Is this guy really a beginner or is he just a prodigy????

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Lookyoung

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I don't mean to beat a dead horse and I took alot of heat last time when I posted a thread on sandbagging. I told everyone here that the guy I went up against at Naga had a high level blue belt guard. Many people on that thread said that how the fuck am I supposed to know what a high level bluebelt guard looks like? I was only a whitebelt than. Well I have the perfect example for you guys! Here is a guy that competed as a beginner in no-gi aka a whitebelt! Now does this look like a whitebelt guard to you? Please no flaming honest opinions on how this looks to you? How would you like to be the 3 month whitebelt who has to go up against this guy? Here are his 2 matches.. Take a close look at his breathing and transitions! Doesn't look like a whitebelt to me!


YouTube - Naga Midwest 09
 
nothing special really that i saw, doesnt seem to me that he was sandbagging
 
ive been training for 3 months and my guard looks like that.. better... u all say im full of shit but... that's nothing prodigy like.
 
Looked like an average 3 stripe white belt at our school..maybe 4 stripe....He MAY be sandbagging...but then in that case...I also say he got promoted early :) all in all...looked fair. Infact his guard was WAAAAAAay worse than a guy I fought at the atama open when I was a white belt....and I beat him so I don't think he was sandbaggin either.
 
Not trying to get on the guy because he did a great job in his two matches, but he definitely does not have a blue belt level guard or a upper blue level like you said. He's a good white belt that should consider moving up to Intermediate, but that's it.
 
The second guy put himself into the triangle. There was nothing that standouts as a move a beginner wouldn't know. Its actually the super basic triangle setup of pushing one hand while controlling the head. You can see it coming from a mile away too. Oh and what transitions? He pulled guard, that was about it. Nowhere near prodigy.(I don't mean any offense to him as a grappler or anything)

No sandbagging there, he looks slightly better then novice but worse then intermediate.
 
Padlock said:
Looked like an average 3 stripe white belt at our school..maybe 4 stripe....He MAY be sandbagging...but then in that case...I also say he got promoted early :) all in all...looked fair. Infact his guard was WAAAAAAay worse than a guy I fought at the atama open when I was a white belt....and I beat him so I don't think he was sandbaggin either.
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I am not saying the guy is a sure sandbagger! The school he goes to is legit, I could vouch for them. But I am saying to me his guard looks better than your average whitebelt! I think his guard is at solid bluebelt level. I would not want to be a 3 month whitebelt and compete against him in my first match!
 
I'm gonna agree with everyone else (sorry lookyoung). He didn't appear to be doing anything truly mind blowing there. He has a quick triangle set up, some good flexibility, etc. That's really it. He didn't show a huge variety of stuff from guard.

If I had seen some mad sweeps or some crazy open guard retention (pass spoiling), then sure.
 
Yeah I'd have to agree with everyone except with the TS, this guy (hopefully no offense if he stumbles upon this thread) is no prodigy, and no sand bagger either. I mean really he was just better at controlling the matches than his opponents.

Where do you train at specifically Lookyoung? I know you're from the Midwest because you've been to all the NAGAs I've been to.
 
He does have an unusually good triangle for a white belt, but other than that, not too exciting.
 
Just seems like someone who has probably trained for a while and may be close to getting his blue.
Maybe all he has is guard and is not very good using half guard or has a terrible top game.

You have to remember, not all schools give out blue belts to anyone who can get a triangle and armbar from guard. There are often factors like overall game and some form of syllabus that they may have to complete.

Put it this way, someone who has been a white belt for 2 years and is almost blue will almost always be better than someone who has only been training for 3 months.
 
honestly that looked like more of a case of people not knoing how to pass guard off a triangle. I mean the guy is althetic but he'd get crushed at a decent blue belt tourney
 
maybe these guys just train a lot harder than you do. not to mention it's much easier to triangle people when they don't posture in your guard.
 
Also aren't the beginner divisions allowed to include blue belts? Last nogi competition I was at, I seem to recall that beginner was two years experience and under, not "white belts only."
 
Lookyoung--in grappling, there's no such thing as the "easy division." And while there are divisions based on belt level and experience, the fact is that some people in the lower divisions are going to be better than the people in the higher divisions, especially in no-gi.

Again, there is no "easy division." People train hard at this sport and you should just expect to run into excellent guys at every level because that's how the sport works.

The smallest grappling competition I'd ever been to--it was so small that they put all the guys into one single, open-weight division--I ended up going against an international Combat Sambo champion in the 2nd round. Again, no such thing as an "easy division" or an "easy tournament." I sure wish there was, but there isn't. That's just not how it works.

And lets remember that beginners and white-belts are trying to be the best they can be and doing all they can to exceed the expectations that go with their rank or classifications. They don't have a responsibility to play down to a certain level--in fact, they're doing everything in their power to perform at the highest level they can, because that's the name of the game.
 
Zankou said:
Also aren't the beginner divisions allowed to include blue belts? Last nogi competition I was at, I seem to recall that beginner was two years experience and under, not "white belts only."
Click to expand...

2 years experience is a lot for beginner, IMO. I kind of feel like Advanced should start at 2 years plus.
 
Kforcer said:
Lookyoung--in grappling, there's no such thing as the "easy division." And while there are divisions based on belt level and experience, the fact is that some people in the lower divisions are going to be better than the people in the higher divisions, especially in no-gi.

Again, there is no "easy division." People train hard at this sport and you should just expect to run into excellent guys at every level because that's how the sport works.

The smallest grappling competition I'd ever been to--it was so small that they put all the guys into one single, open-weight division--I ended up going against an international Combat Sambo champion in the 2nd round. Again, no such thing as an "easy division" or an "easy tournament." I sure wish there was, but there isn't. That's just not how it works.

And lets remember that beginners and white-belts are trying to be the best they can be and doing all they can to exceed the expectations that go with their rank or classifications. They don't have a responsibility to play down to a certain level--in fact, they're doing everything in their power to perform at the highest level they can, because that's the name of the game.
Click to expand...


This is a hell of a post. I agree. This should be a sticky. Your right about this!
 
LOL that looks pretty similar to half the white belts from my gym. I mean, that guy plays a mostly closed guard game with triangle/armbar/kimura setups and hip bump sweeps. Not exactly blue belt level jiu jitsu. Most of the blue belts I've rolled with would have tried more than just closed guard variations. I had two guys in my NOVICE division in April for no-gi at a tourney that prob would've tapped this guy.
 
Lookyoung said:
This is a hell of a post. I agree. This should be a sticky. Your right about this!
Click to expand...

Thanks, bro. I see where you are coming from. The only solution is bettering your grappling as much as you can with the tools, resources and time you have.
 
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