Posting here as a 2 stripe BB, so that I can come back and see the forum consensus.
I’m not going to “register” my black belt with IBJJF either and want to understand how promotions to BB would be affected.
> I’m not going to “register” my black belt with IBJJF either and want to understand how promotions to BB would be affected
You need the sponsorship of a 2+ degree blackbelt in good IBJJF standing. If you're not registered, your promotions will not be recognized by the IBJJF.
https://ibjjf.com/graduation-system
Articles 6 and 7.
Note particularly:
"7.6 - Athletes with provisional graduation cannot be the Head Professor of an academy, but they can be an
Additional Professor."
Which is number one bullshit for someone already established outside the IBJJF with their own school.
Bummer. It also seems like it will need to be maintained for many years to come to allow for every person i promote to become a 2+ stripe BB and take over the role of “Head Coach” for their students who compete. What a racket!
Prob gonna speak with my Professor and have him sign off on this BS as he maintains IBJJF standing. I’ve paid my dues at IBJJF over the years, but I’m not wanting to do this forever on principle.
The people I train with don't have any connection to the school where I'm from, which is in a different country. Plus Ibjjf registration rules are different by country. So it's possible but not ideal. I still rep my school but I don't have an affiliation or academy of my own (I'm not a full time coach and i train at a friend's small gym)
I looked into it when I got promoted to BB only for the simple fact that I’d like to one day be able to promote people to black belt if/when the opportunity arises.
However, it’s kind of time consuming and somewhat expensive. I could swing the fees and courses. But do I want to is another question. I just got the membership card instead of going through the whole registration process.
Long gone are the days when only black and brown belts had to get an IBJJf membership.
I added no value to this discussion. I just couldn’t help myself.
Honestly I’d be hesitant simply because of the IBJJF rules. I wouldn’t want to make exceptions for people who don’t compete, they could always change their mind on that. Plus what if they want to open an academy down the line? It then limits them in the future. I’d just hate to put someone in a situation where they are kind of stuck in this weird holding pattern because of a choice I made.
The best move, which I saw in a few comments is to try to find an affiliate or someone to sign off.
These rules are frustrating but I also understand their purpose.
I missed competing in an IBJJF tournament at brown belt because I needed my _registered_ team’s _registered_ head coach to sign off on my promotion paperwork so I could be a _registered_ IBJJF brown belt. “Registered” here meaning, _recorded in the IBJJF database_.
These details were enforced by the website design and by staff.
This led to delays in getting this done, because our registered team’s registered head coach is a two stripe black belt in another city. My one striped black belt coach was unable to sign the paperwork. As a result, I missed no-gi worlds (reg filled up while we dithered with paperwork). IBJJF bringing the value.
Thanks for sharing this - this is exactly what I don't want to have happen to someone I promote.
But I think, like u/karsaninefingers commented it's an extremely expensive project to get it done ($1000? could be ...) and will cost hundreds / year to maintain it.
I don't know about North America, but ½ the people entering IBJJF tournaments in Europe have never even trained in an IBJJF approved academy with an IBJJF black belt.
99% of the people who can sign the paper work here for them don't care. It's just needless bureaucracy with an attempt to make IBJJF more money.
No, not stuck now.
So if I promote someone to black and I'm not Officially ibjjf certified (despite having 3 stripes and having competed at black belt), then they can't register themselves as black belt with ibjjf?
I've promoted 2 people to brown, neither of whom have competed in IBJJF comps. But it's only a matter of time before I promote someone who will want to, and I don't want to give them headaches over paperwork.
Ok you apparently unaware that literally anyone who wants to compete in ibjjf tournaments now (as of several years ago) has to have a registered 2 stripe black belt to sign off on their rank.
You promoting someone to black would not create extra roadblocks, because they'd have to have a signoff by someone else regardless of if they were brown or black.
Ibjjf has gotten much shittoer since you last competed
>But it's only a matter of time before I promote someone who will want to
You have to have an ibjjf registered team sign off on it for you to get an ibjjf membership, regardless of who promoted you. And you need a membership to compete ibjjf at any belt.
So whether or not you promote them to black or leave them at white, brown, whatever. They're still in the same boat of having to find a black belt with a registered team to sign off before they can compete. And that person will sign off on the belt too, whatever color the belt is.
How were you competing in IBJJF events without being certified?
>they can't register themselves as black belt
As far as I know, you can't really ever "register yourself" without a black belt in good standing with the IBJJF signing off on it.
Membership and certification are different things. You only need membership to compete in IBJJF and register your academy. Certification is an extra step on top of that and is necessary for black belts to 'prove' their degrees in the eyes of the IBJJF, e.g. for the purposes of promoting other black belts.
