If you train BJJ, you have probably heard of the gauntlet belt promotion ritual.
Gauntlet/tunnel is where you take your gi jacket off and get whipped by your teammates with their belts.When a student graduates from one belt to another, some academies mark the accomplishment by making the new belt walk the belt whipping gauntlet.
The gauntlet is similar to a gang initiation, where the new gang member gets beat up by all the other gang members, to pass the ‘test’.
Many major BJJ instructors are against the gauntlet, including Caio Terra who shared his opinion:
Tonight we had belt promotions and for the first time we did NOT do the gauntlet.
In this day in age we should not condone hazing or impose it on people who don’t want to do it IMO, we are too smart for that.
If people want to do the gauntlet it’s their choice. Congrats to every one who got promoted, for those who did not keep training and keep working hard. Your time will come!
Fabio Gurgel: ‘The Gauntlet Was My Biggest Mistake as an Instructor’
If you thought the gauntlet was bad, check out these other brutal and ridiculous belt promotions:
- Powerbomb slam promotion:
2. BJJ choke out promotion
This BJJ academy called Unified Martial Arts UMA promotes students and then the instructor chokes them out unconscious…
This has got the be one of the most dangerous and disturbing rites of passage…
3. ‘Circle of Death’ Belt Promotion
Even More Hardcore Than the Gauntlet
4. The Crawling dog gauntlet
5. The marathon gauntlet
This has to be the longest gauntlet in history. Ouch!
