BJJ's Obsession With Time

Author: Bret Gordon

We've all heard that earning a Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu takes at least 10 years. We've all heard that the degrees of Black Belt are awarded every 3 years. And you know what? We've all been lied to. 

​The common BJJ ranking method is broken, and has been manipulated by unscrupulous instructors for both monetary and reputation gain. Before I get to that, however, let's talk about the origins of rank in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, because that will help us understand how we ended up here and perhaps how we can find our way back. 

When Carlos Gracie Sr. first opened the Gracie Jiu Jitsu Academy, the ranking system was very different than what we know today. There were only three ranks: White, Light Blue, and Navy Blue, and they had nothing to do with proficiency. White belt was worn by students, light blue worn by assistant instructors, and navy blue worn by professors. Of course, the modern belt system was introduced later on. This of course meant that Carlos and Helio Gracie promoted themselves to Black Belt, since neither earned such rank in the parent art of Judo. 

---

Today, the sport of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is governed largely by the International Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Federation, which in addition to a competition format has standardized the ranking system. As of this writing, the IBJJF rank bylaws regarding age and time-in-grade read:

"1. Age - The IBJJF Graduation System has minimum and maximum age requirements for certain belt ranks. Additionally, your age might require you to hold a minimum belt rank as well. First, you must calculate your age according to the Graduation System.

Here are the age requirements per belt rank:

• White: any age
• Grey: 4 - 15 years old (once the athlete qualifies for the 16 year old category, they can no longer hold the Grey Belt)
• Yellow: 7 - 15 years old (once the athlete qualifies for the 16 year old category, they can no longer hold the Yellow Belt)
• Orange: 10 - 15 years old (once the athlete qualifies for the 16 year old category, they can no longer hold the Orange Belt)
• Green: 13 - 15 years old (once the athlete qualifies for the 16 year old category, they can no longer hold the Green Belt)
• Blue / Purple: 16 years old minimum - any age
• Brown: 18 years old minimum - any age
• Black: 19 years old minimum - any age

​
2. Time requirements - the listed time requirements are the minimums the athlete must complete in those belt ranks. Professors can choose to promote athletes later than those timelines but the minimum must be served in order to be recognized by IBJJF. Additionally, professors can choose to promote athletes earlier than the requirement but the athlete will not be allowed to register the new belt rank until the time has been completed."

Now, two things quickly stand out to me. If you must be at least 16 to earn your blue belt, and it takes 10 years to go from white belt to black belt, assuming it took two years just to earn your blue belt shouldn't the minimum age for black belt be 24? But it's not, it's 19...

But wait! There's more. According to the IBJJF, it does not take 10 years to reach your black belt. Minimum time-in-grade is:

• White to Blue: No minimum
• Blue to Purple: 2 Years
• Purple to Brown: 1.5 Years
• Brown to Black: 1 Year

So by my calculations, that is 4.5 years from blue belt to black belt. Not to mention that "professors can choose to promote athletes earlier than the requirement." Of course, minimum time-in-grade does not guarantee when you should be promoted, and the average student probably does and should take longer than the bare minimum time to be promoted, but there is a difference between letting people grow into their ranks and holding people back. 

---

Unfortunately, emphasizing the art as a sport rather than a system of self-protection like traditional Gracie Jiu Jitsu, BJJ in fact rewards holding people back in rank and sandbagging. Because competition divisions are divided not by experience level but by belt color, you potentially have someone who earned their Blue Belt in a year competing against someone who's been training for 5 years or more, but is still wearing a Blue Belt. How do you think that is going to turn out? And when reputation, clout, and school ego is driven by how many medals they bring home, why would an instructor ever promote their students to a higher rank category when they are dominating and winning world titles at their current level?

The counter argument is that of course someone who took 10 years to get their black belt should be more proficient, knowledgeable, and skilled than someone who only took 6 years, but then where does it end? Surely someone who took 20 years to earn it would be more proficient than someone who only took 10. Imagine how proficient someone who took 30 years to earn it. What about 40 or 50 years to earn their black belt? 

To fix this issue, in my opinion, BJJ should take a page from Open Sport Karate. Because every school and style has their own ranking structure, it would be impossible to match people up by belt color. Instead, they are broken into divisions by years of experience:

• Beginners: Under 1 year
• Intermediate: 1-2 Years
• Advanced: 2+ Years
• Black Belt

We can adjust the time frame to match commonly accepted BJJ progression milestones, but you get the idea. Unless I'm mistaken, no-gi competition generally does use a concept like this for their divisions and I think it'd be great to expand that to gi as well. 

Lastly, let's discuss the concept of Black Belt degrees being awarded as recognition of "3 years" of training. I could write a whole separate article on the topic, but instead I'll leave you with this video of Helio Gracie discussing the topic himself. 

Make sure your closed captions are on since the video is in Portuguese. Definitely watch the whole thing, it's only about 2 minutes, but some of the most profound statements made by Helio in my opinion are:

"I give degrees according to the person's efficiency. I don't have a timeline to give degrees... Time is what they use in school where you change grade after a certain number of years."

"Degrees represent teaching skills, not fighting skills... Fighters don't have degrees... I was the best fighter in the world, now I'm nothing, so what? I wouldn't be able to have fighter's degrees anymore... My belt rank is as a Jiu Jitsu teacher."