Randy Couture and his black belt from Neil Melanson

[SuperSuperRambo]

if they want to use belts, that's their prerogative. maybe it's a nod to bjj like bjj used belts as a nod to judo. if it's good, legitimate, effective.... and especially if they compete in combat grappling (which gokor's camp does) then, who cares? who SHOULD care? japanese judoka. that's it. nobody else should give a crap.

All I'm saying is that it seems stupid.

 

[fourfif**]

Relax sport, I just think it looks stupid, especially when you dont even have a GI to wear it on. And do you really think a belt is cooler than a mask? Because I sure as shit dont.

"sport".... :icon_neut

again, who are YOU to judge. what have you done besides nothing to warrant anyone giving a spit about your opinion? maybe they roll in a gi from time to time to improve their grappling? maybe they use it to incorporate judo, sambo, and bjj training techniques into their grappling training?

and masks are definitely cooler.....

 

[fourfif**]

All I'm saying is that it seems stupid.

and all I'm sayin is your opinion means squat.







edit: no offense :icon_chee

 

[Supereem]

"sport".... :icon_neut

again, who are YOU to judge. what have you done besides nothing to warrant anyone giving a spit about your opinion? maybe they roll in a gi from time to time to improve their grappling? maybe they use it to incorporate judo, sambo, and bjj training techniques into their grappling training?

and masks are definitely cooler.....

Why are you so pissed off today? I have reason to think its silly and I guess if my opinion is useless we should all stop posting...

Also I do not think catch or any other belt adopting style such as Muay Thai is "inferior" I just think they can do without the belts. I am not some belt elitist and do not even care that much for them, it just seems silly...its just a bit Karate Kid alright?

Also we all know Randy does not train in a gi and we also know MT guys dont train in a gi to improve their game...

 

[fourfif**]

Why are you so pissed off today? I have reason to think its silly and I guess if my opinion is useless we should all stop posting...

Also I do not think catch or any other belt adopting style such as Muay Thai is "inferior" I just think they can do without the belts. I am not some belt elitist and do not even care that much for them, it just seems silly...its just a bit Karate Kid alright?

Also we all know Randy does not train in a gi and we also know MT guys dont train in a gi to improve their game...

I'm not mad gee, but are you certain randy never ever ever trains in a gi, or that they don't use gi ever in their system? as far as mt, they kick and knee people in the face for fun, they can pretty much do whatever the hell they want. I sure won't be the guy to say anything....

 

[Supereem]

I'm not mad gee, but are you certain randy never ever ever trains in a gi, or that they don't use gi ever in their system? as far as mt, they kick and knee people in the face for fun, they can pretty much do whatever the hell they want. I sure won't be the guy to say anything....

I think Randy used a gi once in a dream...once, but it was more of a suit with a rope tied around it.

 

[Rod1]

if they want to use belts, that's their prerogative. maybe it's a nod to bjj like bjj used belts as a nod to judo. if it's good, legitimate, effective.... and especially if they compete in combat grappling (which gokor's camp does) then, who cares? who SHOULD care? japanese judoka. that's it. nobody else should give a crap.

Not even Japanese judoka.

The BB basically meant you were starting in Judo, in the original system it was white and black, in the modern system its white, brown and black.

It was a Japanese living in europe the one who created colored belts because he realized westerners were liked the incentives.

In Japan a BB means absolutely squat, you are not even fit to teach as black, if we were to compare ranks, in Japan a judo BB is basically a mid level blue belt or a purple. It means you know the basics and the official techniques, and that's it.

 

[SuperSuperRambo]

and all I'm sayin is your opinion means squat.







edit: no offense :icon_chee

As a bjj practitioner I think I have as much of a right to voice an opinion on the awarding of a rank that will be obviously mistaken for the style I train. I'm obviously in no position of influence to change it, but my opinion means more than squat thank you very much.

Did I say Randy is not a master grappler? No. Did I say he's not at bjj black belt level? No. I'm saying it seems silly for Melanson to award a rank for his style that will make people think it's a belt from another style, particularly when he trains no gi and no belt. For the record I also think it's silly to give no gi bjj practitioners actual physical belts when they have never trained in a gi.

For a comparison, my instructor is a Full Instructor in his sifu's JKD system. He doesn't have a belt for it, just the title of "Full Instructor" and some sort of certificate I'd imagine. There's no belt because there's no gi to close it with. What's he gonna do, get a black belt and hang it on his wall?

 

[wOg]

Not sure if its as much "ironic" as it is a testament to BJJ.

A testament to BJJ envy perhaps.

It seems to me that these kind of black belts promotions are more about the ego of the guy giving the belt than they are about the accomplishments of the guy getting it.

 

[teamcarvalho]

As a bjj practitioner I think I have as much of a right to voice an opinion on the awarding of a rank that will be obviously mistaken for the style I train. I'm obviously in no position of influence to change it, but my opinion means more than squat thank you very much.

Did I say Randy is not a master grappler? No. Did I say he's not at bjj black belt level? No. I'm saying it seems silly for Melanson to award a rank for his style that will make people think it's a belt from another style, particularly when he trains no gi and no belt. For the record I also think it's silly to give no gi bjj practitioners actual physical belts when they have never trained in a gi.

