Brazilian jiu-jitsu has one of the slowest, most meaningful ranking systems in martial arts. Where some arts hand out a dozen ranks in a few years, BJJ uses just five adult belts — and earning each one typically takes years, not months. Here's how the system works, for adults and for kids.
The five adult belts
White belt is where everyone starts — the belt of survival, fundamentals and showing up. Blue belt marks a grappler with a working knowledge of the fundamental positions and submissions. Purple belt is widely considered the rank where a grappler develops their own game and can guide newer students. Brown belt refines that game toward mastery. Black belt represents deep technical and practical mastery — and in BJJ it is famously hard-earned. The commonly cited average is around a decade of consistent training to reach black belt, though every school and every grappler is different.
Between belts, most academies award up to four stripes per belt as intermediate progress markers — which is why our BJJ belts are built with a sleeve bar specifically for taping your stripes.
Beyond black: coral and red belts
Under the IBJJF system, the journey continues past black belt by degrees. At the seventh degree a practitioner receives the red-and-black coral belt, at the eighth degree a red-and-white coral belt, and at the ninth degree the red belt — reserved for those who have dedicated a lifetime to the art. The tenth degree red belt was reserved for the pioneering founders of the art.
The kids belt system
Practitioners under 16 progress through their own IBJJF belt track between white and blue: grey, yellow, orange and green, each available with a white stripe, solid, or with a black stripe — twelve steps that keep young grapplers progressing at a pace that fits how kids actually learn. When a youth practitioner turns 16, they transition onto the adult track. Our kids BJJ belts run sizes M00–M3 to match our kids Talon gis.
Belt rules for competition
If you compete, your gear matters as much as your rank: IBJJF tournaments require approved equipment. Every Phoenix Fight Gear BJJ belt is 100% washable cotton, double stitched, and IBJJF approved — and our Talon gis are cut to IBJJF standards in competition-legal white, black, grey and blue. Not sure of your size? Our size guide covers both gis and belts, adult and kids.
Promotion standards vary between academies — your professor's word is always the final authority on rank. What never changes is that every belt is earned on the mats.
