BJJ Black Belt Degrees

Imagine reaching the pinnacle of your respective field and finding out that there is a whole new game to be played. Jiu-jitsu is no different than this specific example. In BJJ black belts can find themselves ranking even more! In this article, we discuss the BJJ Black belt degrees and how one can achieve them!

How Long Will It Take to Get a Black Belt in BJJ

The short answer to this question is about 7 – 15 years depending on several things. When training BJJ a lot of people will run into hardships in their career, typically occurring at the white, blue, or maybe purple belt stage. Depending on your specific circumstance and how much time you put on the mats you can see this happen as fast as 7 years or as long as 15 years.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is not an easy sport by any means and it will not get any easier. A lot of people started this sport because they heard it was a life-changing experience. Those that come in for the reason of wanting to reach new heights as a human are more likely to reach the black belt than those that are just after the belts and glory.

BJJ Black Belt Degrees

After receiving the black belt there are degrees that a black belt will receive. The Red and Coral belts are real, and IBJJF recognizes them. This class is called “grandmaster”, there are currently only 19 IBJAJF red belts and most belong to the Gracie family. Yvonne Duarte made history and received the coveted red belt at the start of August 2021 (source).

Here is How Black Belt Degrees Work

First Degree Black Belt – Earned after 3 years of proven activity in Black Belt

Second Degree Black Belt – Earned after 3 years in the First Degree stage or spending 6 years as a black belt

Third Degree Black Belt – Earned after 3 years in the Second Degree stage or 9 years as a black belt

Fourth Degree Black Belt – Earned after 5 years in the Third Degree stage or 14 years as a black belt

Fifth Degree Black Belt – Earned after 5 years in the Fourth Degree stage or 19 years as a black belt

Sixth Degree Black Belt – Earned after 5 years in the Fifth Degree stage or 24 years as a black belt

As a black belt, the last degree you can get is the 6th degree. When you reach this stage you will be presented a whole new belt known as the coral belt or red belt. Getting to a BJJ black belt is enough of an accomplishment already, the number of people that will make it to this stage is so few and far between. As a red belt, you are still considered a black belt. The highest-ranking color belt you can receive is the tenth-degree black belt (signified as a red belt).

Once achieving your black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu you will see that there are degrees associated with your time spent teaching. The first component is that only red bar black belts can receive stripes and the stripes are given out based on the amount of time you have spent coaching or instructing others.

In the above image, you will see the breakdown of how much time there is in between each stripe as a black belt. You will also notice that there are age groups that one must be in to receive the belt. It is fun to see how high you can rank once you hit this stage but in all reality, most people that make it here do not even care about their rank, they care about making others the best version of themselves through the sport they love to teach.

Keep Showing Up

That’s 80% of life and is a good place to practice this is within the martial art of Jiu Jitsu. This is just one of the reasons why we firmly believe that jiu-jitsu is a powerful tool for self-improvement. The progression through the system engrains principles in your life that will mold you into a leader amongst your peers.

Keep showing up and putting in the work. Whatever you want in life is going to take a massive amount of time and effort to accomplish anyways. One step at a time you are becoming the best version of yourself through this martial art. If you can continue to find a way to show up and get 1% better in martial arts we do not doubt in our mind that you will be able to apply the same skill in your daily life.

All in all, there are 10 degrees that you can reach after climbing the ranks and getting to the black belt. Jiu Jitsu is an amazing sport that continues to change people’s lives for the better. 

Happy Rolling! See You At The Top!