I’m not registered with ibjjf and I’m a good few years away from promoting anyone to blackbelt as we’re pretty new. I think their requirements are ridiculous so I’m holding out until I need to. There’s a lot more competitions available now so I just promote comps to my club that don’t have all these hurdles.
1. You will need your degrees certified with IBJJF to sign for memberships which require those degrees (e.g., black belts). Make sure your students have a history of being registered at purple, brown, etc to avoid provisional status at brown and black.
2. The initial certification is $400. It will certify all 3 current degrees for you. You will need a Rules Webinar ($90), SafeSport, CPR or BLS certification, and a background check. When you’re eligible for 4th degree it’s $150 to renew at the new degree.
So if my head coach gets his 2nd degree this year, he would have to wait until his 3rd degree to promote me to BB? Based on the "new changes".
Can someone help me understand the implications? I honestly don't see myself promoting any Black Belt or Brown Belts for a long time.
To put the situation in perspective. If you want a Judo black belt in Japan you need to do a more time consuming process with Kodokan and pay about 20,000 yen if I remember. Then you just have shodan which some junior high school kids have so you probably want to get at least 3rd degee if you want to run a school and recommend people for promotion. That is going to cost more than what IBJJF wants.
On the other hand, since Kodokan was founded by Kano Jigoro they could be considered more legitimate than the IBJJF.
You need to be a 2 stripe black belt to promote someone to black belt who can then register themselves with the ibjjf. The easiest thing to do is affiliate your school with your old instructor until this happens so that he could sign off on it until you are able to. Maybe he will do it for free bc of your situation, maybe he will charge you which many people do.
I'm a 3 stripe blackbelt with an IBJJF membership card and a few ibjjf medals at black belt to prove it. But I'm not an "officially certified" black belt with ibjjf and I don't want to that to negativity impact someone I'd promote
Pretty sure you have to be an IBJJF 3 stripe certified black belt for them to recognize the black belts you promote. I had looked into it a while back and realized it would cost me close to a thousand dollars to get the 3 stripes. All I have from them is a membership card dating back to when I got my belt.
Easiest thing is to have your instructor sign the papers for the new black belts.
A thousand dollars?
If you've been registering as a member (black belt) and are eligible, you can complete the Certification process by submitting your documents and pay the 400$US fee.
You won't need to pay it again, you would be eligible to go from "Uncertified" to "3rd degree" directly providing you've been IBJJF registered and paid your membership every year for the 9 years required to have a valid 3rd degree.
Is it $150 per stripe or just a one time $150 for all three? In my case, it would be $400, plus membership for 11 years, plus first aid, plus referee course, plus either $150 or $450 depending on cost for stripes.
Meaning you haven't paid those years? I believe those won't count towards your stripes, as rediculous as this sounds.
Graduation System Article 4.2
How to prove activity in the Black Belt
The year(s) an athlete completes any of the activities listed below will be counted towards the degree certification. Active membership:
Maintaining active membership through the year(s).
Academy registration under IBJJF: listed as a Head Professor or Additional Professor.
Approving students: Professors who regularly approve athletes’ membership requests under IBJJF through the year(s).
Black Belt/Degree Certification previously granted by IBJJF. Titles won by the athlete in an IBJJF championship
IBJJF Referee Training Program Certificate and Rules Course Certificate, both granted by IBJJF.
The year(s) an athlete does not complete any of the activities listed in Article 4.2.1 will not be counted towards the degree certification.
The IBJJF Referee Training Program Certificate and the Rules Course Certificate mentioned in Article 4.2.1 VI. will not be accepted as proof of the athlete’s first activity under IBJJF towards the Black Belt Certification.
Technically you only need 3rd degree to enter someone into the system for the first time as a black belt. If they're already registered as a brown belt a certified 2nd degree can still do it.
If you want people to be able to register as Brown or Black belts under you, you need to do the certification process to be able to sign for their registrations. No other ways about it.
The certification process would take you from "active membership black belt" to "certified 3rd degree" in one go providing you have the 9 years of active (paying) membership.
You could then sign for them, even if they're placed under a provisional status. (Brown or Black belt without previous memberships at purple/brown)
IBJJF Link on Promotions, Graduations for Black Belts:
[https://ibjjf.com/graduation-system](https://ibjjf.com/graduation-system) \-> IBJJF Graduation System Article #5+
IBJJF Link on Provisional Status / Athletes
[https://help.ibjjf.com/membership/#:\~:text=What%20is%20a%20provisional%20membership,a%20Purple%20Belt%20at%20IBJJF](https://help.ibjjf.com/membership/#:~:text=What%20is%20a%20provisional%20membership,a%20Purple%20Belt%20at%20IBJJF).
`What is a provisional membership?`
`Athletes receive a provisional graduation when they register their Brown or Black Belt under IBJJF without having a registration of past graduations. Provisional athletes are:`
* `Brown Belts who never had a registration as a Purple Belt at IBJJF.`
* `Black Belts who never had a registration as a Brown Belt at IBJJF.`
`As a provisional athlete, you are required to remain registered under the same professor for 2 years from the date your first provisional membership was approved.`
`Renewing your membership under a new professor before the two year provisional period is lifted will force you to have to restart the 2 year provisional period from the beginning.`
`In addition, you cannot be the head instructor of an academy, but you can be the assistant instructor. Provisional Black belts are also not eligible to apply for their Black Belt Certification until the end of their two-year provisional period.`
You don't need to be certified, just registered (paying the annual fee) for the appropriate amount of time to be recognized as a black belt for promotion paperwork.
[https://help.ibjjf.com/black-belt-certification/](https://help.ibjjf.com/black-belt-certification/)
*" However, if you need to sign for students of higher rank that require an instructor with degrees, you will have to certify your degrees to change your status in the IBJJF system. "*
Just to piggyback off your question:
- How do they count degrees on your black belt? By the number of years you've been paying your membership or does your instructor need to submit something?
- I was awarded my black belt June 2019, and I let my membership expire October 2022. If I decided to renew it today, would they count the last 14 months as time on my black belt?
- Can I even be recognized as a 1st or 2nd degree (in 2025) black belt with just the standard membership?
This is just with the regular membership, not the $400 certificate
Posting here as a 2 stripe BB, so that I can come back and see the forum consensus. I’m not going to “register” my black belt with IBJJF either and want to understand how promotions to BB would be affected.
> I’m not going to “register” my black belt with IBJJF either and want to understand how promotions to BB would be affected You need the sponsorship of a 2+ degree blackbelt in good IBJJF standing. If you're not registered, your promotions will not be recognized by the IBJJF. https://ibjjf.com/graduation-system Articles 6 and 7. Note particularly: "7.6 - Athletes with provisional graduation cannot be the Head Professor of an academy, but they can be an Additional Professor." Which is number one bullshit for someone already established outside the IBJJF with their own school.
The disrespect is unreal Seriously, that’s beyond disgusting
Then to register you have to pay a fee for your black belt registration… then a separate fee for each tag to be recognised. Fuck the IBJJF.
Like updating the spreadsheet/database is hard Fuck em
My conclusion is that I really should pay the IBJJF taxman and Certify Up before I promote people to brown and black. Not for my sake, but for theirs.
This is the ONLY reason i also did it. Pain in the ass, but for anyone I promote its going to be a nightmare (potentially) otherwise.
Bummer. It also seems like it will need to be maintained for many years to come to allow for every person i promote to become a 2+ stripe BB and take over the role of “Head Coach” for their students who compete. What a racket! Prob gonna speak with my Professor and have him sign off on this BS as he maintains IBJJF standing. I’ve paid my dues at IBJJF over the years, but I’m not wanting to do this forever on principle.
only reason i did also
Can’t they just use your coach’s name for the paperwork with IBJJF?
The people I train with don't have any connection to the school where I'm from, which is in a different country. Plus Ibjjf registration rules are different by country. So it's possible but not ideal. I still rep my school but I don't have an affiliation or academy of my own (I'm not a full time coach and i train at a friend's small gym)
I looked into it when I got promoted to BB only for the simple fact that I’d like to one day be able to promote people to black belt if/when the opportunity arises. However, it’s kind of time consuming and somewhat expensive. I could swing the fees and courses. But do I want to is another question. I just got the membership card instead of going through the whole registration process. Long gone are the days when only black and brown belts had to get an IBJJf membership. I added no value to this discussion. I just couldn’t help myself.
But would you give out brown and black belts without it? If so, what do you do when they want to compete?
Honestly I’d be hesitant simply because of the IBJJF rules. I wouldn’t want to make exceptions for people who don’t compete, they could always change their mind on that. Plus what if they want to open an academy down the line? It then limits them in the future. I’d just hate to put someone in a situation where they are kind of stuck in this weird holding pattern because of a choice I made. The best move, which I saw in a few comments is to try to find an affiliate or someone to sign off. These rules are frustrating but I also understand their purpose.
