Can the McDojo-ization of BJJ be avoided?

[Bebop]

i think that as long as there are well known tournaments, it will always be known where the worthy competitors are coming from, resulting in knowing what gyms are good for serious training. in someone's eyes, even some serious gyms will be considered "mcdojos" for just not being "hardcore" enough.

 

[lechien]

TKD is an olympic sport but it still does not stop people from turning this sport into a glorified after school day care for rich parents.



In BJJ, the belt ranking is to be followed by their members i.e IBJJF.

So according to the IBJJF, a 16 years old can be awarded his purple belt as long as he was green belt since he turned 14. He will then have to be a minimun purple for 2 years to get his brown.

So it is brown at 18. one year minimum at Brown and BB at 19.

 

[mtruitt76]

Competition will always ensure that legitimate schools will continue to exist. However, competition will not prevent McDojos from existing.

I think the nature of BJJ will help to keep the any McDojo trend somewhat in check. Live sparring every class keeps a relative ranking system intact. The live sparring means rank will at least have some meaning within the gym. Now that gyms purple belt may get tooled by other places 3 stripe white belts, but live sparring makes it harder to rank based solely on attendance like a lot of TKD and Karate places do.

There are going to be bogus gyms out there though and the only bad thing about that is people who do not know any better are going to join them and think they are learning actual BJJ.

 

[YeahBee]

Go and train at Renzo's.

You only train with your belt level group and get graded to move to the next belt class group.

end of the story!

wow that seems strange

I think a mix of rolling with lesser, equal and better people (of all sizes) is good for you

try new stuff with people you can beat easily,

challenging yourself vs people of equal skill

defending and getting the feel of superior technique from rolling with better people

I can see the benefits of having a comp team but other then that eh seems weird and elitist

 

[Andrew Green]

In BJJ, the belt ranking is to be followed by their members i.e IBJJF.

Only works if IBJJF is sole authority, which is not the case. There is nothing illegal about anyone here promoting themself and then others to any rank they like.

"Outsiders" might not be IBJJF recognized, but I suspect they won't care too much. They can still do local tournaments if they want, or just avoid competition altogether.

Have a look at other styles, they tend to break apart into different organizations fairly quickly. TKD & Judo held together not to bad, largely due to international organization that filters down to national and provincial / state organizations. It's a "official" sport, BJJ is not.

But even there, TKD has several large organizations, and a ton of clubs that operate entirely outside any organization. Given time, BJJ will likely end up in the same situation.

 

[ElKarlo]

There is nothing wrong with doing BJJ, Karate, TKD, or whatever for fun, fitness, stress relief, or any other type of goal.

Blue belts who can't do a triangle right aren't anything new. In fact, if I think back to when I first got my blue belt, I probably didn't do the triangle as well as I do now either. I predict that when I'm a black belt, I'll probably do it a little differently too.

Ultimately you just need to worry about your own training. Are you progressing towards your goals? If so, then there is no need to look down on the goals of others.

Pffft I'm a solid blue, and I can't Triangle anyone higher than a few stripe White.

But yeah, the problem is that if the school's quality goes down hill, so does your training. I had that happen at my Karate Dojo a good 8-9 years ago. At first it was American KB, then by my end time it was just McDojo crap. We don't need this. Perhaps there will be another basement dojo movement?

 

[ElKarlo]

None of your points are really Mc Dojo .

McDojo is if the school starts seling a new belt each month, giving half ass classes with bad techs and starts selling fatasy land of no sparring-no competition cause their techs are to deadly or perfect to be practiced full force and you can kill anyone with thgis or that move.


If the training. testing is correct the goals of the people willl not make a school amc dojo, this people will never (should not) get a higher belt than what they can do.

I think you are starting to see dojos give belts after so much time, not based on skill or accomplishments. That is a bad sign in of it's self. A lot of schools don't do belt tests anymore. They just get them awarded.

 

[akharon]

I think BJJ is a martial art that will not be taken over by the McDojo craze. Most BJJ instructors are from Brazil or of BraZILIAN blood, so they won't have that American attitude of trying to make money(which is what mcdojos focus on). And the white BJJ black belts will not try to do the same ebcause they have enough knowledge and experience from learning BJJ that they don't care about money, they are honorable BJJ practioners.

You clearly are putting Brazil on a pedestal, and are deluding yourself if you think that Brazilians are impervious to greed. Some of the highest people in our sport seem to be motivated by that, you don't have to look far to find them.

