John Donehue, one of Australia’s earliest Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belts and a foundational figure in the country’s MMA scene, recently shared his take on the evolution of martial arts culture.

Speaking on the MMA History Podcast, Donehue didn’t shy away from criticizing the increasing commercialization of BJJ, especially what he considers to be the trend of handing out belts without merit:

A lot of things that have become so commercial, there are so many guys who are black belts now.
It’s almost like the Taekwondo situation because everyone needs a friend, and they don’t want people to leave, so they give them belts.

He believes not everyone is meant to reach black belt level:

Some people just aren’t meant to be black belts legitimately, and that’s okay.
That’s not a personal thing, but sometimes things are going to elude people because of age or physical limitations or whatever it might be – work, family, whatever.

But I don’t really prescribe to the adage of “well, you’ve been here long enough and paid enough fees, you get the belt”.

He went on to compare his conservative approach to others in the Australian BJJ scene:

I think I’ve given out in 25 years, I don’t know, seven maybe black belts. I think John Will’s done over 100…
I guess I’m still very old school that way, where it’s like you don’t just get it because you showed up.

Another concern for Donehue is the shift in focus away from self-defense and toward sport competition:

It got away from self-defense, became so sport oriented.
I hated guys sort of pulling guard…

At my gym now, if someone pulls guard, everyone gets stuck into them because it’s like: “Dude, what are you gonna do that on the street?”
Play from top, be aggressive, try to win from top.

You don’t really lose the essence of it being a martial art as such and a fighting art.

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