High Performance MMA, Kickboxing, BJJ, Mixed Martial Arts

Overview of Machado Jiu-Jitsu Belt Ranking System

A Machado Belt will win no fights for you, and will not make you a better person. It is what you are inside, what you know and can perform, that is important, that is your true rank. As such, attaining belts in Machado Jiu-Jitsu is never the true goal. Rather, always strive to achieve the physical, mental and spiritual mastery, which results in a belt being awarded. Without these attributes, a belt is worthless.

Black Belt

There is only one true rank in Machado Jiu-Jitsu - Black Belt. All belts below this point are progress points. A Black Belt represents completion of a course of study in the martial arts. Colored belt ranks in Machado Jiu-Jitsu, blue, purple, brown - represent progress towards achieving Black Belt.

Quitting Machado Jiu-Jitsu before a student is a Black Belt is like quitting school before he or she graduates. In many organizations, students who hold less than a Black Belt rank lose their rank after six-months if they quit. This is because these ranks represent progress not attainment of the only true rank - Black Belt.

That being Said:

After careful consideration and years of deliberation --and most recently, watching some of the most pathetic and sad examples (on YOUTUBE) of black belt tests administered to young children, I am calling on the international martial arts community to follow the Gracie Family's policy of not awarding black belts to children.

The Gracie policy, as I understand it, is that a child must turn 18 to wear a brown belt --and be 19 before they can wear a black belt.

I would like to suggest the martial arts community join me and self-regulate by adopting a policy, at minimum, that no child wears a black belt before the age of 18. No junior black belts either.

We have come to a place in the history of the martial arts where wearing a black belt is virtually meaningless. Compared to the standards the Gracie's have so wisely adopted, the martial arts community's issuance of 2.5 year (and less) black belts to people under the age of 18, often under the age of 12, is shameful and it is destroying the integrity of the rank.

I am also calling upon the martial arts community to embrace the policy that 5 years consistent training is the minimum requirement for earning a black belt in any style. I further suggest the the idea and sale of "black belt club" memberships be terminated.

Overview of Machado Jiu-Jitsu Belt Ranking System

Black Belt

There is only one true rank in Machado Jiu-Jitsu - Black Belt. All belts below this point are progress points. A Black Belt represents completion of a course of study in the martial arts. Colored belt ranks in Machado Jiu-Jitsu, blue, purple, brown - represent progress towards achieving Black Belt.

That being Said:

The Gracie policy, as I understand it, is that a child must turn 18 to wear a brown belt --and be 19 before they can wear a black belt.

I would like to suggest the martial arts community join me and self-regulate by adopting a policy, at minimum, that no child wears a black belt before the age of 18. No junior black belts either.

I am also calling upon the martial arts community to embrace the policy that 5 years consistent training is the minimum requirement for earning a black belt in any style. I further suggest the the idea and sale of "black belt club" memberships be terminated.

VIA Tom Callos

Note: One example, below, of why I'm adopting this policy. If I don't hold the highest standards, who will?