Wearing your no gi belt rank in the gi?

The problem isn't that people are wearing their no-gi rank, they just haven't learned the fundamentals of grip breaks to counter-act some of the advantages the Gi gives. Realistically, if you train Jiu Jitsu and you're at least a purple belt, you should know how to break some grips in the Gi, especially if it's a major hole in your game when you go into tournaments. The same goes for learning how to defend against lapel chokes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKmXm1-9IpI

Here's another 10th Planet brown belt Ryan Fortin having no problems in the Gi.

I don't think the difference is that great. Not enough for me to have a white belt for when I train with the Gi. If anything, my game is better when I wear it. However, I would respect an instructors request to wear a white belt if I was visiting another gym.

I think that it is not as big of a deal as people make it out to be. If you earned a purple in JIU JITSU, wear a purple. Gi grips are important but not game breaking. Ex. I rolled with a black belt world champion about 2 months ago. I tapped him with a carni in a gi in 7min.

Now how would that Black belt feel if i was wearing a white belt. probably not good. Just my thoughts. Thanks for starting the thread Brett, your a beast!

I think rank is rank personally. NoGi is still BJJ.
A NoGi blackbelt may get trounced in the Gi by lesser ranks, but he is still a blackbelt. If that blackbelt plans on rolling in a Gi, then he better start working his Gi technique and start playing "catch-up". I think a blackbelt in NoGi, wearing a lesser ranked belt in the Gi is akin to sandbagging (Not in a sneaky way. In this case the motivating factor is humility instead of competition).

I understand the intention behind wearing a lesser rank to express the fact that there is still much to learn, and the NoGi blackbelt may not be up to the same standards as other Gi blackbelts, but that is, imo, more a case of the NoGi blackbelt needing to bring his level up to meet those Gi blackbelts, in the Gi game.

I think wearing a lower rank is misrepresentative of your skills. imho.

And no offence to anyone in particular, but I abhore it when people say "It's just a belt, who cares what color it is".
Fuck that. I worked super hard for my BB in TKD and I am ultra proud of it. It's not "just a belt" to me, it's a symbol of many many many years of blood, sweat, pain and dedication.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kurzy

And no offence to anyone in particular, but I abhore it when people say "It's just a belt, who cares what color it is".
Fuck that. I worked super hard for my BB in TKD and I am ultra proud of it. It's not "just a belt" to me, it's a symbol of many many many years of blood, sweat, pain and dedication.

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+1

I'm totally with ya Brent. Ill wear my white belt in the Gi until they give me a blue one:cool: For me it's a totally different game. I started Jiu jitsu in 10th Planet so when I put a Gi on to me it kinda felt like cheating lol. Now I know that a lot of folks including Marcelo Garcia only play "one" game, not me. The way I see it the only reason I'm putting on the jammie's is bc I'm gonna use it. I use the Gi when I'm in it so as you can see it is a totally different animal than my NoGi. :cool:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kurzy

And no offence to anyone in particular, but I abhore it when people say "It's just a belt, who cares what color it is".
Fuck that. I worked super hard for my BB in TKD and I am ultra proud of it. It's not "just a belt" to me, it's a symbol of many many many years of blood, sweat, pain and dedication.

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Exactly, the belt is only a symbol. The true reward is knowledge, a better understanding of yourself and in turn the universe, and the security of self-defense gained through those years of blood, sweat, pain and dedication. I wore my white belt in the gi while I was competing in expert division at gi tournys before I had ever even trained in the gi. When I did start training in the gi I wore my white belt because I personally felt fraudulent in my blue belt with no knowledge of the gi game.

TKD has lost alot of respect in the states from the mcdojoism going on, starting to make a comeback though with anthony pettis and bendo having bases in it. I have no TKD training but my kickboxing coach is based in it, got his blackbelt from his dad who got his blackbelt in korea, obtaining a black belt from the two men would mean youre cut from a different cloth. sorry for my tangent

Our TKD club was legit. Combat based. It was a not-for-profit business, where the instructors (who were brothers) taught combat TKD for the love of it. They incorporated pressure point tactics and Mauy Thai and Jiu Jitsu and anything else that worked, with a TKD base.
They lived, ate and breathed combat TKD like the most passionate BJJ players do with BJJ.
I was amazing. We were destroyers.
Until one of the head instructors got married and his wife turned it into a McDojo, circa mid-1990's.
Now it's a steaming pile of purchased belt levels.

I still have a tugging at my heartstrings to join back up and bring the quality back to it's former glory. I consider it all the time because really miss kicking and stuff, but when I tried to go back last year I was actually embarrassed at the low quality of technique.
I am a stickler for technique with kicking. I would have to fucking demote the entire class to yellow belt and start from there. lol.

To much ado about belts. It's the fighter not the belt. Look at Cairo or Braulio both are GI black belts that are equally as good at nogi. If you don't want to ware it out of respect that's cool but it's how you roll that gains the most respect. In the GI game it is very common to hold off on promotion just to win more medals. I think that is BS...if you can compete at a higher level you should!