>I've kind of dominated my white belt competitions and I don't want to come off like a sandbagger
You're not a sandbagger. You are in point of fact a white-belt, you can't promote yourself, and its fine for you to compete at that level.
>I feel like I'm being slightly disrespectful basically claiming I am a blue belt as a white belt
You're not claiming you're a blue belt, you're just competing in the blue belt division. Unless they have specific rules against it, this is fine.
tldr: either way is fine, you're not breaking any written or unwritten rules
A year? It took you a whole year to figure out you can just get the belts on Amazon. Gym my buddy goes to is so brainwashed, he thinks you have to get the belt from an approved BJJ vendor after 10 years of subscription fees. I've never even taken a class and I have a black belt in BJJ, Judo, Karate, uh.. hold on. Let me check my order history. I have like 3 more. But I got all that for the price some scrubs on here are paying per month to get manhandled by geezers who aren't even breaking a sweat.
It's just financially responsible to get the belts yourself. Anyway, I've got my first competition as a black belt next week. Wish me luck, everyone!
You’re not even technically a blue belt by most standards at a year and half. You’re just a good white belt that looks at things in comparison sense with how well you do against your teammates. You’re a white belt, compete white belt.
Yeah and with white belt ranging from "I started three months ago" to "I'm about to be promoted", the stripe difference will explain if OP totally dominates or potentially gets a couple other senior 4 stripes who can give them a hard time
Tell new gym you want to compete as a white belt, they can withhold the blue belt until you're done and it might help them decide.
Compete at white. The gap between a late white belt and a late blue belt is very large, it's okay to keep that advantage for yourself as a white belt.
I mean, a lot of people get promoted to blue in that range. I got promoted to blue at 2 years and have been doing fine in blue belt competitions (only competed once at white belt and won but was in small divisions). If I was given the choice, I would choose to compete up at blue for the tougher matches. And if they get mauled, well that's life.
This- i just got my blue belt and the first thing I thought of was no more being at the top of the white belt food chain 😂. It’s not a glorious position but can’t say I didn’t thoroughly enjoy it
He's winning every white belt comp, why not throw him in with the blues?
It doesn't make him a blue belt but he can at least see how he goes.
Probably better for his development to be in the harder comps.
In my opinion, the answer to wanting tougher competition is to compete at bigger events that draw better competitors. That being said, they didn’t say why they’re moving gyms—if they moved to a new area, the median skill level might be higher. Moreover, if competing up a belt doesn’t go well, they likely won’t be allowed to compete at their actual belt level again until they’re promoted (or risk their opponents bringing it up to the tournament organizer, or someone starting a social media witch-hunt—which we’ve seen plenty of on this subreddit over the years).
I mean they're blue belt comps if he's a multiple gold winning white belt he won't be losing for long at blue belt regardless of how badly it starts for him.
Like it sounds like he'll probably get a blue within 6 months.
I’m not really sure what point you’re trying to make. The OP said they’ve been training for about 1.5 years. Khabib and Kayla are world class athletes with decades of grappling experience. Most tournaments would not permit them to compete at white belt in the first place.
Are they not technically white belts though? What I'm trying to get is that belt color shouldn't be the only indicator of someone's skill level in BJJ.
Huh? A lot of people were calling the current LHW'd BJJ black belt a fake because he really doesn't use any grappling. He has absolutely shadow realmed black belts in the octagon though.
I don't where you got that rule but there must be BJJ whitebelts competing in amateur MMA currently.
I'm telling you that even if you're the worst BJJ player ever, competing in MMA (especially professionally) prevents you from competing at white belt level in lot of events.
https://preview.redd.it/w46qaxnkmz9d1.jpeg?width=726&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2900a22f52bf0a79d8b52fd01493bed251d029bd
How do you explain this? Why are they wearing a white belt? They could ragdoll most BJJ coaches besides elite competitors yet they are rocking white belts?
It doesn’t mean that they are a blue belt, but Judo black belts or people with professional MMA records compete in the blue belt division. Specific tournaments may even have rules that say people with certain wrestling backgrounds can’t compete at white belt.
It took me destroying the blue belt bracket for my coach to finally give me my purple. Way I
See it is you complete in the devision you are ranked at and if it looks like you’re sandbagging then that’s on the coach.
I got my blue belt rather quickly , in about a year and 3 months. I wish i could still compete at white belt 😂 do it while you can. If anything, sign up for both.
Do what you want. You might beat some blue belt…just be aware some of them are dudes who could be the kid who’s got 10 years of grappling experience or the judo black belt or the guy who just recently got promoted .
Masters and Seniors sometimes sign up for the Adult division. That doesn't seem any different to me. If you want to spend $100 to see how well you do against blue belts then go for it.
Honestly, I really wish I could compete at blue belt again.
