If you only knew, my friend. BJJ is one of the few Martial Arts where your rank is based solely on performance. How you handle yourself on
the mat with a variety of opponents. No matter how knowledgeable you are or how well you can do a move and technique, in the end none of that matters unless you can apply it during "free training" sessions. None of this "Kata" or being there long enough that they just give it to you so you don't quit and stop paying dues. And even if you beat others on the mat that still doesn't guarantee promotion. There was a guy who was a Blue Belt who could crush a lot of the higher belts but still wasn't promoted. Rickson recognized that his much greater size and strength advantage is what made him victorious and not his skill and knowledge in Jiu-Jitsu and therefore he did not merit a promotion.
I remember Rickson once telling me that it's the strong guys that are the hardest to teach and the slowest to learn because they depend so much on strength.
Back in the day, I was training in Jiu-Jitsu six days a week. Classes, private lessons, and meeting with friends on Sunday for "garage training." It took me 5 years to go from Blue Belt to Purple Belt.
Dear Pellius,
I guess Be There believes there is some way to "fix" how many black belts appear in a class to train. I just noted the amount as here in America it is difficult to accumulate so many
high level BJJ Black Belts but that is not the fault of Americans. There are far too many reasons for this, most of which would bore too many others.
I don't think he meant to imply that my promotion was "fixed."
You, however, have quite the distinction as real, true life Rickson student (in some way, aren't we all Rickson's students?) who received one of the most legitimate promotions I
could only dream of. You have much of which to be proud.
I wasn't terribly smitten by Rickson when we met so it is a bit easier for me to accept the criticisms launched against him in terms of not fighting Sakuraba. However, Pride was notorious
for faking the amounts paid to fighters. Actually, they very often paid cash, seriously. While in Brasil, I also trained with Murilo Bustamante at Brazilian Top Team and he can tell you
quite the stories of Pride.
Harley