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By Andre Borges



There seems to be a recurring theme in jiu jitsu’s media circle, especially coming from the mouths of the “old school” crew, of how this martial art has changed over the past few years and how disconnected it has become from its roots. But how much has it actually changed, and how much of these changes have been for the better?



When listening to the gym banter after the usual “old vs. new” headline, it seems obvious to me that these “warnings” from the old timers are widely dismayed by the younger generations. Although I have no horse in this race (both jiu jitsu facets fascinate me), I have been training jiu jitsu for long enough to know that the change is real, a change that can be felt not only on a competitive level, but also on a coaching and student mentality plain.



To help the reader understand the differences between the BJJ student of old vs. new, allow me to outline the general profile of the mid/late 1990’s jiu jitsu student. The majority of us got into jiu jitsu at that time after watching Royce Gracie dismantle his opponents inside the octagon (UFC 1 to 5). We were young and highly interested in martial arts from a self-defense perspective. Most of the people I trained with on my first academy had a vast background in martial arts, I vividly remember training partners such as a goju ryu and a shotokan karate black belt, 1 kung fu instructor, Thai boxers, a few judo guys, and more than a fair share of nightclub bouncers. I myself practiced taekwondo for many years prior to BJJ. Most of us didn’t know there was a sporting facet to jiu jitsu outside the cage before we signed up, but we all embraced the competition side and eagerly learnt the point system.



As for the coaches, having travelled a fair bit and trained in different environments, I can say that the lessons (in most cases) were structured very differently. The classes would be longer, often 2 hours or more. Takedowns would be drilled as warm ups every day, punches, kicks and footwork were taught sometimes (yeah, crazy!). In fact one of my coaches at the time once confided that he wouldn’t grade someone past blue belt if he couldn’t throw a simple 1-2 boxing combo to takedown properly.



The gi/sporting facet was predominant, but we would regularly do no gi or take the gi tops off and do the famous “taparia” - open hand slaps and MMA rules groundwork. All was great fun, there was no rush, everyone just wanted to be better at fighting, and many would stay for long periods in each belt. On the flip side, the desertion rate was radically higher than it is today.



Though competitions were important in all the academies I visited, I didn’t feel like coaches completely disconnected from the self-defense aspect of jiu jitsu until the late 2000’s decade, when jiu jitsu as a sport grew to a point where it became the sole interest of coaches and students alike. With mixed martial arts (MMA) stepping towards acceptance as a mainstream sport, students who wanted to become better at fighting moved on to MMA, while anyone interested in the sport of jiu jitsu/grappling stayed. The students became people who were interested in doing sports, we even saw the Gracie Barra academy change their motto to “Jiu-Jitsu for everyone”, a contrasting approach to the old way where grapplers took primal/tribal pride in stating the opposite.



The late 2000’s also coincided with the sport making a gigantic attempt to outgrow its country of origin, by bringing the International Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) head office to the United States as well as the sport’s biggest event, the World Championship. With jiu jitsu’s main federation and tournament migrating to the United States, the selling point changed. It was no longer a martial art, but a sport.



In just a couple of years, jiu jitsu became “BJJ” - one of the fastest growing sports in the United States. Events became more regular and started being streamed, this meant excellent news for many black belts who managed to make a living from jiu jitsu instead of moving to MMA like many used to do in the past.



The growth of the sport meant more focus on sport specific moves. Until the mid 1990’s we saw many advancements such as the closed guard (early 1980s), De La Riva (mid/late 1980s), half guard (early 1990s), spider guard (late 1990s) etc. Many of these innovations, exception made to the spider guard, had a self-defense application, but as BJJ progressed, these positions became more and more extreme.



Today we are lucky to see some incredibly creative minds being put to work to solve the grappling riddle. These minds have developed breathtaking moves and positions, from berimbolos to a whole new level of lapel games.



The complexity of the ground game has risen to a level never witnessed before, like it or not, this is a fact. But what drove men to jiu jitsu for the past 8 decades weren’t the intricate lapel games, it was the fact that this martial art proved to be superior to other combat styles on the ring and inside the cage. Today, with the sports aspect being 100-percent of the curriculum taught by 99.9-percent of the academies, you can’t help but think that jiu jitsu is no longer teaching its students how to be better fighters and defeat other styles, but instead it has turned against itself. Double guard pulling is the norm. In fact, it is often taught by instructors with an insignificant amount of time dedicated to takedowns. This is understandable. It doesn’t pay to teach takedowns, if you don’t need them on a competitive environment.



This article may be seen as an attempt to shame the sport and the modern style of jiu jitsu, but I really hope it won’t be deemed as such. This is not my intention. I follow the sport more than the vast majority of BJJ’ers, it is my Saturday night movie, it is my 9 o’clock soap opera, its my news, it is my football weekend. I love watching every match and pay very close attention to the innovations happening today. I often find myself in awe of these advancements and the people behind these great techniques. However, I still feel disheartened in the fact that all focus is being given to the game and very little is being done to preserve the fighting aspect of this martial art.



Yes, most high-level BJJ competitors will dismantle the average human being in seconds, but the average student is not an athlete, and they are being sold this false sense of security. To further illustrate my point, just today I saw a full time athlete (blue belt) drilling a snazzy berimbolo type back take from a mounted armbar. I asked, “Why are you doing that when you have the arm?” He replied, “Because I find it hard to finish the armbar.... "