 

[davejitsu]

I think BJJ is a martial art that will not be taken over by the McDojo craze. Most BJJ instructors are from Brazil or of BraZILIAN blood, so they won't have that American attitude of trying to make money(which is what mcdojos focus on).

Really?

 

[chunglii]

You clearly are putting Brazil on a pedestal, and are deluding yourself if you think that Brazilians are impervious to greed. Some of the highest people in our sport seem to be motivated by that, you don't have to look far to find them.

I'm not saying that Brazilians are impervious to greed, thats obviosuly not true. But the McDojo craze is more of an American thing, that doesnt really happen in Brazil.

Besides, how many McDojos have you seen that aren't run by white people, seriously? I'm white btw, so sorry if I'm nuthugging on Brazilians.

 

[DaRuckus337]

^ what, you haven't heart? Brazilians hate money. It's because of their blood type. Everyone hates money except Americans because of American blood. Only Americans like money.

 

[DiscipleOfPog]

I know a few people who train with Rickson and they claim that's why Rickson moved back to Brazil. It's getting too hard to train people in true BJJ without people quitting and going to another gym.

And I'm not crazy for saying this. I'm confident I have a point. And I know most people suspect it is already happening...

Of course. That's why Rickson charges $100 for a belt test. That's true BJJ.

 

[lechien]

wow that seems strange

I think a mix of rolling with lesser, equal and better people (of all sizes) is good for you

try new stuff with people you can beat easily,

challenging yourself vs people of equal skill

defending and getting the feel of superior technique from rolling with better people

I can see the benefits of having a comp team but other then that eh seems weird and elitist

I am not making fun of Renzo at all.

But his school is so busy that you train in one class as per your own belt level.

At that rate, you never get to train with some other belt levels.

I even heard that they have 2 purple belt class on a Friday! one nogi and one Gi.

 

[lechien]

Of course. That's why Rickson charges $100 for a belt test. That's true BJJ.

That what I was thinking.

I doubt he will be able to demand such high fees back in Brasil.

I know he did a few seminars.

 

[Mat Nemesis**]

wow that seems strange

I think a mix of rolling with lesser, equal and better people (of all sizes) is good for you

try new stuff with people you can beat easily,

challenging yourself vs people of equal skill

defending and getting the feel of superior technique from rolling with better people

I can see the benefits of having a comp team but other then that eh seems weird and elitist

well, you would be wrong.

they basically have a beginner class (wb), and blue belts and up, and black belt group which i do not know about.

it is much better to start in a beginner's class than just one generic class for everyone.

i have done both and it is not even close to which one is better.

 

[Varth]

Jiu-jitsu itself isn't an aesthetically pleasing art. Nor does it feel good when you are getting choked out or having your elbow broken. It's a "hardcore" martial art compared to the rest so I don't see it having the same effect as "karate" or "shaolin rising dragon kung-fu" they are teaching these days at Mcdojos. If it's a legit instructor and they are passing good stuff I have no problem with the art getting spread around.

 

[Andrew Green]

Jiu-jitsu itself isn't an aesthetically pleasing art. Nor does it feel good when you are getting choked out or having your elbow broken. It's a "hardcore" martial art compared to the rest so I don't see it having the same effect as "karate" or "shaolin rising dragon kung-fu" they are teaching these days at Mcdojos. If it's a legit instructor and they are passing good stuff I have no problem with the art getting spread around.

Karate was, and in some places still is, a hardcore system. BJJ is quite pleasant compared to some of the sparring down in some schools. Full contact bare-knuckle karate tends to be a rather rough sport.

Of course then there is BJJ, don't do leg locks cause someone might get hurt, don't do neck cranks cause someone might get hurt, start from the knees because takedowns lead to injuries. Remove the MMA stuff, toss in a point system and focus on that more then submissions.

All a matter of how you view things and what you look at. There are 'soft' karate schools and 'hard' ones, same in BJJ.

 

[Kozbot]

competition

if the school does not put out good fighters or grapplers then fuck it

 

[nefti]

That what I was thinking.

I doubt he will be able to demand such high fees back in Brasil.

I know he did a few seminars.

Considering that jiu jitsu was an upper class thing I am sure it was relatively the same ammount

 

[lechien]

I think that the price that Rickson is expecting has nothing to do with TS thinking that BJJ gonna become a Mc Dojo.