A Purple Belt Looks At Thirty

[Vince Tortelli]

Alternate title:
AM I GETTING MATURE OR JUST LOSING MY COJONES?

A few weeks ago a new jiu jitsu school opened up in a small Louisiana town. The head guy instructor was a Gracie Combatives blue belt but wore his karate black to teach in, and covered his flyers and the front of his gym with the words BJJ and MMA. But unbeknownst to him, a whole heapload of trouble was about to land on his school with a heavy and merciless hand.

While not on the level of California (or for that matter, Brazil) there is a pretty lively BJJ community in the Pelican State, and word of this new guy teaching jiujitsu got around pretty quick. A brown belt of my acquaintance decided to go check this place out. He showed up wearing a white belt and asking if he could try out a class, then predictably obliterated everyone from the head instructor on down and made it look effortless.

Now, part of me says "High five, buddy! That'll learn 'em good!"
But then another part demands its say.

It reminds me that I got my start in jiujitsu thanks to a Carlos Machado white belt who instructed wearing his hapkido black, although currently he ties on either his bjj purple or his judo brown.
It points out that a bjj program run by a blue belt in a small town is better than no bjj program at all.
Loudest of all, it says that a brown belt slipping into such a school pretending to be a white so he can dispense Great Justice is no heroic avenger, but a bully.

To which the first part retorts that this is rich hypocrisy coming from someone who was baying for blood when the Gracie Combatives and American Top Team affiliation programs were discussed. And then I get a headache from all this introspection and soul searching and have to lie down.

So, what do you guys think? Am I acquiring wisedom with age, or just going gutless?


And a bonus for all you aficianados of good music who read this far:

Mother mother Brazil
My problems they compound
I finally got good at fighting from my guard
But now no one tries to take me down....

[Thebearjoe]

Coming from a immature college students perspective, it seems like a jerk move especially if he didn't speak to the guy first. If someone wants to share what they know then they should be allowed to. From the post he wasn't claiming a higher rank than what he was even though he wore a belt from a different style when teaching that is his choice. I think it is ok for him to teach so long as he is doing it right and storming the gym disguised as a newb is not right, he should have gone and just talked to the guy if he was skeptical

[Kharon]

Sounds like it worked out just fine. You guys could have called him out publicly and plastered his name all over the net.

[Omega Supreme]

*edit....deleted rant:

It was a dick move by the brown belt.

[csharp.negative]

What a dick move, that brown belt made.

[Scrapper]

Dick move. There was no discernible purpose for what he did other than self-masturbatory ashholery.

That being said, the instructor was being somewhat disingenuous and paid the price. But it could have been better accomplished via asking some simple questions.


Damn...I 'm old too, aren't I...

[Auszi]

Brown belt, dick move, he did make.

[battheo]

Dick move. He should have addressed his concerns openly, not strapped on a white and rained down grappling hell.

[rangerdavy]

I would say it depends on how the instructor represented himself. If he made it clear that he was not a black belt at the beginning of class, that's fine (though you wonder why he would wear it). If he was wearing a black belt while teaching a BJJ class, I believe he's misrepresenting himself intentionally. The latter case deserves whatever trouble comes his way.

I think the brown should have been very clear about his rank, and spoken with the instructor first. Pretending to be a white without speaking with the instructor is out of line. Had he approached it differently, I would have felt that the brown was doing a good thing. As it is, I think they're both wrong.

[Omega Supreme]

I would say it depends on how the instructor represented himself. If he made it clear that he was not a black belt at the beginning of class, that's fine (though you wonder why he would wear it). If he was wearing a black belt while teaching a BJJ class, I believe he's misrepresenting himself intentionally. The latter case deserves whatever trouble comes his way.

I think the brown should have been very clear about his rank, and spoken with the instructor first. Pretending to be a white without speaking with the instructor is out of line. Had he approached it differently, I would have felt that the brown was doing a good thing. As it is, I think they're both wrong.

For the sake of open debate I'm going to disagree with you on this one. If you're going to prove something to a person don't be a hypocrite while doing it. I've gone to many BJJ gyms and worn a white belt but never went to tool people even if I was more experienced than them. I've gone to many schools claiming to teach jiu jitsu only to find them sorely lacking. I've done this in many styles and schools. I would never do that to the head instructor unless openly given permission to do so.

[Devil]

My initial response was dick move, but after thinking about it I have a question.

Does the guy teach other classes? Karate or whatever? If not and it's strictly a BJJ/MMA school I think it's gay to prance around with a black belt on when you don't have a black belt in the only art you're teaching. In that case he probably deserved to be the subject of some lulz.

If he's teaching other stuff too - Karate for instance, then I don't fault him for not changing clothes between classes or whatever. If he's being up front about his resume on his website and isn't going around telling lies about himself, he should be left alone.

[JingMerchant!]

Dick move. There was no discernible purpose for what he did other than self-masturbatory ashholery.

That being said, the instructor was being somewhat disingenuous and paid the price. But it could have been better accomplished via asking some simple questions.

^ This. Context is important here. It depends on just HOW disingenuous the guy was being.
As a for instance, the closest BJJ training to where I live, is run by a blue belt. A blue belt who most likely started up the group because he wanted some people to train with. On the flyers that he made, he specifically states that anyone with a BJJ purple or Judo black, can train for free. Presumeably, in the case of the purple, he'd turn over the class to them. A brown belt showing up to that class and smashing all and sundry is a Dick move, no question.

If matey boy in your example is wearing a black belt and just leaving the blue belt in the fine print, as it were... Well, he kinda had it coming....

TL:DR version - Yeah, Dick move, but he brought it on himself.

[DKJr]

Should've been upfront about being a brown belt, yet still kicked ass and put that poser bitch in his place. Continue the BJJihad, all praise be to Helio!

[Tenebrous]

If he was teaching Hapkido and said, "But I'll show you some grappling stuff I learned" that's fine. But that's not what happened is it? He flyered over his gym advertising bjj and mma with a combatives blue, which isn't really worth a stripe from a normal school. And then he wore his black belt from another art.

Unless he starts every class with, or prints a disclaimer on every flyer with "I learned this on the internet" or "I don't really know this well enough to teach it", then it's false advertising. It's lying. It's the further watering down of a useful way to cut off the oxygen to somebody's brain. So a grapplefuck is what he deserved, and a grapplefuck is what he got.

[Vorpal]

I have two minds about it. The brown belt was wrong for what he did, no doubt, he should have been straight up. On the other hand if you are going to plaster BJJ all over your school and stand around with a black belt this will happen to you. It's a black hole of douchery created by two people. Your new-found wisdom advises you to stay clear, I'd listen to it.