Does not training in the gi not make you a "real" bjj black belt? - video

[Louis Ho]

Interviewer is a turd.

[Kyle Spalla]

to me it really doesn't matter if the bjj world wants to acknowledge the color of my belt or not. if it really mattered that much I wouldn't be teaching with a blue belt. the bottom line is, the mats don't lie. that's why, in my humble and completely subjective opinion, all the discussions about where someone's skills are based on the color of their belt are a little silly. there are plenty of purples and even blues out there that can hang and even catch some black belts. black belt isn't meant to be the end, its just the beginning of the real journey. danaher answered that question very well.

and for the ones trying purely just to discredit us and Eddie, if they try to belittle us and say that our grappling is inferior and that we aren't practising legitimate techniques, what is left to say about their own jj after we beat them in competition?

Train everything, that's what I took away from Professor Danaher. It will all help you reach your max potential.

[sean applegate]

Train everything, that's what I took away from Professor Danaher. It will all help you reach your max potential.

absolutely

[Slick Rick]

Yup, what you guys said. Totally agree.
Interviewer is a turd. Yup. Especially after making a dumb remark about not watching youtube. Hahahaha!
The way he tries to frame his question for a "would be" 10p hater...(dumb).
The way Danaher replies to such dumb ass questions...intelligent! Mindful.

[Mike Nunja]

I would love to show the interviewer how real our system is. Any day of the week

[Kyle Spalla]

I would love to show the interviewer how real our system is. Any day of the week

I give him about 10 seconds.

[Tom Carbone]

Clearly a brainwashed 10P hater

[Josh Mahoney]

The interviewer comes off like someone who's just started training and thinks his martial art is superior to any other. I mean, seriously, the guy seemed surprised that fighters were cross-training disciplines...
Who told this guy he could be an MMA journalist?

[Mike Nall]

I think in the future there will be less people that choose to just train in the gi and less that choose to just train in no-gi.

Unless you're talking MMA fighters. In the competitive grappling world, the majority of people are training both, and excelling in both. All the top guys, even at the colored belts, are training both. The powerhouse teams like Alliance, Atos, Checkmat, Gracie Barra, Nova Uniao, Team Lloyd irvin, the list goes on....everyone on the competitive scene is doing both now.

Gi season is typically the first half of the year, and no-gi season is typically the 2nd half or so of the year. On the competitive grappling circuit this is now pretty much par for the course.

As for whether or not someone can be a black belt without the gi on? Who am I to say? I prefer no-gi, and train mostly no-gi if I have it my way, but it seems strange to me that someone could be a "Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt" and have no idea how to apply or to defend cross-collar chokes, bow & arrow chokes, baseball chokes, brabo chokes, etc.

Gi dependent guards like spider guard don't bother me as much. But I just don't see how someone with no experience in being able to attack or defend with such a deep, deep arsenal of submissions can be a black belt in BJJ. I mean again, who am I to say, but it just seems funny that a BJJ black belt could not be able to show someone the ins and outs of the bow & arrow choke.

This is coming from a person that hates gi chokes. Even in the gi on someone's back I'll go to the RNC 9/10 times over a collar choke.

Even iconic no-gi only competitors like Jeff Glover and Dean Lister are incredibly proficient in the gi. And assassins in the gi like Cobrinha and Rafael Mendes have revolutionary games without the gi on. Marcelo Garcia, the best ever, is a 4 time ADCC champ and a 5 time Mundials champ.

You gotta be able to do both. BJJ isn't just one or the other IMO.

EDIT: to further clarify, I think the majority of the grappling community has moved past the gi vs no-gi debate. Most people in the BJJ world aren't having gi vs. no-gi discussions about what makes a real black belt. They just train both and keep it moving. The interviewer is a tool and does not reflect the opinions of the majority of the grappling community. Danaher did a good job of addressing this by saying to train aboth, as he does both himself. For those that don't know him, he's the innovator of the Darce choke, and one of Renzo Gracie's original students. He's a beast.

[D'Ante' "Cocaine Biceps"]

Boom!

interviewer is an idiot.