When it comes to training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, there are levels. At the highest rank, you have black belts who usually have more than a decade of experience, whereas at the bottom of the pile you have white belts. Usually, white belts have trained between zero and three years. Based on this, the black belt is vastly more experienced in both theory and practice when it comes down to sparring.
Because of this, every time a black belt rolls with a white belt, it naturally means that the white belt is the underdog. This often leads white belts to fantasize about whether they can actually beat the black belt in sparring, which would be a huge upset if it happened. In this article, we shall assess whether this is possible or whether it’s pure fantasy.
Experienced grappling white belts can beat BJJ black belts
Just because you’re a BJJ white belt, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re new to the world of grappling. In some cases, you could be a Sambo or Judo blackbelt, a D1 wrestler or an experienced MMA fighter. At the same time, if you’ve never taken a formal BJJ class or trained in the gi, there’s a chance that you’ll be ranked as a white belt.
Generally speaking, it’s debatable whether these people should even start as a white belt if they’re that good, to begin with. Nonetheless, it does happen and it is definitely a thing. It should be noted that this is a rarity, but sometimes you may find that the new white belt may look unassuming but has years of grappling experience under their belt.
In this instance, the white belt could beat the black belt in sparring, especially if they caught them by surprise. For example, imagine you have a Sambo practitioner who has trained for twenty years. The likelihood is that they’d beat a BJJ practitioner who has trained for ten years – especially when it comes to takedowns and leg locks. This opens up an entirely new debate completely, whether these people are truly white belts, to begin with anyway.
Can new white belts beat BJJ black belts?
Without looking at freak instances such as prior grappling experience, or someone being a powerlifter against a 55KG black belt, the likelihood is that a white belt would lose in a roll against a black belt 99/100. Even if the black belt wasn’t particularly good, the reality is that by then – they’d have enough experience under their belt to handle the white belt.
With this said, a white belt beating a black belt is pretty unheard of in BJJ (so long as the white belt doesn’t fit the aforementioned criteria). As mentioned, this is based on experience and years of training on the mats.
BJJ white belt vs BJJ black belt
White belts can tap BJJ black belts
Having said this, white belts can potentially tap BJJ black belts. There are two scenarios where this happens. The first is if the black belt is playing and going very light. Here, they may even be putting themselves in submissions to test their own defense and escapes. This is actually a very efficient way of training and improving.
Despite their superiority, if they spar like this then there’s always a chance that they get caught. Arguably, this isn’t a real ‘tap’ though, because it’s not truly earned against a fully resisting opponent. Often when this happens, white belts genuinely believe their own hype and believe they’ve done something magical.
The second scenario is when a white belt genuinely taps a black belt. Although very rare, it could potentially happen. For instance, if they’ve been training for a couple of years and have a very sharp armbar or gimmicky move then on a very bad day, they could possibly tap an unfortunate black belt. Realistically, this is very unlikely but can happen. Remember, black belts are only humans after all.
Positionally, white belts should always lose to black belts
Even though white belts may be able to catch black belts with submissions, positionally they shouldn’t be able to do much in terms of passing, sweeping, and back takes. For instance, a white belt shouldn’t be able to get close to passing a black belt’s guard, nor should they really sweep them. In a competition-points setting, this means that the black belt should almost always win, even if they’re not great.
This means that the white belt’s best chance of beating a black belt is through some kind of chance submission. An admittedly poor comparison is like the game of Quidditch in Harry Potter. Imagine the white belt is part of the underdog team who is likely to lose. Their only chance of winning is by getting the snitch (a submission) whereas if they try to win by points, it’s borderline impossible.
Conclusion
As seen, the likelihood of a true white belt beating a black belt during sparring is slim to none. Having said this, it can happen if the black belt has a bad day and gets caught. Even still, this shouldn’t really happen if the black belt isn’t going soft, or if they’re a legitimate black belt.
In conclusion, this may come as bad news for BJJ white belts but is sadly part of the journey and order. Arguably, it wouldn’t be worth training for if you immediately went in as one of the best grapplers to begin with, so this example serves as to why it’s important to train BJJ and slowly make progress until one day you’re at a high level.
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