BJJ rankings are so subjective, what is the difference between an experienced white belt and a brand new blue belt? That is going to vary person to person, school to school.
Even if one athlete beats another, that could indicate one is more physically gifted, or trains harder, than the other. Or is a better competitor. It's not always that the winner has greater technical knowledge.
If you compete long enough you are going to beat people that have trained longer than you, lose to people that have trained less than you, and everything in between. If you compete no-gi you are almost guaranteed to be competing in multi-belt divisions.
I don't think it is disrespectful to compete up. Part of being an upper belt is defending your rank, and giving upcoming belts the opportunity to give lower ranks the chance to prove they belong right up there with you.
In some ways it seems these critics are frightened that their rank does not magically guarantee victory, or that in some way this athlete's success takes away from their own accomplishments.
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