How much of a weight advantage to cancel out one belt rank of difference in BJJ?

Stephan Kesting · 10-21-2009, 11:31 PM

I have my own ideas on this topic, but I also want to tap the collective wisdom of this forum.

Obviously being bigger and stronger is an advantage in BJJ and submission grappling, hence the creation of weight categories. So here's my specific question: "how much of a weight advantage, on average, cancels out one belt rank in BJJ?"

i.e. how much bigger would the average white belt have to be in order to go neck-and-neck with an average blue belt. Or for an average blue belt to draw with with a purple belt. Or a brown belt with a black.

10 lbs? 20 lbs? 50 lbs? 100 lbs?

Of course any answer is going to be approximate, and depend on many other variables, but if you have some experience fighting lower ranked monsters, or being able to frustrate higher ranked midgets, then throw some numbers out there.

Stephan Kesting
www.grapplearts.com

FLoWitheGo · 10-21-2009, 11:35 PM

I'm going to say 40+. A belt rank seems to be a big jump in skill on any lvl, be it white to blue or blue to purp, etc.

FLMikeATT · 10-21-2009, 11:36 PM

weight is one thing. If weight is the only issue, then I would say about 50 lbs.

However if the white belt is a lot heavier, more athletic, and has cardio for days, he's going to give a lot of the higher belts problems if he has the basic "do's and don'ts" of BJJ down good.

FWTG · 10-21-2009, 11:55 PM

It can depend on many factors such as athleticism, if the weight is all muscle or just fat ect but generally I would say over 30 lbs can make a big difference assuming both guys have similar fat to muscle ratios. No less than 30 generally I would say though to make a difference in belt level and probably closer to 40. Of course this would just be my estimation on average as there can be smaller people of lower belts who are still able to stalemate or get the better of bigger people of higher belts sometimes.

But im sure you know all this 1000x better than me and 99% of the grappling forum as you are Stephan Kesting after all.

**SuperSuperRambo** · 10-21-2009, 11:59 PM

I'm a 145 lb blue belt and we had a 245 lb white belt that I used to tap out regularly. We had the same number of stripes.

That said, as you go up in rank the gap narrows. Weight matters more. It's easier for a blue to negate 100 pounds against a white, than for a purple to negate 100 against a blue.

revad3 · 10-22-2009, 01:14 AM

That is why bjj differntiate in this alot from judo. For judo, weight and strength can matters alot from what i see from my school's judo club

CyberFreq · 10-22-2009, 01:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SuperSuperRambo

I'm a 145 lb blue belt and we had a 245 lb white belt that I used to tap out regularly. We had the same number of stripes.

That said, as you go up in rank the gap narrows. Weight matters more. It's easier for a blue to negate 100 pounds against a white, than for a purple to negate 100 against a blue.

I think he meant the other way around. As if you were a 245 pound blue belt tapping a 145 pound white belt.

I think that around 35 lbs is enough to be a significant enough factor, give or take and similar builds.

EDIT: Ignore the dumbassery above. I think that if the lower ranks has a good 35 pounds on the higher rank it would help enough.

anaconda · 10-22-2009, 01:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FLMikeATT

weight is one thing. If weight is the only issue, then I would say about 50 lbs.

However if the white belt is a lot heavier, more athletic, and has cardio for days, he's going to give a lot of the higher belts problems if he has the basic "do's and don'ts" of BJJ down good.

yup...we have an ex-nfl linebacker in our gym that is stronger than anyone i have rolled with, explosive as hell, and has the most incredible base ever. he barely has a few months of training but it is seriously almost impossible to sweep him.

codemonkey76 · 10-22-2009, 01:46 AM

I agree with SuperSuperRambo, weight matters more and more as you go up the belts. A Blue may be able to beat a white belt that has 100 lbs on him, but it would be much more difficult for a purple belt to beat a blue belt that has 100 lbs on him

anaconda · 10-22-2009, 01:47 AM

also, the weight matters less and less the more the two weigh.

30 lbs is the world between 120 and 150; not so much between 220 and 250.