Recently when a Jiu-Jitsu tournament advertised that black belts are able to compete for free, a Taekwondo black belt showed up and insisted on competing. This was after hearing that the tournament was for Jiu-Jitsu fighters, and was not a Taekwondo tournament. The Taekwondo black belt went on to compete in the competition and was even matched against a high level Jiu-Jitsu black belt in his very first fight. Since this incident, tournament organizer Dustin Ware has been quick to point out that “black belt to compete for free” competitions, from here on out, are specifically geared towards Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belts only.
being a TKD guy, kudos to the TKD guy for competing. kudos to the bjj guy for being a class act.
I did this years ago as a tkd brown belt. It wasn’t disrespect or anything like that. We didn’t have a BJJ professor. We weren’t sure what division to enter so we signed up as brown belts. Looking back its a great story. Fastest $40 I ever spent. They welcomed us warmly. Everyone was great. We met some great people. 20 years later I do BJJ full time.
Both were aweful in their feet. The TKD guy lasted way longer than he should have.