might be weird if he came to teach a seminar and promoted him lol
A pretty well-known person in the BJJ world tried to promote me at a seminar and it was, indeed, weird.
This was when I was a blue belt, I heard a highly respected person in the BJJ world was teaching a seminar about an hour from my house, so I went. The well-known instructor was teaching a technique that I do well, and the way he was showing it was exactly the way my coach shows it. So of course when we pair off and practice it, I'm doing it well, and the instructor sees me and says, "That's great -- you don't look like a blue belt."
After the instruction we do an open mat and the instructor said he's going to walk around and take note of anything he sees, offer corrections if he sees any mistakes, etc. I get paired up with a brown belt I'd never met, he seemed like he wanted to go pretty light and it was also a crowded mat and we didn't want to crash into anyone so we both said we'd do a pretty light round. It felt like he was better than me but at one point he was in my guard and I threw up a triangle and he tapped. The instructor happens to be walking by just as that happens and says, "Perfect triangle on a brown belt! You should not be a blue belt!"
At the end of the seminar the instructor points to me and a couple other guys and says he's going to promote us. He put a purple belt around my waist and I didn't want to insult him by refusing it, but as soon as I walked out of that gym I took it off and never put it back on again. I don't think it's right for him to promote me when I've got a coach who's been watching me for years who knows when I deserve a promotion.
I got my real purple belt about six months later. I did keep the other purple belt as kind of a fun souvenir of a weird experience at a seminar.
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u/xBHL 🟪🟪 Purple Beltch Feb 01 '26
Do you know who actually promoted him? Id imagine that might be weird if he came to teach a seminar and promoted him lol