Did any of you go through the entire IBJJF black belt degree certification process? Do you remember what the fees were for all the required things?

I did! It was a pain in the ASS! Fee's are...

1. $400 for the initial certificate and $150 for each subsequent renewal or new degree. (This also includes your membership ID fee for the year!)
2. The fee you need to pay for a referee course. $60.
3. The fee for a back ground check (US Residents only). I forgot the cost. Not much.
4. The fee for a CPR/AED course certification card.

So for black belt certification you need to pay $150 a year instead of the usual $35 for renewal?

The $35 is for your membership ID. You pay that every year to renew your membership card. The $150 is for your black belt certificate. You pay $400 for the initial certificate. There after, you pay $150 for a new certificate when you move up in degrees. For example, If I get one when I first get my Black Belt, when it's time to get my 1st degree black belt, I have to pay $150 for that certificate and for every certificate as I move up in degrees on my black belt. Hope that makes sense.

Yes, i did it too. Same price as Jay for everything.
Except no back ground check fee because i'm European.

Jay >> Ok so you pay $400 / $150 per certificate and on top of that you still have to pay $35 per year for renewing the membership, am I understanding this correctly?

Yes, that's correct.

Do you need a signature from (IBJJF verified) promoting black belt in order to request the degree? Or is it enough to already be a certified IBJJF black belt yourself?

yea you need a signature. Since i quit GB they wont sign, though i did have someone else to sign, i am not doing it anymore. I dont need a teacher to count years for me.

Personally, I feel these fees are enough to illustrate the need for a website/database such as this. IBJJF makes other pyramid schemes look ethical in comparison. ;)

The IBJJF ruleset on black belt degrees say:

Must be professor in an academy that has been paying membership fee to IBJJF every year since promotion to black belt


OR

Must practice in an academy that has been paying membership fee to IBJJF every year since promotion to black belt and has an actively IBJJF registered (paying) professor (minimum 2nd degree black belt)

*****

So as far as I see it, as long as you’ve once had your black belt signed for by a IBJJF-legitimate black belt 2nd degree and you’re also registered as professor for your own IBJJF academy, then you’re good to go without need of a senior black belt signature?

As far as I know, the person that promoted you must be a certified 3rd degree black belt or higher to sign off on the black belt certification. He or she is the only one that can sign off on a Black Belt Certificate Application. As far as the membership card is concerned, yes you have to renew every year if you want it active for competitions. Do you have to? Not at all. That's why we had issues. Right when I got my 2nd Black Belt certification, shortly after, they changed it to 3rd degree as a requirement. I was not able to sign off on anyone's membership cards from the Globetrotters or certifications until I got the certificate myself.

Get a handful of 3rd degree Trotters those IBJJF certification. Split the costs, or file them as Trotters overhead. Then they can sign off on shit for whoever is worthy.

Unfortunately, the only way to get the certification is for the individual to have it signed off by the person that promoted them. That professor has to be IBJJF certified him or her self in order to get the person applying for certification certified.

Daniel >> We already have that set up and use it all the time :)

Jay hit it on the head....its a pain on the ass. Furthermore your certification date for promotions is only active from the first date of the issue of the IBJJF certificate. For example I was promoted to black on in 2012, but only submitted for my IBJJF certification in 2017 despite being in their system as a blackbelt since 2013. Therefore according to them I was eligible for for my 1st degree until 2019 despite the fact that Nic Gregoriades gave me my first degree in 2018. I ended up forking the money this year and got certified under IBJJF as a 1st degree....but I wont be able to be eligible in their system for my second until 2022.......their whole system is a mess and simply a money grab.

Carlos Rojas, the IBJJF promotion recognition system is not perfect, but it is not without merit.

To become certified, one has to pass a background check, have verified instructors sign your paperwork, attend a first aid/cpr course, and pass a rules exam.

I myself found the rules exam tricky because of some of the advantage point questions.

So, the IBJJF ranking system is a reasonable effort by a commercial entity to prevent false ranking, and to ensure a minimum standard is followed.

Is it perfect? No, of course not.

But neither is this ranking system, nor any ranking system that you will find.

I am reminded of the movie Moneyball, regarding the key performance indicators that really matter regarding the game of baseball.

Even experts, let alone novices, frequently get it wrong about what to measure, how to measure, etc when assigning rankings of value or quality.

So, while I am excited about this initiative, vilifying the IBJJF and its ranking system, is something that can be done regarding all ranking systems, including this one.

I am rank certified with the IBJJF as a 4th degree black belt, and the JJGF, and as a Sandan in Judo under the USJA.

Frankly, I find all of that paperwork a pain in my ass, but I do it as a form of community service so that people who need their rank paperwork signed to get in tournaments etc, can do so.

On the other hand, I started as a wrestler, and a boxer, so I find the entire business about rank belts to be mostly silly.

I still cannot catch a fly with chopsticks, you know what I mean....

Here is my problem with the whole IBJJF Certificate thing. Let's just say that someone gets their black belt from one of the Gracie brothers. Let's say Rickson, and that person no longer competes in IBJJF Tournaments, so they never do the whole registration. In 9 years that Black Belt gets his 3rd degree and decides hey you know what I want to compete. The IBJJF only recognizes him as a Black Belt and doesnt acknowledge the 3rd degree because said BB decided not to pay for a piece of paper. Its B.S. in my opinion.

