Blue belt, training for 3.5-4 years.
Definitely felt ready since it took me nearly three years to get promoted because I moved so often, trained at local MMA gyms without much instruction, and wasn't under a black belt for 90% of the time.
I ruined a lot of blue belts days who thought they were going to smash the new/visiting white belt. Hell, I had more experience than many blue belts by the time I ended up training at one black belt school long enough to be promoted.
At my original school you basically had to win the US Open or American Cup to get promoted, so I had a pretty high opinion of what skill a blue belt should be. We also rolled pretty bard, which a lot of bjj schools don't like, because bjj definitely attracts a lot of pussies. And with that, ill start my rant.....
I've pretty much quit BJJ the last 6-7 months. I doubt I'll be returning anytime soon.
Why?
I have some pretty major philosophical differences with where the sport is at. Mainly, a lack of takedown emphasis, bullshit like guard pulling, double guard pulling and buttscooting, way too heavy of an emphasis on fancy guard play as opposed to top game (position before submission), as well as reaping rules and no leg locks.
BJJ is great for a 1 on 1 fight, without a doubt. The Gracies beat the shit out of people down in Rio for years. However, now it has moved so far away from a fighting art/sport/whatever, and is just a straight up sport with very little practicality in the real world.
What good is being able to break arms, dominate people positionally on the ground, and choke them unconscious, if you can't get people to the ground? I've trained at probably half a dozen schools, and very few of them train takedowns.
Why is that? Because for one takedowns are hard, so a lot of people don't like to do them. And two is the current IBJJF rule set makes them unnecessary. Just watch Keenan Cornelius and the Miyao brothers matches. That is not fighting. It is literally worse than some straight up Karate katas.
If someone comes up and physically assaults you, especially someone bigger and stronger, you better have some decent takedowns, and be confident in them, to get that person onto the ground. That requires a lot of drilling repetitions, as well as live wrestling practice. Both of these things are severely under trained at the large majority of BJJ schools. BJJ without takedowns is like owning a gun but no bullets. It may be fun to play around with, but how the fuck are you going to use it if you need to?
For me, the old school Carlson Gracie style of takedown, smash and pass is what BJJ should be about. Not one dude backing away from another guy who is chasing him while dragging his ass on the ground like a bitch in heat. Not about inverted guard, 50/50 guard, fucking beirimbolos, and other fancy, non-combat effective guards.
Is BJJ still great for people to learn for self defense? Yes, but I feel the law of diminishing return starts to come into play after a few years, especially since takedowns are so naively overlooked in the large majority of current BJJ schools.
Here is what BJJ should be about, IMO:
Not about this:
Definitely felt ready since it took me nearly three years to get promoted because I moved so often, trained at local MMA gyms without much instruction, and wasn't under a black belt for 90% of the time.
I ruined a lot of blue belts days who thought they were going to smash the new/visiting white belt. Hell, I had more experience than many blue belts by the time I ended up training at one black belt school long enough to be promoted.
At my original school you basically had to win the US Open or American Cup to get promoted, so I had a pretty high opinion of what skill a blue belt should be. We also rolled pretty bard, which a lot of bjj schools don't like, because bjj definitely attracts a lot of pussies. And with that, ill start my rant.....
I've pretty much quit BJJ the last 6-7 months. I doubt I'll be returning anytime soon.
Why?
I have some pretty major philosophical differences with where the sport is at. Mainly, a lack of takedown emphasis, bullshit like guard pulling, double guard pulling and buttscooting, way too heavy of an emphasis on fancy guard play as opposed to top game (position before submission), as well as reaping rules and no leg locks.
BJJ is great for a 1 on 1 fight, without a doubt. The Gracies beat the shit out of people down in Rio for years. However, now it has moved so far away from a fighting art/sport/whatever, and is just a straight up sport with very little practicality in the real world.
What good is being able to break arms, dominate people positionally on the ground, and choke them unconscious, if you can't get people to the ground? I've trained at probably half a dozen schools, and very few of them train takedowns.
Why is that? Because for one takedowns are hard, so a lot of people don't like to do them. And two is the current IBJJF rule set makes them unnecessary. Just watch Keenan Cornelius and the Miyao brothers matches. That is not fighting. It is literally worse than some straight up Karate katas.
If someone comes up and physically assaults you, especially someone bigger and stronger, you better have some decent takedowns, and be confident in them, to get that person onto the ground. That requires a lot of drilling repetitions, as well as live wrestling practice. Both of these things are severely under trained at the large majority of BJJ schools. BJJ without takedowns is like owning a gun but no bullets. It may be fun to play around with, but how the fuck are you going to use it if you need to?
For me, the old school Carlson Gracie style of takedown, smash and pass is what BJJ should be about. Not one dude backing away from another guy who is chasing him while dragging his ass on the ground like a bitch in heat. Not about inverted guard, 50/50 guard, fucking beirimbolos, and other fancy, non-combat effective guards.
Is BJJ still great for people to learn for self defense? Yes, but I feel the law of diminishing return starts to come into play after a few years, especially since takedowns are so naively overlooked in the large majority of current BJJ schools.
Here is what BJJ should be about, IMO:
Not about this: