Obligatory Promotion Thread

[Balto]

Congrats bro.

[KGB256]

Originally Posted by Uchi Mata

This morning I got my purple belt from Mario 'Busy' Correa. It's been a long journey interrupted by serious disc injuries and severe illness culminating in a brush with colon cancer, but after 10 years since starting BJJ and ~6 years of consistent training I've reached this milestone. It's humbling because while I feel like I've come a long way, I'm constantly reminded of how much there is to learn and how deep the art goes. There are always more levels. But it's nice to get the belt because it's an acknowledgement that I am getting better, which is easy to forget in the day-in day-out grind of training. I've gotten a lot of help from guys on this forum, so thank you all for your input and helping me stay enthusiastic about grappling.

Congrats, and well deserved! To be honest, as knowledgeable as you are in your posts, I was under the impression that you were already an advanced belt. To have stuck with it through such serious setbacks is inspiring to me.

[Uchi Mata]

Originally Posted by KGB256

Congrats, and well deserved! To be honest, as knowledgeable as you are in your posts, I was under the impression that you were already an advanced belt. To have stuck with it through such serious setbacks is inspiring to me.

Thanks. I have been at this a long time, but sometimes it takes a while for the belt to catch up to the years. What's funny is that I was a white belt for ~4 years, and a blue belt for only ~2. But I started in the Midwest, which doesn't have a lot of BBs (my first teacher was a purple belt), and there just wasn't a lot of BJJ around in the early 2000s other than on the coasts. You had to really work to find it in small town Indiana. The scene is so much better everywhere now.

[bjjaz]

Congrats and way to keep fighting through everything.

[Zankou]

Congrats! Like the other guy said, your posts always seem more knowledgeable than your belt level. My guess is the last two belts will go quick for you.

[Dmitry Kalikhman]

congrats.

[100%Jiu-Jitsu]

Congratulations on the promotion, and on overcoming the adversity of your medical challenges. I wish you great health and grappling success in the future.

I too had assumed from the quality of your posts that you were already an advanced belt. With your training background, you obviously have a lot of insights that the normal BJJ student of your belt level wouldn't.

[Connection Rio]

Originally Posted by Uchi Mata

This morning I got my purple belt from Mario 'Busy' Correa. It's been a long journey interrupted by serious disc injuries and severe illness culminating in a brush with colon cancer, but after 10 years since starting BJJ and ~6 years of consistent training I've reached this milestone. It's humbling because while I feel like I've come a long way, I'm constantly reminded of how much there is to learn and how deep the art goes. There are always more levels. But it's nice to get the belt because it's an acknowledgement that I am getting better, which is easy to forget in the day-in day-out grind of training. I've gotten a lot of help from guys on this forum, so thank you all for your input and helping me stay enthusiastic about grappling.

Congratulations on the promotion to Purple Belt! Busy is a great professor and competitor, you are in good hands. Please say hello from Dennis Asche.

[OldManbjj]

congrats!!

[Aprentice]

congratulations man! i always read what you write