When it comes to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, everyone knows that the white belt is the lowest rank. Here, it is the first belt you receive and is given by default. Because of this, many white belt practitioners are seen as highly inexperienced, with a lot to learn. A common analogy is that BJJ represents life, and that white belts are still in the baby phase as a result. This isn’t to patronize white belts in any way, as everyone has to start somewhere.
However, it should also be noted that some white belts are significantly better than others, and also the white belt is fairly unique in this aspect. Often, at blue and purple, the waters are muddy and there’s not really much difference with stripes. This differs massively with white belts, where the difference between a zero stripe and a four stripe white belt can be absolutely massive. In BJJ skills, it can be the difference between having solid enough self defensive skills, or being as good as useless.
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How dangerous is a brand new white belt?
In all reality, a zero stripe white belt is not really a threat to anyone, either within a BJJ setting or in terms of fight skills. Whilst they may know a bit of theoretical knowledge, there’s a difference between doing and knowing. You could even argue that they’re more of a danger to themselves more so than others. Too often, someone training for a month or so believes they’re now a capable martial artist. Sadly, this is wrong and it’s not good to get too cocky, too soon.
How dangerous is a 1 stripe white belt?
Although this marks an advancement from your original rank, it’s still very new in terms of BJJ. Often, this stripe is seen as the most important in terms of tradition. However, in reality there’s still a long way to go until you can be considered dangerous. For the most part, there’s not much difference between a zero and one stripe white belt and often this promotion is given out of a sign of respect rather than due to skill.
How dangerous is a 2 stripe white belt?
Again, white belt practitioners shouldn’t read too much into this promotion. It is again not a massive deal in the big scheme of things. An example of this is that at this stage, athletic, brand new white belts should still be able to beat most two stripe white belts in sparring. This is because the two stripe may be more technical, but this is still not at a level worthy of defeating bigger opponent’s and still isn’t relevant enough for self defense.
How dangerous is a 3 stripe white belt?
At this point, you may start to see some real improvements. Many three stripe white belts may be close to approaching a year at this point, so it’s logical to see some progress. Whilst you still may not be quite ready for the UFC yet, you can now pull off a few basic moves. This may mean one guard that you’re semi reasonable at, combined with the odd sweep or submission and escape. From a self defense angle, this is where things begin to pay off in regards to training.
How dangerous is a 4 stripe white belt?
A four stripe white belt should be getting ready to be promoted to blue belt, which means their beginner phase is coming to an end. This means they are capable of a lot more than when they first started, but there is still progress to be made. Usually, these people have been training for over a year and progress will be evident.
With all physical attributes equal, at this point you should be able to use a bit of BJJ in a street fight to good effect. Of course, it also helps to have a solid takedown in your locker to help implement your BJJ successfully. For the record, we’re on about average white belts. For those that have a background in grappling or are freakishly strong, they will always have a big advantage. Similarly, a winner of Worlds at white belt will also be well advanced and can be considered quite dangerous.
White belt vs bigger opponent
In martial arts, it’s often romanticized that a smaller guy can defeat a giant. This may be common within a gym setting where strikes aren’t allowed. However, in a street situation, things can be very different. Even the great Marcelo Garcia who won various ADCC’s has an MMA record of 0-1 after getting knocked out, which speaks volumes.
With this applied to a white belt, the reality is that you will probably struggle against a much bigger, stronger opponent. Because of this, it’s best to keep your head down and avoid confrontation and not get arrogant. At the same time, if you do get attacked, it’s ideal to defend and then run off, as opposed to put your BJJ into use (unless you absolutely have to). This is because your BJJ is still young and maybe not mature enough to be used practically in a real fight.
How dangerous is a white belt in a gym setting?
So far, we’ve assessed the role of a white belt primarily from a self defense situation. Now, we shall focus on that in a BJJ setting. As mentioned, a lot of this depends on the rank of said white belt and their time spent training. For instance, a complete beginner isn’t a threat to anyone else in the gym. Simply put, their moves will be bad and they will lack technique. Even if they go hard, they shouldn’t be a threat to colored belts.
At the same time, a solid four stripe white belt may start causing problems for some of the blue belts. This means they may catch them with certain submissions. Whilst this doesn’t mean they’re better than said blue belt, it does mean that in one particular area, they may have a specialty in white belt terms. An example could be a white belt that has a triangle choke on the same level of most blue belts. The rest of their game may still be very poor, but in that area, they may be beyond their rank.
Moving from blue belts, a four stripe white belt should not really pose any danger to a purple belt. Unless the purple belt is playing, the skill gap should be far too much and years of training should kick in for the purple belt. Because of this, it’s fair to say that in a BJJ setting, white belts aren’t really dangerous to anyone with a bit of experience.
Final Thoughts
If you’re a white belt reading this, then stick at it. At the same time, if you’re training for self defense, then focus on the basics such as escapes and takedowns. If you can learn these quickly, then your training will pay off. By a similar token, if you neglect takedowns completely and only defend and don’t try escapes, then your BJJ will suffer from a self defense perspective. The good news is that you’re still new, so these things will naturally develop in time.
In conclusion, most white belts aren’t really considered dangerous until around the year mark, which is when their training will start to pay dividends. At this point, you may not exactly be a BJJ master, but against an untrained opponent, you will have a decent enough skill gap to make it count.
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