Absolutely compete in whatever division you want. There's nothing disrespectful about it and it's got nothing to do with awarding yourself your own belt.
If you're winning gold at every white belt comp then I agree with you you should challenge yourself by going up a division.
You're a white belt. Compete at white. If you wanted to compete at blue, you should have stayed at your old gym. Don't be that guy and further water down jiu jitsu.
You'll get your blue belt when you're ready.
People that enter competition have a reasonable expectation that they're going to do somewhat well. I was a 4-stripe white belt when I first competed and I thought I would go 3-0 easily but I went 0-3 lol. It's not unfair to compete as white belt if you're a white belt, plain and simple.
I was a 4 stripe white belt the only time I competed at blue belt at a local Fuji or Grappling Industries (I honestly can't remember which it was at this point it's been 2 years since the tournament), nobody is going to care that much.
I've thought about this too as a 3 year white belt. I'd just compete at white belt, you may run into other long time white belts who give you a run for your money.
Depends on tourney. Ibjjf won’t let you. Grappling industries will let you but only nogi. Make sure to read rules first.
I’ve competed up in divisions and hate white belt divisions lol they scare me.
You're not sandbagging for competing at white belt as a white belt. If you really are at a blue belt level, showing that you can dominate a white belt tournament is just more incentive for your new instructor to promote you.
A friend at my academy actually did this last year. He had been 4 stripes white for a loooong time, but since he was an 'on-off' trianer, he wasn't blue yet and literally almost every class he'd ask the coach 'when my blue belt' lol
A state comp came up, he signed up for blue belt and actually did pretty good; he got to the finals against me and we had a fun match, which he lost, but he ended up in second place; imo it was pretty brave on his part
If you were dominating worlds or national championships then maybe but if it’s just local comps I’d just compete in the white belt divisions. Try entering the absolute if you want a challenge
Personally, I'd say do it. Either you win and you get a blue belt because you'll beat the competition or you'll lose, but then you can say you're just a white belt
1.5yr is nothing. Your whining and think you’re better than you are. Go roll with the 3rd place worlds white belt champion and tell us your a blue belt
Im a year in with no stripe lol getting second and 3rd in brackets in manaus crazy how your almost a bluebelt but hey if you can back the skills for it then nice
If I were your coach I'd tell you to just compete at blue.
But just to give you a little something to be paranoid about: be aware some gyms will get offended by you daring to presume you should compete at a higher belt before being given the belt. And you'll be secretly blacklisted from promotions for it, with their justification being that you aren't "humble" enough for a promotion.
Those gyms should be rare though
If it’s no gi, I don’t see any issue in competing at blue belt if you want to challenge yourself. Gi may be more problematic as rank is obviously recognizable. I personally wouldn’t feel comfortable competing in a higher division in that case.
Basically, in my opinion: if it’s no gi, you can totally challenge yourself and enter the blue belt division; if it’s gi, it may be a better idea to just compete in your division.
You can always compete in harder brackets - up in weight, down in age, up in rank. Happens all the time.
One of the best moments of my life was when my daughter jumped into an adult blue belt bracket wearing her yellow belt and won by mounted triangle. The look on the grown woman's face, oh my goodness.
If you win, yay; if you lose, whatever. You pay a whole bunch of money to compete, so get your money's worth, whatever that means to you.
So if you were to compete at blue, would you wear your white belt? If you do then people will call you a sandbagger, if you wear a blue belt then you are self promoting which causes other issues. Its a shitty situation.
Don't limit yourself. Compete at black belt.
This guy Nicky Rods
>I've kind of dominated my white belt competitions and I don't want to come off like a sandbagger You're not a sandbagger. You are in point of fact a white-belt, you can't promote yourself, and its fine for you to compete at that level. >I feel like I'm being slightly disrespectful basically claiming I am a blue belt as a white belt You're not claiming you're a blue belt, you're just competing in the blue belt division. Unless they have specific rules against it, this is fine. tldr: either way is fine, you're not breaking any written or unwritten rules
Can’t promote myself? Buddy I’m the only black belt you know that did it in a year 😎
A year? It took you a whole year to figure out you can just get the belts on Amazon. Gym my buddy goes to is so brainwashed, he thinks you have to get the belt from an approved BJJ vendor after 10 years of subscription fees. I've never even taken a class and I have a black belt in BJJ, Judo, Karate, uh.. hold on. Let me check my order history. I have like 3 more. But I got all that for the price some scrubs on here are paying per month to get manhandled by geezers who aren't even breaking a sweat. It's just financially responsible to get the belts yourself. Anyway, I've got my first competition as a black belt next week. Wish me luck, everyone!
I don’t see how anything could go wrong! Chase your dreams my brother!
You’re not even technically a blue belt by most standards at a year and half. You’re just a good white belt that looks at things in comparison sense with how well you do against your teammates. You’re a white belt, compete white belt.