For a comparison, my instructor is a Full Instructor in his sifu's JKD system. He doesn't have a belt for it, just the title of "Full Instructor" and some sort of certificate I'd imagine. There's no belt because there's no gi to close it with. What's he gonna do, get a black belt and hang it on his wall?

I agree with this!

 

[Ranger]

I've seen and heard of schools that teach "mma" or "sub grappling" and award ranks and belts but don't use gi's. Coutures belt was not in bjj.

 

[Jaxx]

LOL@ this thread again!!



The Black belt has a certain mystique about it. It makes the average wuss, couch potato, geek a superman to the uneducated public and becomes a source of admiration. "I have a BB in DOO DOO DO" WOW, amazing, dont mess with him!

But be a champion wrestler or MMA champion and suddenly the same "general public" considers you some meat head or bully.

Bottom Line, the gracies copied Judo but changed some colors on the belt (maybe) so what? Now Neil M copied BJJ and here comes the hate. Another example of hypocricy.

Get over yourselves, seriously. Randy has beaten the piss out of guys in the closest thing to a real fight we have that are ranked in something or another. He has also lost to the same types of people. They are all on the same level so I think his rank in his martial art is appropriate.

Well i agree with this....

 

[lethalazn]

Why are we arguing? it's Randy Couture for fuck sake....he could call himself a grandmaster of his own style "Couture Fighting Systems" and I wouldn't care less

 

[DutchMafia]

To start off, I would like to say that I am in no way questioning whether Neil Melanson is a skilled grappler and a good coach. In fact, I would love to have the opportunity to train with him sometime. I was just a bit shocked that he gave Randy a black belt after his submission victory over James Toney for two reasons. First off, subbing Toney was great and all, and it proved a point, but let's be honest. James Toney is not a world class grappler (or even average). Second, from what I understood, Melanson did most of his study in catch wrestling with Gokor and Karo Parisyan. I knew he had experience in jiu jitsu, as he is very skilled with the triangle choke, but never knew he was an official rank in BJJ. I was hoping that somebody on here who knows Neil or his lineage could tell who he got his black belt from. Again, not questioning his skills, knowledge, or anything for that matter. I know he's an awesome coach. just curious.

I can't believe I wasted 5 minutes of my life reading through the replies to this...

Who really cares? Unless he comes out and says look at my shinny new BJJ black belt, does it really matter? I'll be concerned when he starts wearing a purple dinosaur around his waist and calls himself Captain Xenu.

 

[KJGould]

According to the Wikipedia article on Judo, the colours BJJ use are the same as Brazilian Judo (ie Judo in Brazil, not a new style of Judo dubbed 'Brazilian Judo')

 

[KJGould]

As a bjj practitioner I think I have as much of a right to voice an opinion on the awarding of a rank that will be obviously mistaken for the style I train. I'm obviously in no position of influence to change it, but my opinion means more than squat thank you very much.

Did I say Randy is not a master grappler? No. Did I say he's not at bjj black belt level? No. I'm saying it seems silly for Melanson to award a rank for his style that will make people think it's a belt from another style, particularly when he trains no gi and no belt. For the record I also think it's silly to give no gi bjj practitioners actual physical belts when they have never trained in a gi.

For a comparison, my instructor is a Full Instructor in his sifu's JKD system. He doesn't have a belt for it, just the title of "Full Instructor" and some sort of certificate I'd imagine. There's no belt because there's no gi to close it with. What's he gonna do, get a black belt and hang it on his wall?

Randy's got a black stripe to go on shorts. The belt was just something that was easy to get hold of and grab and were probably readily available at the UFC Expo that was also in town.

It may have been a spur of the moment thing, or something Neil thought up on the day of the fight (and therefore might not have brought his shorts stripes with him).

I also know of a local JKD system that just uses t-shirts. White shirt, Red Shirt (trainee instructor), Black shirt (full instructor). I know other JKD teachers that like using Kung Fu sashes. They've not had Wushu guys bitch at them.

Far too much is being made of this.

 

[lechien]

According to the Wikipedia article on Judo, the colours BJJ use are the same as Brazilian Judo (ie Judo in Brazil, not a new style of Judo dubbed 'Brazilian Judo')

What is your link?

because you are wrong.


Brazil
Brazilian belt rankings are normally white, blue, yellow, orange, green, purple, brown and black (6th, 7th, and 8th dan may wear alternating red and white panels, and 9th and 10th dan holders may wear solid red belts).[31] Additionally, a grey belt may be given to very young judoka (under 11 or 13 years old) just before the blue. Sometimes, competitors are organized into two categories depending on grading; the first is from white to green, and the second is purple through black

Judo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[KJGould]

Haha godammed Wikipedia changing on me. That's the same article I saw not two months back and it's been edited since.

 

[fourfif**]

Far too much is being made of this.

this.

someone saying they have a certain belt in xyz system and lying about it is one thing, but that's just not the case here.

it's his system, he can do whatever the hell he wants with it. you don't like it? go dojo storm xtreme couture, and post about how you feel about it from the hospital.

 

[knoxpk]

this.

someone saying they have a certain belt in xyz system and lying about it is one thing, but that's just not the case here.

it's his system, he can do whatever the hell he wants with it. you don't like it? go dojo storm xtreme couture, and post about how you feel about it from the hospital.

lol