r/judo • u/pianoplayrr • 29d ago

Other Why the animosity towards BJJ?

I'm just wondering why I often see Judo people ragging on BJJ people. I see this a lot when a BJJ guy posts a video demonstrating a Judo throw. In the comments there will usually be a bunch of angry Judo people saying things like "BJJ = basically just Judo", and things like that.

I have been noticing this for years, but why?

I think both arts are awesome, and it would be great if we could just combine them into one big, beautiful art!

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u/stonedturtle69 bjj 29d ago edited 27d ago

I'm a BJJ practitioner. I love ground grappling. I'm annoyed by the complete ignorance that so many BJJ practitioners still display of their art's history. Like not knowing that 90% of their techniques come from Judo and that Helio Gracie didn't invent the guard.

I dislike BJJ culture, the patches, the sponsorships, the weird Guru mentality of coaches, the Gracies, and the theatrical entertainment-focused trash talking, especially in No-Gi events. Its all so commercialised.

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u/flummyheartslinger 28d ago

The guru mentality, or "bow to your sensei", is an especially weird aspect of BJJ considering that they use judo and the Japanese roots of BJJ as an excuse for it. In reality it's more a typical Western interpretation of Asian mysticism based on American Kung Fu and Ninja movies than actual real life.

I trained BJJ in Japan and not once did anyone call the instructors sensei.

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u/stonedturtle69 bjj 27d ago

Thats an interesting point. Would love to in Japan some day.