The New Generation CHANGED The BJJ Belt System

Since forever, BJJ students have always been ranked according to the sport's 5-belt system. White, Blue, Purple, Brown and Black.

A fighter's belt is an indication of their experience and the level of their mastery of grappling techniques.
However, a lot has changed in the current generation’s BJJ belt system, thanks to the stellar contributions of influential BJJ coaches like John Danaher.

Today, you can roll with someone who has incredible talent and is among the top grapplers in the world and chances are high that they could just be a purple belt. This new mentality makes it a lot harder to achieve your black belt. But when you do, you are, no doubt going to be a BJJ MACHINE!
This makes it a necessity to understand what you can hope to expect when you reach each belt.
We need to keep this system of grading in the World of martial arts because to the students, it is the main source of Motivation. It keeps them going to achieve their Black belts.

But just before we get to the details of each BJJ belt, it’s vital to understand that the BJJ community attracts two classes of people; the competitive athletes and the Hobbyists.

Timecodes
0:00 - Intro to New BJJ Belts
2:10 - Two Types of Fighters - BJJ Athletes and BJJ Hobbyist
3:41 - White Belt
5:31 - Blue Belt
6:42 - Purple Belt
7:57 - Brown Belt
9:06 - Black Belt
10:20 - General Requirements To Attain Higher Belts

#bjj #jiujitsu #martialarts #bjjbelts #brazilianjiujitsu #bjjlifestyle #johndanaher

[MMABJJChamps]

Are you guys ok with the new generation being so much better ?

[fuloran]

Getting my purple was one of the top 3 achievements of my life. Started at age 48, 54 now and doing some coaching. Loving every minute of it.

[adrianboucek]

Belt rank is a broad indication of your level of knowledge. What ultimately dictates skill level is the amount of time you put on the mat. It’s tough to compare a hobbyist that trains for 3-5 hours per week vs a professional that trains for 8 hours a day.

[AnGhaeilge]

Remember, John's top students train probably 5 days a week, twice a day. He sandbags his students in order for them to get good results in competition. So when the hobby purple or brown belt visits and gets tapped out left right and centre by blue belts, is it a reflection on their skill compared to other purple/browns, or is it more a reflection on John's higher standards?

[shinka]

I've been training 26 years. The sheer amount of information available today compared to then is staggering. There was only maybe 3 VHS tapes back then. No youtube etc. Based on that alone people are going to be better. People are learning things at white belt that most people took years to figure out themselves.
Also the people like Nicky rod a d Cole etc are really black belts. Not promoting them to that just to keep the cool factor is absurd.

[mikecodellaupagainstthewall]

Trained with Renzo my whole career. My last year from Brown to Black was mostly under John's instruction. Added a great deal of foot n leg attacks in that last year, and it was John that saw to it I was promoted. Lucky to be able to call both my teacher!

[clarencesmith]

This assessment is fairly accurate, but because the sport has blown up in the last decade its hard to set a universal standard. Ive met blue belts that hardly rolled prior to promotion. Ive also met blue belts that were sandbagged for 5 years to win a ibjjf gold medal.

[torotheplumber]

I was smeshing older black belts as a 30 year blue belt with speed and youth and now im the old lion against purple belts that train 6 days a week and its happening to me .... Circle of life

[GreenDistantStar]

Belts are awarded and ranks held for two reasons: what you can do, and what you know. Over time, what you can do diminishes incrementally, and what you know expands. Are there fit, strong young purple belts who could mash a 60 year old black belt? Of course. But who would you choose to learn from? Generally speaking, yes, the blue belts of today are better than those of 25 years ago. There's more to learn, the art is evolving, all as it should be.

[gregory]

I cannot speak for BJJ as it was "developed" in Brazil, but the belt system as a whole has actually changed considerably in the last 100 years. The belt system was never a measure of just experience or fights, as it is now. As I studied Judo in the late 70's, and went on to other forms of martial arts decades onwards, it was more about your technical knowledge. So, for example, even in Okinawa today, the ethic of perseverance is considered more than combat for combat's sake. Your technical proficiency is considered more important than say, the Black Belts should be able to beat all the Brown Belts. For the Japanese and what it was years in the past, it was your ability to pass on the art that mattered, along with defending yourself. That is why a Japanese sensei in Okinawa may have won some tournaments, but his teaching ability is prized more than anything else.

[russelllustig]

If a purple belt subs 5 black belts in competition, then they deserve a brown belt for sure. And you can easily spend more than 18 months as a white belt

[markzuckerberg]

If you do BJJ a while, you know that belts aren't always a good indicator of someone's ability. Belt color really doesn't matter. Mental toughness means much more.

[Spiritof_]

When the street fighting and self defense aspects were removed from most bjj curriculum, more time became available for sport bjj techniques. Gyms are open more hours, there are way more to train at, more tournaments to compete at, and vastly more people to train with and learn from. Wrestlers started getting into bjj, and other martial arts schools started adding it to their offerings. It has become a generational phenomenon.

[guimcestari]

BS… belt shouldn’t be about “winning” against other folks. There’s a lot more variables than a belt:
- age
- life style (full-time worker, parent, carer etc)
- competitor or hobbyist
- etc

A 45 years old purple or brown belt who works full time and has 3 kids and a wife will be tapped by a teenager competitor blue belt and that’s ok.

Ok I agree the standards need to be different between competitors vs hobbyists - otherwise hobbyists will never get to a higher belt.

Also, older folks would have to quit the sport as it gets impossible to win against someone who trains 3x what you do and is half your age with less of your stress and responsibilities 😅

That’s why there’s age and weight categories in competition too instead of just belts.

[davidstegman]

Keep in mind those “high level” blue belts are often injured to the point they never return to bjj all before they are 30.

[americandissident]

I don’t want anyone to think Danaher is sandbagging his students or hold belts from them. Danaher’s students who train 3+ times per week are still able to make black belt in 10-12 years. That’s about right, even comparing it to the old Gracie traditions, where their students were making black belt in about 10 or 11 years.

[vedu]

I agree. My professor always tells us the standard is higher and that the current crop of blue belts would toy with purple belts from a decade ago. It takes 3-4 years at my school to get blue belt and those guys are killers.

[ConveyApp]

Great video. Very correct. My gym holds people back. My professor says better being a purple belt crushing the back belts than being the black belt being crushed by the purple belt. I agree. I’m 43, 5’5” at 165lbs. I got my blue belt in 2001 and quit shortly after. After almost 17 years I came back and have been grinding and training for the last 3.5 yrs. It took me a total of 5 years at my blue belt not including my hiatus, before I got my purple belt. It definitely was a blessing. I’m submitting good brown belts. I absolutely love being a purple belt. It’s one of my greatest achievements.

[agenecrobiosis]

Some purpule bets are black belts and some black belts are purple belts just depends on the instructor

[AliothAncalagon]

I don't really care to be honest.
I started with BJJ because I wanted to learn something.
Not because my wardrobe was missing a belt.