“Houston Cottrell is a certified Gracie Jiu-jitsu Blue Belt under the Gracie Academy in Torrance, CA. He has apparently been certified to teach Children and adults the Gracie Bullyproof program. Recently a 16 year old blue belt was made head instructor of a Gracie Academy in Mississippi. Sadly we all thought we could put this shame behind us but as they say and news is good news. So the saga of Gracie University continues…. It’s something you do not get with time, experience for money and friendship.” Updated 6th August 2015 You need to put your blood in the gym, hang out with your teacher and earn the belt. I do not own the world, I can only control what I do. I am sad to know that it’s happening now. I am ashamed to say that Ryron and Rener teach classes online, and that you can get a belt from a Gracie over the internet. “It’s a shame the way the Jiu-Jitsu is being sold. The son of Rickson, who received his Jiu-Jitsu black belt at 19 years of age, did not spare members of family to discuss the matter.ĭissatisfied, Kron, in an interview with tatame Magazine, criticised his first cousins and Rener and Ryron Gracie leaders of Gracie University, where up to recently (following controversy and protest from the BJJ community) you used to be able to get a BJJ blue belt online. What will now happen to all the original Gracie University online blue belts? Will they still be treated as a blue belt under the new combatitive program or will they all need to change their belts? Updated September 2015Īfter Murilo Bustamante and Royce Gracie, another prominent Jiu-Jitsu figure has spoken out openly against online learning and grading in Jiu-Jitsu, more specifically Gracie University.ĪDCC 2013 champion Kron Gracie. Interesting prospects by the Gracie University brothers, and hopefully with Rickson at the helm they can start to rebuild their reputation. All other belts, including blue belt, can only be earned via hands-on live sparring evaluation at an authorised Certified Training Center. The fact that the course is comprised of set number of techniques (approximately 75), which are exclusively designed for an non jiu-jitsu street aggressor, means that an experienced instructor can effectively verify a student’s proficiency visually, in person or via video upload. The Gracie Combatives belt is the only belt that can be earned through the Gracie University video evaluation process. Only after 6-12 months in the Master Cycle, will a student be considered for promotion to blue belt.
Most important, the student will develop resiliency and adaptiveness through live sparring against resistant opponents (with and without strikes). In the Master Cycle, the student will learn techniques for defending against a jiu-jitsu trained opponent while continuing to improve their self-defence techniques. When a student earns a Gracie Combatives belt, they will start what is called the Master Cycle, this is the Gracie Academy’s advanced jiu-jitsu program. The GC should take a minimum of 12 months to complete. The new BC belt is white with a navy blue stripe running through its center.
Students that complete the Gracie Combatives course online will earn a “Gracie Combatives” belt as a symbol of their self-defense proficiency. That is why the new GU system will have a few changes.
Rickson says that t he perfect blue belt not only knows how to defend themselves in a street fight situation but also has a detailed enough knowledge based to grapple proficiently with other trained people.
While Rickson praised that GC exists to teach people self-defence, he criticises the award of a blue belt, purely on self-defence. This is where Gracie Combatives comes in. Rener also pipes up and says that even his Torrance Gracie Academy has focused away from self-defence due to the rapid growth of the sport and inclusion of group classes to train people in the sport of Jiu-Jitsu and not the self-defence aspect of it. The core classes taught people methods of self-defence against an untrained opponent, instead of modern jiu-jitsu schools where people are taught to fight trained opponents. Originally the Rio-de-Janeiro Gracie Academy focused on one-to-one private training session, with no group classes. With the newly formed JJGF, Rickson is concerned about the ‘dilution of jiu-jitsu’ and wants to sport to get back to it’s roots. Reported by BJJ Eastern Europe, Rickson, Rener and Ryron have been in talks for a long time figuring out how to re-invent their much-criticised platform. However, there are some big changes on the way. So since the last time we updated this post, we have seen Pedro Sauer jump on board the good ship Gracie University and new we have Rickson climbing aboard.