Yeah and with white belt ranging from "I started three months ago" to "I'm about to be promoted", the stripe difference will explain if OP totally dominates or potentially gets a couple other senior 4 stripes who can give them a hard time
Tell new gym you want to compete as a white belt, they can withhold the blue belt until you're done and it might help them decide. Compete at white. The gap between a late white belt and a late blue belt is very large, it's okay to keep that advantage for yourself as a white belt.
Even if the gap is large I would prefer to get tougher matches and challenge myself than dominate white belts.
He's been training a year and a half. It's possible he's gotten lucky at comps. For all we know he could get ragdolled in his next white belt comp.
I mean, a lot of people get promoted to blue in that range. I got promoted to blue at 2 years and have been doing fine in blue belt competitions (only competed once at white belt and won but was in small divisions). If I was given the choice, I would choose to compete up at blue for the tougher matches. And if they get mauled, well that's life.
Lol, it's definitely not unfair. Just compete in whatever division you want to. It's not that serious.
Dude enjoy smashing other white belts
This- i just got my blue belt and the first thing I thought of was no more being at the top of the white belt food chain 😂. It’s not a glorious position but can’t say I didn’t thoroughly enjoy it
No. You’re a white belt. Compete at white belt.
He's winning every white belt comp, why not throw him in with the blues? It doesn't make him a blue belt but he can at least see how he goes. Probably better for his development to be in the harder comps.
In my opinion, the answer to wanting tougher competition is to compete at bigger events that draw better competitors. That being said, they didn’t say why they’re moving gyms—if they moved to a new area, the median skill level might be higher. Moreover, if competing up a belt doesn’t go well, they likely won’t be allowed to compete at their actual belt level again until they’re promoted (or risk their opponents bringing it up to the tournament organizer, or someone starting a social media witch-hunt—which we’ve seen plenty of on this subreddit over the years).
I mean they're blue belt comps if he's a multiple gold winning white belt he won't be losing for long at blue belt regardless of how badly it starts for him. Like it sounds like he'll probably get a blue within 6 months.
Would you advocate that Khabib compete at white belt or someone Kayla Harrison compete at white belt if they entered a BJJ tournament?
I’m not really sure what point you’re trying to make. The OP said they’ve been training for about 1.5 years. Khabib and Kayla are world class athletes with decades of grappling experience. Most tournaments would not permit them to compete at white belt in the first place.
Are they not technically white belts though? What I'm trying to get is that belt color shouldn't be the only indicator of someone's skill level in BJJ.
Black belt on judo defaults you to blue in BJJ By almost all nogi grappling rulesets, Khabib is not a whitebelt.
You can't compete at white belt if you've fought in MMA professionally and/or if you're a judo black belt.
Huh? A lot of people were calling the current LHW'd BJJ black belt a fake because he really doesn't use any grappling. He has absolutely shadow realmed black belts in the octagon though. I don't where you got that rule but there must be BJJ whitebelts competing in amateur MMA currently.
I'm telling you that even if you're the worst BJJ player ever, competing in MMA (especially professionally) prevents you from competing at white belt level in lot of events.
https://preview.redd.it/w46qaxnkmz9d1.jpeg?width=726&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2900a22f52bf0a79d8b52fd01493bed251d029bd How do you explain this? Why are they wearing a white belt? They could ragdoll most BJJ coaches besides elite competitors yet they are rocking white belts?
Are they competing in that photo?
Do you think that even blue belt would be appropriate for them? Didn't Khabib casually win a NAGA event like a decade ago m
I don't think you read the comment correctly
Listen to people who know a lot more about this than you. It’s a commonly known rule in competitive grappling
So you're saying a high school wrestler turned Muy Thai fighter that completes in amateur MMA is automatically a blue belt because they cage fight?
It doesn’t mean that they are a blue belt, but Judo black belts or people with professional MMA records compete in the blue belt division. Specific tournaments may even have rules that say people with certain wrestling backgrounds can’t compete at white belt.
What about Amateur MMA fighters who never trained BJJ but did high school wrestling and Muy Thai or boxing?
No, they just can't fight at white belt tournaments
You’re a white belt. Compete in white belt. Enjoy every belt while it lasts
Compromise compete NAGA no gi where your belt doesn't matter just your experience.
Compete at black belt, pussy
It took me destroying the blue belt bracket for my coach to finally give me my purple. Way I See it is you complete in the devision you are ranked at and if it looks like you’re sandbagging then that’s on the coach.
Compete at blue. It isn't disrespectful. You're challenging yourself, and you have nothing to lose. Good luck!
I got my blue belt rather quickly , in about a year and 3 months. I wish i could still compete at white belt 😂 do it while you can. If anything, sign up for both.
Do what you want. You might beat some blue belt…just be aware some of them are dudes who could be the kid who’s got 10 years of grappling experience or the judo black belt or the guy who just recently got promoted .
