Also if you join BJJ you will start on a white belt until you have been assessed and then progress to the rank they say you are at. I have trained people who were Blackbelts in Judo and come to GJJ and competed in tournaments in BJJ in the blue belt division and just smashed everyone because they are still only a blue belt level in GJJ but still have blackbelt skills in grappling.
Well in order to grapple a lot of ibbj events, you must be affiliated with an ibbj club. If you have not been promoted within the system of ibbj or bjj schools, it would not be ok to show up with a belt other than white. You would be amazed on the skills of some white belts. The gi is a whole other game. I'm sure if you are a seasoned grapple-er you will move up to Blue belt really quickly. I am not sure on if there is non ibbj gi events. All events I fought in (PAN AMS) were ibbj. if there are non ibbj gi events, I'd look up the rules. There are many non ibbj no gi tournaments around so you can enter those. If you want to compete in ibbj gi tournaments go to:
http://ibjjf.org/
many rules and tournaments are posted there
hi i am a black belt in another martial art and i am also a seasoned grappler. i wanna compete in both gi and no gi divisions is this possible? since i am not bjj .. if so what belt would i need to wear ?
