Did the BJJ Police meet their match?

The BJJ police have been in action again this weekend, hunting down instructors who claim to teach BJJ, but have they met their match this time?


Here's the deal - a certain Yorkshire karate club has listed on Facebook their entire week's schedule. It's quite a list featuring karate, fitness, weapons etc all the usual trad martial art (TMA) activities. But nestled in the Sunday morning class is something known as STAV (a martial art of Norse origin apparently) and then the description, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

Neeenaaaneeeenaaaaa!!! Wail the sirens of the BJJ police who politely inquire to the head instructor as to who is teaching these BJJ classes. Here is a snippet of their conversation (edited by me for brevity, but spelling errors are as written by the original poster) as follows:

BJJ POLICE 1: Hello, I am interested as to who teaches your Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu lesson, what rank they are and who they train under? Thanks.

INSTRUCTOR: hi who are you and what do you do in matial arts

B1: I'm a purple belt in BJJ. Who teaches your Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class, what rank do they hold and who awarded them that rank?

I: the bjj jujisu is a new class s just starting , we already have three 10th dan s in jujitsu a master in judo ,a 5th danin judo 8th dan master in wado 6th dan master in shotokan ,6th dan in bujitsu a master in stav . and a few 2nd and 3rd dan pluss afree style master europian champion in free stye , seems to be a lot of question from a purple belt, do you live near here now . do you want to train here or why the questions?

B1: I am concerned about any clubs which claim to teach the art which I have busted my ass at to earn the rank I hold (do you realise how hard it is to get a legitimate purple belt in BJJ?). I find it pretty annoying when people who have not gained any rank in BJJ decide they can teach it. So, who teaches your Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class? What is their rank in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and who promoted them to that rank?
I don't understand why these questions are so difficult to answer. You asked me about my rank and I responded quite simply.

[now it gets nasty...]

I: listen your a puple belt im a 6th dan and your annoying me now i dont care what you think so just get on with your own business you've got a lot to lean i know how hard it is a lot more than you so get on with it and by the way i dont care if you understand , your instuctor should teach you more respect a purple belt in any style is just a beginner as far as im concerned
. stick to your art mate

B1: I have not shown you any disrespect at all. I asked you simple questions which, if you had legit BJJ credentials, should have been easy for you to answer. As it stands, it is clear you have just called a lesson "Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu" to attract students and make money.

[the BJJ police now start posting messages on the karate club's Facebook group
in reply, a number of the karate students sign up to EFN and start trolling the forum]

BJJ POLICE 2: How do you think it will look like if we as you say, dojo storm this place straight off the bat? this way we are giving him his chance to explain his bjj credentials.

KARATE GUY: just try dojo storm , ill roundhouse kick the lot of ya

B2: [posts silly photo of a person doing a karate kick]

KG: thats funny init pal, but ive actually broke peoples ribs with my patented spinning roundhouse

[lots of online laughter emoticons]

BJJ POLICE 3: Why are these blokes always fat bastards as well? Surely if you're training every day you should be in pretty good shape, they never are!
How can you sit there and take someone seriously when they can't even run up a flight of stairs without being out of breath.

[my favourite silly quote coming up here]

KG: pal i might not be able to run up a flight of stairs, but i can break 6 boards with a single strike

cue more online derision, accusations fly, insults dealt. At one point one karate member scans youtube and rates the BJJ police 1's fight videos all one-star (out of five) this person also claims that her karate instructor is also a BJJ 'Grandmaster'! More BJJ forum members (including yours truly) chip in with their comments and it continues still. You can read the whole thread (sadly some of the trolls have deleted their best posts) here.

What started off as a fairly innocuous silly giggle at a Facebook group has ballooned into this soap opera that has captivated the entire BJJ community for ooh, three days now.

To sum, you say potato, I say potartoe, let's call the whole thing off.