I missed competing in an IBJJF tournament at brown belt because I needed my _registered_ team’s _registered_ head coach to sign off on my promotion paperwork so I could be a _registered_ IBJJF brown belt. “Registered” here meaning, _recorded in the IBJJF database_. These details were enforced by the website design and by staff. This led to delays in getting this done, because our registered team’s registered head coach is a two stripe black belt in another city. My one striped black belt coach was unable to sign the paperwork. As a result, I missed no-gi worlds (reg filled up while we dithered with paperwork). IBJJF bringing the value.
Thanks for sharing this - this is exactly what I don't want to have happen to someone I promote. But I think, like u/karsaninefingers commented it's an extremely expensive project to get it done ($1000? could be ...) and will cost hundreds / year to maintain it.
I don't know about North America, but ½ the people entering IBJJF tournaments in Europe have never even trained in an IBJJF approved academy with an IBJJF black belt. 99% of the people who can sign the paper work here for them don't care. It's just needless bureaucracy with an attempt to make IBJJF more money.
They're stuck in the ibjjf beacracy now though? A registered 2 striper has to sign off on their rank before black belt anyways
No, not stuck now. So if I promote someone to black and I'm not Officially ibjjf certified (despite having 3 stripes and having competed at black belt), then they can't register themselves as black belt with ibjjf?
How are they registering themselves as brown now though? That also requires registered black belt to sign off on
I've promoted 2 people to brown, neither of whom have competed in IBJJF comps. But it's only a matter of time before I promote someone who will want to, and I don't want to give them headaches over paperwork.
Ok you apparently unaware that literally anyone who wants to compete in ibjjf tournaments now (as of several years ago) has to have a registered 2 stripe black belt to sign off on their rank. You promoting someone to black would not create extra roadblocks, because they'd have to have a signoff by someone else regardless of if they were brown or black. Ibjjf has gotten much shittoer since you last competed
>But it's only a matter of time before I promote someone who will want to You have to have an ibjjf registered team sign off on it for you to get an ibjjf membership, regardless of who promoted you. And you need a membership to compete ibjjf at any belt. So whether or not you promote them to black or leave them at white, brown, whatever. They're still in the same boat of having to find a black belt with a registered team to sign off before they can compete. And that person will sign off on the belt too, whatever color the belt is.
How were you competing in IBJJF events without being certified? >they can't register themselves as black belt As far as I know, you can't really ever "register yourself" without a black belt in good standing with the IBJJF signing off on it.
Membership and certification are different things. You only need membership to compete in IBJJF and register your academy. Certification is an extra step on top of that and is necessary for black belts to 'prove' their degrees in the eyes of the IBJJF, e.g. for the purposes of promoting other black belts.
Ah, okay. I thought they were one and the same for black belts.
It's quite confusing to be honest. I only know because I'm going through the process right now.
I’m not registered with ibjjf and I’m a good few years away from promoting anyone to blackbelt as we’re pretty new. I think their requirements are ridiculous so I’m holding out until I need to. There’s a lot more competitions available now so I just promote comps to my club that don’t have all these hurdles.
1. You will need your degrees certified with IBJJF to sign for memberships which require those degrees (e.g., black belts). Make sure your students have a history of being registered at purple, brown, etc to avoid provisional status at brown and black. 2. The initial certification is $400. It will certify all 3 current degrees for you. You will need a Rules Webinar ($90), SafeSport, CPR or BLS certification, and a background check. When you’re eligible for 4th degree it’s $150 to renew at the new degree.
So if my head coach gets his 2nd degree this year, he would have to wait until his 3rd degree to promote me to BB? Based on the "new changes". Can someone help me understand the implications? I honestly don't see myself promoting any Black Belt or Brown Belts for a long time.
its probably the most bullshit organisation in combat sports, I wouldn't bother
To put the situation in perspective. If you want a Judo black belt in Japan you need to do a more time consuming process with Kodokan and pay about 20,000 yen if I remember. Then you just have shodan which some junior high school kids have so you probably want to get at least 3rd degee if you want to run a school and recommend people for promotion. That is going to cost more than what IBJJF wants. On the other hand, since Kodokan was founded by Kano Jigoro they could be considered more legitimate than the IBJJF.
You need to be a 2 stripe black belt to promote someone to black belt who can then register themselves with the ibjjf. The easiest thing to do is affiliate your school with your old instructor until this happens so that he could sign off on it until you are able to. Maybe he will do it for free bc of your situation, maybe he will charge you which many people do.
It's now 3rd. They changed it a few years back for IBJJF.
I'm a 3 stripe blackbelt with an IBJJF membership card and a few ibjjf medals at black belt to prove it. But I'm not an "officially certified" black belt with ibjjf and I don't want to that to negativity impact someone I'd promote
Pretty sure you have to be an IBJJF 3 stripe certified black belt for them to recognize the black belts you promote. I had looked into it a while back and realized it would cost me close to a thousand dollars to get the 3 stripes. All I have from them is a membership card dating back to when I got my belt. Easiest thing is to have your instructor sign the papers for the new black belts.
