Bernardo Faria is pushing back against one of the quiet pressures in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, encouraging practitioners to feel completely comfortable turning down training partners without awkwardness or judgment.

The multi-time world champion argues that one of the biggest mistakes hobbyists make is believing they’re obligated to accept every roll.
In a recent discussion, Faria challenged the idea that saying “no” is disrespectful, especially for those facing age-related limitations, nagging injuries, or size mismatches:

There’s nothing wrong with choosing who you roll with in Jiu-Jitsu.

As we get older, it’s very important to be careful with who you roll with. Being selective with who you roll with, it’s going to increase the longevity on the mat by a lot.

He sees ego as the main barrier.
Many practitioners worry that saying no will be seen as weakness or disrespect, especially when invited by higher ranks:

Many times we get stuck on our ego and someone calls us to roll and we feel like we have to.

But I think it’s all about communication.

Instead of avoiding the issue, he encourages honest and respectful communication:

We should be able to politely communicate that, hey, I’m kind of a little injured here, let me go with that other person over there.

Faria has implemented this approach in his own academy:

In our school, we always tell everybody that you can call anyone you want and you don’t have to roll with anyone if you don’t want to roll with that person.

We only have one body, so we should be able to protect this body as much as we can.

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