Should Gi and No-Gi Fighters Be Awarded Different Belts?

As we’ve noted on this blog before, there is a notable split within the jiu-jitsu community when it comes to wearing a gi. The gi consists of pants, a jacket, and a belt, and it is the traditional uniform of jiu-jitsu practitioners. While traditionalists continue to wear a gi, many fighters who are learning jiu-jitsu as part of their mixed martial arts training regimen prefer to forego the gi and instead wear a rash guard as this is what they wear when they compete in MMA tournaments.

While this is a reasonable way to train, many purists feel as though the two types of fighting (gi and no-gi) are fundamentally different. If you and your opponent are both wearing a gi, the lapels, belt, sleeves, and collar can all be used as points of leverage. These gi-based attacks are off limits in a no-gi match. Additionally, the grips that you use while wearing a gi cannot be used in a no-gi fight.

There is no question that you have to change your strategy when wearing a gi compared to when you are fighting without one.

Recently, a viewer of the YouTube page Chewjitsu asked host Chewy if he felt these two types of combat are different enough to warrant different belt paths. In other words, should a person who almost always trains no-gi be awarded the same belt as a person who trains in a gi? For example, could a person be a blue belt in a gi and a no-gi black belt?

Different Approaches

Having separate training paths for people who prefer to fight no-gi versus those who prefer to fight with a gi seems reasonable at first. The way you approach a fight is heavily influenced by the tools at your disposal, especially if you have trained extensively with a gi and are deeply familiar with gi-based strategies and attacks—such as lapel guard control or lapel chokes.

But are these approaches fundamentally different?

Chewy presents a scenario that quickly makes this idea seem silly. Imagine you are an established blue belt who has trained jiu-jitsu for just over two years. With rare exception, you train in a gi, and you feel confident that you can roll with any other blue belt out there.

You decide to participate in a traditional jiu-jitsu tournament in a gi and your first opponent is another blue belt. This person beats you and then goes on to win the whole tournament. After the competition, you look them up and find out that they have been training jiu-jitsu for 15 years. Moreover, they have attained the level of no-gi black belt but have only received their blue belt while fighting in a gi since they only occasionally train with one. They essentially drop several belts when they put one on.

No one would find this fair. While it’s true that there are differences when you compete with a gi versus without a gi, the difference is not similar to the difference between a blue belt and a black belt. The two fighters both rely on the underlying principles of jiu-jitsu, and the person who has been training for more than a decade, regardless of whether they train gi or no-gi, has an enormous advantage over the person who has only trained for two years.

Similar Principles

From Chewy’s experience, the differences between gi and no-gi jiu-jitsu are incremental. Both styles are based on the same fundamentals. While some strategic elements may be different, these fundamentals remain the same. As Chewy notes, one of his newer brown belts does not roll in a gi. However, when he rolls with this student, there is no mistaking his ranking. “Even though he never rolls in the gi,” Chewy says, “Rolling with him feels every bit of a brown belt.”

In fact, Chewy believes that the student could even compete as a brown belt in the gi. However, he’s fairly certain that this student would not go on to win the Brown Belt World Championship. When competing against another brown belt who is intimately familiar with gi-based attacks, he will be at a slight disadvantage, and that disadvantage will likely be significant enough to push the match in his opponent’s favor.

From Chewy’s experience, dedicated fighters can eliminate these disadvantages simply by alternating how they train. Those who have trained for even a few years can make the switch from gi to no-gi (or vice-versa) without having to completely relearn jiu-jitsu.

“If your heart’s there, you can transfer from one to the other pretty easily.”