Sean, really only three belt ranks "matter" if you think about it.

1) White belt - you are a practitioner, you have begun, you are participating. And, really in some ways, we are all white belts for life, always learning.

2) Black belt - you know the basics well enough to teach (or you are one helluva monster in rolling and no one can take the belt off of you to say that you are not), and you can "promote" and recognize rank short of recognizing the rank of black belt to other black belts.

3) Black belt 2nd degree - you can graduate and recognize the graduation of other teachers and competitors to the rank of black belt.

Theoretically the rank to recognize 2nd degree black belt would be also important, but at that point Zeno has started plying us with wine.

Under the original Gracie System, everyone was a white belt or approved to teach with the blue ink belt.

So, outside of ego, and humans' ridiculous need to over-social hierarchy everything, do the degrees higher than 2nd degree even really matter...?

William,
I think for the most part we are on the same page, but my main issue comes down to two issues:
1. They don't give credit for the time when you were actually promoted and therefore force all future promotion to be delayed.
2. If your registration lapses at any point the clock towards your next promotion restarts.

Well, Carlos if I am blunt,

what really bothers me is when an instructor has a falling out with the IBJJF,

and then a decade or two passes,

and that instructor's black belt students,

no matter how good they are, no matter if they fight in the UFC, or win ADCC, or whatever, cannot get their rank paperwork recognized to where they themselves have their rank on IBJJF paper to promote other black belts.

I have had a very mixed track record with the IBJJF in helping to get those situations corrected,

including ironically sometimes helping schools that compete regularly against the schools that are under my lineage,

but that are clearly real guys, with clear lineages, and are monsters on the mats and in competition.

That does become a bit silly and frustrating.

It behooves the sport and community for the real guys to have their rank paperwork recognized, and their ability to promote etc recognized by the major organizations.

^you nailed it my friend

I completed all requirements and paid all fees as well. It wasn't $150 a year for me. Basically 3 years after to get my 3rd degree certification I paid another $150...so $150 every 3 years most likely.

I was just thinking about that today. Since getting my BB I havent registered but will be due for my first degree at the end of this year. But since i never regeistered with IBJJF my understanding is that I will have to wait three years from registration to recieve it from them.

Sonny Brown, send in your paperwork promptly if you feel that IBJJF rank recognition will be important to you.

Delay sending it in, and you will harvest what you plant, and not harvest what you do not plant.

Christian, as far as I know the rules you quoted are correct. You can get degrees on a black belt directly from the IBJJF without a higher ranking black belt's involvement. As long as (as stated in the rules):

- you have been promoted to BB by an actively IBJJF registered (paying) professor (minimum 2nd degree black belt)
- you have registered your BB to IBJJF ($400)
- the minimum time requirement has passed and you have had a paid IBJJF membership those years ($35 a year)
- your academy has also been paying the IBJJF membership for this time (you don't have to be the academy owner/professor, but the academy must have an actively registered professor, minimum 2nd degree black belt)
- you pay $150 per degree

So if all this is taken care of (=everybody pays IBJJF a bunch), you can then get the BB degrees by applying them from them IBJJF after the time requirement is fulfilled. No need to involve a higher BB anymore after the initial promotion to BB.

Tatu,
That is not correct. All black belt promotions require the signoff of a higher black belt. IF this forum had a way of posting pics i'd show you.

The current standard has been moved to 3rd degree black belt by the ibjjf.

And word on the street is it will probably be moved again to 4th degree again.

...

I'm beginning to feel like I'll "never" be allowed to promote anyone to black belt. Honestly, it seems like 3 years (first degree) should be enough. I'm actually in favor, in theory, of being able to promote to one's own rank in general--one should be able to acknowledge someone is at or above their own level. But I can accept an argument for up to rank below. Beyond that... just feels (from where I stand, admittedly) like an excessive control mechanism.

Mr. Baker,

That is not correct, sir.

Currently, a black belt of 2nd degree or higher who has been certified and is active with the IBJJF, and registered as a professor or assistant professor of an IBJJF registered academy may sign the promotion paperwork to promote an athlete to black belt.

I would refer you page 10 of the IBJJF graduation guidebook:

"The professor that signs the application form also must be the professor that promoted the athlete and be a black belt with at least two degrees certified by IBJJF."

https://ibjjf.com/wp-cont[...]EN_vs2.pdf

On the second page of the link you sent, I see this:

"The membership form of a provisional brown belt athlete must be signed by a black belt with
minimum graduation of 2 (two) degrees."

"The membership form of a provisional black belt athlete must be signed by a black belt with
minimum graduation of 3 (three) degrees."

Though I also see what you reference on page 10, which seems to somewhat supercede that, I guess (though it is a bit ambiguous of a conflict...)

However, this document is from 2016. The rule change to 3rd degree I thought existed was from after that. That said, I can't find a more recent version of that document from post 2016.

I do see a news article talking about the rumored shift to 3rd degree here:

https://www.bjjee.com/bjj[...]lack-belt/

My impression was that that happened, not that it was just rumoured.

But you're right, I see nothing confirming that now that I'm looking...

Thing is, just a couple days ago I happened to have asked someone who generally really knows his shit when it comes to IBJJF, about this exact rule. He confirmed it is 3rd degree required before you can promote to black belt.

Strange.

(I'll ask and research some more, but until then I'll presume I'm wrong. My bad.)