How long does it take to become kickass?

It was an interesting question from a potentially new student. I had to defend myself several times as a blue belt in my thirties and came out on top each time. I spent 2 years of training vale tudo style BJJ before earning my blue belt. I then began my gi training which improved my game significantly.

My street fight opponents tended to be 20-something year olds but were very different body types and none of them seemed to have any formal training: a pissed-off tall and skinny 20-something year old that came bursting out of a social security office and attempted to push me down a stairwell in his anger, a medium height and build 40-something gardener that attacked me in a landscape supply yard for using one of his shovels (I thought they belonged to the landscape supplier), a large and tall 20-something year old on some sort of drug that misunderstood a price negotiation between his uncle and I, and a medium build 20-something year old that I apprehended after he broke into my hotel room and punched my girlfriend.

All of these situations occurred while I was a blue belt but I was a blue belt longer than the average practitioner due to a multi-year period of not training. So from my personal experience, an average blue belt that has also trained some MMA or Vale Tudo where they are defending and delivering strikes should be able to beat an untrained fighter. Although I know many blue belts that only trained in sport jiu-jitsu and handled themselves just fine in altercations.

I have also met some blue belts that I don’t think this estimate would relate to because they weren’t what I would consider to be an average blue belt (light on technique, rolling, very little striking defense). Something changes in a BJJ practitioner when they include striking in their BJJ training. It teaches them to not stall on the bottom, how to manage distance, keep their guard up or else they will get a faceful of fists. These important realizations help them easily determine what is going to work in a street fight and what will only work in a tournament.

When I promote a student to blue belt they have already been under pressure with strikers because a blue belt means something in my academy and I make sure that it is not just a “sport jiu-jitsu” belt. They need to know how to control distance, defend strikes, clinch, takedown and ground control in addition to a solid submission game. I don’t expect them to have this mastered but they need to be effective in a street fight and use correct technique.

As I type this, I have two students in mind that are technically sound on the ground and are now working through their stand-up skills. This is where the rubber meets the road in my book because almost every altercation begins on our feet. What happens when you are standing with an opponent? Are you getting shelled and falling to the ground hoping to gain control after taking several strikes? BJJ begins on our feet… not on our knees. So how long does it take for you to control a fight? If you learn to control the fight, you will probably do well.

I think you can start to kick some ass against untrained opponents when you are at least an average blue belt which in my book is 3-4 years but a recent survey (www.bjjsurveys.com) revealed that the average blue belt has been training for 3.6 years. The same survey found that the average blue belt practitioner trains 6.62 hours per week.

However, the direction of this question left me in a quandary because if a student purposes to learn BJJ so they can kick ass, they will have missed the point of learning our beautiful art. Sure, a new student will learn to become a beast under a good instructor but that doesn’t mean they will also have the character to wield this new power.

So what was my answer? I responded with, “Why?” He answered, “So that if I am partying at a club, I can kick ass when I want to.” My final response… “Hmm… perfect. You can start with the toilets.”