love that you can win a match in seven seconds,” she noted.
