Old School Jiu-Jitsu Is Dead… And Maybe That’s Okay

🥋 Old school jiu-jitsu is dead. At least, that’s the argument. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu used to be built heavily around fighting, self-defense, Vale Tudo, closing distance, controlling an opponent, protecting yourself from strikes, and proving that the art worked against people from other styles. Modern BJJ looks very different. Today we have: • Sport-specific guards • Berimbolos and inverted positions • Reverse De La Riva and K-Guard • Competition strategies built around points and advantages • Less emphasis on strikes and self-defense • Students who often join for exercise, community, competition, or just because BJJ is fun So the question is: Did jiu-jitsu evolve — or did it become something completely different? In this episode of Open Mat Chronicles, Harold and Rod talk about the difference between old-school Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and the modern sport. We get into: • Whether modern competitors are actually “better” at jiu-jitsu • The difference between being the best sport grappler and the best martial artist • Whether today’s techniques would hold up as well when strikes are involved • Why old-school BJJ focused so heavily on basic closed guard, control, armbars, triangles, and chokes • Whether self-defense still matters to today’s students • Why fewer people seem to join BJJ specifically to learn how to fight • Whether old-school training was actually as great as we remember • Death-match rolls, brutal conditioning, dirty gyms, and the “good old days” • Why modern training may actually be safer, smarter, and more welcoming • Whether schools should still teach traditional self-defense • Whether BJJ is still a martial art — or primarily a sport now One of the biggest questions from this episode: If a world-class modern sport jiu-jitsu competitor fought an old-school BJJ fighter under rules that allowed strikes, would the result be the same? And maybe the even bigger question: Should we even want old-school jiu-jitsu to come back? 👇 Tell us in the comments: Is old-school jiu-jitsu actually dead? And if it is... Did BJJ lose something important, or did the art simply evolve? 🥋 Open Mat Chronicles Real conversations about Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, training, culture, ego, aging, self-defense, competition, and the stuff people argue about after class. #BJJ #BrazilianJiuJitsu #JiuJitsu #OldSchoolBJJ #OpenMatChronicles