Early this month we learned all about the one day mma seminar in India which resulted in multiple people receiving blue belts in brazilian jiu-jitsu.
BJJ Blue Belt Scam in India Led by “7th Degree Black belt in MMA”
But now the community is trying to find ways to cope and provide guidelines for the many who practitioners who need it.
The fangarage reports:
Crosstrain Fight Club Founder Siddharth Singh. Siddharth is a 3rd stripe Purple Belt under BJJ World Champion Ivan Tomasetti.
On the BJJ scams around the nation:
Siddharth Singh: Grading in Jiu Jitsu is very difficult when compared to other traditional martial arts. At Crosstrain Fight club, which is my school, for example, some of our senior students have taken up to 3.5 years to get their blue belt. They have also had to compete and win tournaments all over the country. This, of course, is quite challenging and not what everyone wants to do. The shortcut therein is to not train but instead pay someone to give you belts and that’s whats happened in India.
I was offered, a couple of years ago, a Karate Black Belt for Rs 15,000 and I told the person that I don’t even know the basics but that was not a problem for him. I had to turn it down saying that I could buy a black belt from Lajpat Nagar for Rs 500. We need to prevent the same thing from happening in BJJ. BJJ belts are earned not given.
Jitendra Khare is the head coach of Team Relentless. Jitendra, who is one of the most respected coaches in the nation, is a BJJ Blue Belt 4 Stripes under Shane Suzuki.
The Money Motive behind the scams:
Jitendra Khare: It’s obviously sad to see such a state of BJJ in the country. This puts a question mark on so many legit BJJ practitioners that we have in India. But I’m not surprised with such things because sadly people giving out fake belts and creating certifications within sports to make quick money is quite the norm in the country. These so called associations are sadly also supported by legit guys who see this as an opportunity to make money.
The Associations that cause the problems:
Jitendra Khare: Also most so called Associations are run by people with no prior knowledge of BJJ. These are Karate/Taekwondo/Judo guys with no grading in BJJ and they carry the culture of their martial arts over to BJJ. It’s a business of Martial Arts for these people.
I personally don’t know how we can stop this politics in sports but I feel that true martial artists always will thrive and sustain in the long run.
