Seven-time world champion Xande Ribeiro says modern Jiu-Jitsu culture is producing a “huge identity crisis”.
Specifically, he blamed social media, organizational pressure to entertain and an overemphasis on winning for steering the sport and its athletes the wrong way.
He traced the problem to a change in values:
At least for me, competition was very natural. It was more like let’s get the group together and defend the team. It wasn’t really something that we did as individuals.
For me, Jiu-Jitsu was never about being the best, it was about being skilful.
He sees attention as the new currency:
We’re the attention millennia, like if you don’t get attention you’re nothing. So I think that’s where the problem resides, where values are upside side down.
They’re trying to trick the algorithm so they get more likes, so they get more traction.
What troubles him most is organizations asking athletes to entertain:
When you have organizations, professional organizations that claim you need to be entertaining, you need to do this, you need to do that… Now you’re trying to adapt to what the crowd wants.
And I think that’s a very dangerous very dangerous approach.
I don’t think Jiu-Jitsu is supposed to be entertaining. It’s supposed to be boring, you defend yourselves, you get on the top, and you finish the fastest way possible.
That, in his view, ties self-worth to outside validation and leaves athletes exposed:
What happens when you’re not a champion anymore, right? What happens when you don’t grapple like the seven-time world champion?.
Loving Jiu-Jitsu, loving being on the mat has never been about how good I can get to win an IBJJF.
You know me, it was about how good I can get at Jiu-Jitsu and how much good time I can spend with my friends.
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