What does having a black belt in MMA mean?

[Makalakumu]

Some MMA schools that I have visted or at which I have trained have a ranking system similar to many other more traditional martial arts. In fact, it is possible to earn a black belt...

In traditional martial arts, this means that one has learned the traditional basics that have been handed down over time and that one is able to really begin training.

In MMA...???

It seems like it is up to the instructor's discretion.

If you have a black belt in MMA, could you share the criteria that your instructor used to evaluate you?

And for everyone, how legitimate is a black belt in MMA?

 

[Adept]

Well, I have my rank set as MMA Black Belt, but I guess it isn't strictly accurate. I started training in a very open TKD school which included a lot of non-TKD stuff and a lot of good RBSD stuff. Several of our instructors come from other disciplines and one of our instructors is also the SD instructor at the local prison. This guy really knows his stuff.

Anywho, having been trained by people from lots of different arts, and having spent time 'mixing' martial arts, I call myself a mixed martial artist. I no longer limit myself to learning a single style, I mix them up to suit me.

I earned my BB through my TKD school, and it included all the basic TKD stuff, a lot of RBSD stuff, lots and lots of sparring, lots of endurance work, lots of patterns (or kata/forms, whatever) and so on. No breaking was compulsory, but some people did some anyway. The crowds like it.

So I have a black belt, and I practice components mixed from several different arts. Hence, MMA black belt. I imagine that a generic MMA black belt means about the same as a TMA one; that you have something to hold your pants up.

A black belt is usually an indication of competent mastery of most techniques in a system. It means you have learned the things your instructor wants you to learn, and thats about it. In that regard, I dont see how a MMA BB would be any different from a TMA BB.

 

[Bod]

Many MMA are descended from Judo via BJJ. Judo invented the belt system to make Randori (free practice/ sparring) safer.

In many MAs wearing a belt above your rank is seen as sacrilege. In Judo it is madness as you are asking for a pummeling. In fact it is seen as very bad form to wear a lesser belt than your rank as a way of fooling your sparring partners into going easier on you.

Modern martial arts had belt systems long before more traditional arts.

 

[Sin]

in MMA black belt testing should be harder than in a regular school.

And also i belive that a black belt should represent a style, it should represent the person. honestly if you are training for 5 years at one school, and you are there at every class, you earn your back belt by being ddeicated to the arts. And only someone who is dedicated should only be allowed/privalaged to be the owner of a black belt (that they earned)

 

[47MartialMan]

It means you have paid alot to get one-unless you had it "mail ordered"

 

[Andrew Green]

And for everyone, how legitimate is a black belt in MMA?

No rank is really legitimate... So in MMA it is as legitimate as in any other style

Basically what it comes down to is marketing and retention, not just in MMA but in ALL systems.

"Black belt" generally means the person has been doing it for at least a couple years and should have a pretty good idea what they are doing. Thats all, just like other styles.

 

[47MartialMan]

In one of the arts that I had studied-white was high ranking and yellow was instructor.