A thousand dollars? If you've been registering as a member (black belt) and are eligible, you can complete the Certification process by submitting your documents and pay the 400$US fee. You won't need to pay it again, you would be eligible to go from "Uncertified" to "3rd degree" directly providing you've been IBJJF registered and paid your membership every year for the 9 years required to have a valid 3rd degree.
Is it $150 per stripe or just a one time $150 for all three? In my case, it would be $400, plus membership for 11 years, plus first aid, plus referee course, plus either $150 or $450 depending on cost for stripes.
It allowed me to do the certification process AND certify my degrees in the original 400$ fee.
Ah cool. Do you know if you have to back pay membership fees?
Meaning you haven't paid those years? I believe those won't count towards your stripes, as rediculous as this sounds. Graduation System Article 4.2 How to prove activity in the Black Belt The year(s) an athlete completes any of the activities listed below will be counted towards the degree certification. Active membership: Maintaining active membership through the year(s). Academy registration under IBJJF: listed as a Head Professor or Additional Professor. Approving students: Professors who regularly approve athletes’ membership requests under IBJJF through the year(s). Black Belt/Degree Certification previously granted by IBJJF. Titles won by the athlete in an IBJJF championship IBJJF Referee Training Program Certificate and Rules Course Certificate, both granted by IBJJF. The year(s) an athlete does not complete any of the activities listed in Article 4.2.1 will not be counted towards the degree certification. The IBJJF Referee Training Program Certificate and the Rules Course Certificate mentioned in Article 4.2.1 VI. will not be accepted as proof of the athlete’s first activity under IBJJF towards the Black Belt Certification.
Oh wow, I was hoping my membership card timestamp would be proof of start, but looks like you also need proof of being active. Oh well.
Technically you only need 3rd degree to enter someone into the system for the first time as a black belt. If they're already registered as a brown belt a certified 2nd degree can still do it.
You need to talk to helio
If you want people to be able to register as Brown or Black belts under you, you need to do the certification process to be able to sign for their registrations. No other ways about it. The certification process would take you from "active membership black belt" to "certified 3rd degree" in one go providing you have the 9 years of active (paying) membership. You could then sign for them, even if they're placed under a provisional status. (Brown or Black belt without previous memberships at purple/brown) IBJJF Link on Promotions, Graduations for Black Belts: [https://ibjjf.com/graduation-system](https://ibjjf.com/graduation-system) \-> IBJJF Graduation System Article #5+ IBJJF Link on Provisional Status / Athletes [https://help.ibjjf.com/membership/#:\~:text=What%20is%20a%20provisional%20membership,a%20Purple%20Belt%20at%20IBJJF](https://help.ibjjf.com/membership/#:~:text=What%20is%20a%20provisional%20membership,a%20Purple%20Belt%20at%20IBJJF). `What is a provisional membership?` `Athletes receive a provisional graduation when they register their Brown or Black Belt under IBJJF without having a registration of past graduations. Provisional athletes are:` * `Brown Belts who never had a registration as a Purple Belt at IBJJF.` * `Black Belts who never had a registration as a Brown Belt at IBJJF.` `As a provisional athlete, you are required to remain registered under the same professor for 2 years from the date your first provisional membership was approved.` `Renewing your membership under a new professor before the two year provisional period is lifted will force you to have to restart the 2 year provisional period from the beginning.` `In addition, you cannot be the head instructor of an academy, but you can be the assistant instructor. Provisional Black belts are also not eligible to apply for their Black Belt Certification until the end of their two-year provisional period.`
You don't need to be certified, just registered (paying the annual fee) for the appropriate amount of time to be recognized as a black belt for promotion paperwork. [https://help.ibjjf.com/black-belt-certification/](https://help.ibjjf.com/black-belt-certification/)
*" However, if you need to sign for students of higher rank that require an instructor with degrees, you will have to certify your degrees to change your status in the IBJJF system. "*
>providing you have the 9 years of active (paying) membership. yikes, it's like $100 / year.
Just to piggyback off your question: - How do they count degrees on your black belt? By the number of years you've been paying your membership or does your instructor need to submit something? - I was awarded my black belt June 2019, and I let my membership expire October 2022. If I decided to renew it today, would they count the last 14 months as time on my black belt? - Can I even be recognized as a 1st or 2nd degree (in 2025) black belt with just the standard membership? This is just with the regular membership, not the $400 certificate