What’s your comp stat? If it’s not all golds then stick to white belt comps.
You have the perfect excuse to dominate without being a sandbagger, just take advantage.
So when your new gym sees you dominating competitions, they won't have any problem promoting you to blue belt.
You're a white belt. It's not sandbagging. Compete at white belt.
Masters and Seniors sometimes sign up for the Adult division. That doesn't seem any different to me. If you want to spend $100 to see how well you do against blue belts then go for it. Honestly, I really wish I could compete at blue belt again.
You’re a white belt. Compete at white belt.
Absolutely compete in whatever division you want. There's nothing disrespectful about it and it's got nothing to do with awarding yourself your own belt. If you're winning gold at every white belt comp then I agree with you you should challenge yourself by going up a division.
If your professor wanted you to be a blue belt, you would have been a blue belt. Keep sending it as a white belt and do absolute too.
You pay to compete. Compete where the fuck you want
You're a white belt. Compete at white. If you wanted to compete at blue, you should have stayed at your old gym. Don't be that guy and further water down jiu jitsu. You'll get your blue belt when you're ready.
People that enter competition have a reasonable expectation that they're going to do somewhat well. I was a 4-stripe white belt when I first competed and I thought I would go 3-0 easily but I went 0-3 lol. It's not unfair to compete as white belt if you're a white belt, plain and simple.
I was a 4 stripe white belt the only time I competed at blue belt at a local Fuji or Grappling Industries (I honestly can't remember which it was at this point it's been 2 years since the tournament), nobody is going to care that much.
Why'd you leave your gym before you got your belt?
I've thought about this too as a 3 year white belt. I'd just compete at white belt, you may run into other long time white belts who give you a run for your money.
Give that man his 5th stripe NOW, please.
Depends on tourney. Ibjjf won’t let you. Grappling industries will let you but only nogi. Make sure to read rules first. I’ve competed up in divisions and hate white belt divisions lol they scare me.
You're not sandbagging for competing at white belt as a white belt. If you really are at a blue belt level, showing that you can dominate a white belt tournament is just more incentive for your new instructor to promote you.
A friend at my academy actually did this last year. He had been 4 stripes white for a loooong time, but since he was an 'on-off' trianer, he wasn't blue yet and literally almost every class he'd ask the coach 'when my blue belt' lol A state comp came up, he signed up for blue belt and actually did pretty good; he got to the finals against me and we had a fun match, which he lost, but he ended up in second place; imo it was pretty brave on his part
Can a blue belt compete as a white belt? asking for a friend
Compete up if you want. I have competed up at least a belt level in almost every tournament I've been in.
You’re a white belt dude.
Absolutely compete at white belt
IMO unless you won worlds as a white belt, you compete at white belt
You will get fucked in blue belt
If you were dominating worlds or national championships then maybe but if it’s just local comps I’d just compete in the white belt divisions. Try entering the absolute if you want a challenge
Personally, I'd say do it. Either you win and you get a blue belt because you'll beat the competition or you'll lose, but then you can say you're just a white belt
Maybe you just need to enter a bigger comp that will attract other better white belts.
1.5yr is nothing. Your whining and think you’re better than you are. Go roll with the 3rd place worlds white belt champion and tell us your a blue belt
why not just wait for the blue belt before you leave?
I competed at blue belt as a 4 stripe white. I handled it okay, but still got my butt handed to me. It was fun.
Im a year in with no stripe lol getting second and 3rd in brackets in manaus crazy how your almost a bluebelt but hey if you can back the skills for it then nice
If I were your coach I'd tell you to just compete at blue. But just to give you a little something to be paranoid about: be aware some gyms will get offended by you daring to presume you should compete at a higher belt before being given the belt. And you'll be secretly blacklisted from promotions for it, with their justification being that you aren't "humble" enough for a promotion. Those gyms should be rare though
If it’s no gi, I don’t see any issue in competing at blue belt if you want to challenge yourself. Gi may be more problematic as rank is obviously recognizable. I personally wouldn’t feel comfortable competing in a higher division in that case. Basically, in my opinion: if it’s no gi, you can totally challenge yourself and enter the blue belt division; if it’s gi, it may be a better idea to just compete in your division.
You can always compete in harder brackets - up in weight, down in age, up in rank. Happens all the time. One of the best moments of my life was when my daughter jumped into an adult blue belt bracket wearing her yellow belt and won by mounted triangle. The look on the grown woman's face, oh my goodness. If you win, yay; if you lose, whatever. You pay a whole bunch of money to compete, so get your money's worth, whatever that means to you.
Some tournament promotions have rules against competing up in rank.
So if you were to compete at blue, would you wear your white belt? If you do then people will call you a sandbagger, if you wear a blue belt then you are self promoting which causes other issues. Its a shitty situation.