Humility is an important part of combat sports and martial arts. However, the question may arise about whether BJJ and MMA generally tend to create humble people or the opposite…
People say that “Jiu-Jitsu is the ultimate douchebag filter”… But is that really true? When someone starts to get good at something, they often have a negative reaction and their ego gets bigger.
Jiu-Jitsu: The Ultimate Ego Inflater?
For Joe Rogan, Jiu-Jitsu is actually a positive force which makes him more humble.
Joe Rogan gets Humbled doing Jiu-Jitsu
BJJ black belt and Navy Seal legend Jocko Willink share s his thoughts on being humble in Jiu-Jitsu and life in general:
There is always someone better than you, that has done more than you.
What does over confidence get you?
You start cutting corners, you star slacking off.
He went on to say:
I don’t get upset if someone taps me out. It actually makes me train more and get better.
Matt Thornton is a highly respected BJJ instructor and founder of Straight Blast Gym International, an association of over 35 gyms worldwide engaged in training athletes in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, boxing and mixed martial arts. He was among the first American-born practitioners to receive a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
In this episode of Ask Matt, coach Matt Thornton talks about the subject of humility in BJJ and shares an interesting story about his personal experience with Randy Couture:
