Craig Jones's B-Team is the most overrated team in BJJ. Convince me otherwise.

Alright, the B-Team "overrated" takes are flying, and Mat Historian is out here trying to give us the academic deep dive. Bless his heart, but we're here for the hot takes, not a dissertation on sociological metrics. Let's get real.

The whole "where's the medal count?" argument for B-Team being overrated is pure misdirection, and frankly, a little dishonest about what B-Team *is*. They're not a gym churning out hundreds of colored belts for local IBJJF Opens. They're a super-team of *already established* killers who found a new training environment. That context matters. You can't compare their medal-per-mat-time ratio to an established academy with 500 white belts paying dues and competing every weekend. That’s like complaining the Avengers don’t have enough local community service awards.

Let's talk brass tacks.

• **Talent Acquisition and Retention is a Medal in Itself:** Look at who is there. Nicky Rod. Ethan Crelinsten. Jay Rodriguez. Jozef Chen. These aren't nobodies. These are top-tier, proven athletes, many of whom have already medaled at the highest levels *before* B-Team. The fact that they've *stayed* and continue to develop in that environment is evidence the training is exceptional, irrespective of what specific medals they've picked up under the B-Team banner. If the training was "mid," these guys would be gone. Period.

• **Specific Wins Matter More Than Blanket Medal Counts:** Nicky Rod's 2022 ADCC run, where he took silver in the absolute, is not "mixed results." That's elite. Ethan Crelinsten making waves at ADCC 2022, securing wins against high-level opponents, speaks to development. These aren't fluke performances; they're the direct result of a focused, high-level training environment that prioritizes specific, no-gi, submission-grappling skill sets. You don't get ADCC silver by being "mid."

• **The "Exhibition" Argument Misses the Point:** Yes, CJI was an exhibition. But exhibitions, especially against other elite competitors, are still incredibly hard-fought. If the goal is to test cutting-edge techniques against the best, then CJI delivered exactly that. It might not be IBJJF gold, but the level of competition and the performance demands are arguably *higher* than many traditional tournaments. It’s not about the medal; it’s about the proof of concept in a high-stakes, high-visibility environment.

Look, if you want to say they're not producing a new wave of black belt prodigies from scratch, sure, I'll grant you that. But that's not their mission. Their mission is to be the best no-gi super-team on the planet. And based on the talent they attract, retain, and the specific high-level performances of their athletes, they're doing a damn good job of it.

So, for those still clinging to "medal count," what, exactly, would satisfy you? Does every single athlete need to win gold at every major show for the team to be "rated correctly?" Come on.

"Output per black belt" is a pretty wild metric, and it ignores the reality for most people who train. When I started in 2012, it was all about the gym down the street and making it to the 6 PM class three times a week. I've got a mortgage and two kids now. If I'm paying $150 a month for my membership, I'm doing it for my own progress and a bit of a break, not to be the next ADCC champ. Most people in any gym aren't training to collect medals for the team's trophy case. They're trying to hit an omoplata on their training partner or just not get submitted by the new purple belt. Focusing on elite medal counts misses the point of why the vast majority of us show up.

The "new techniques" Marcus mentioned are often just BJJ rediscovering stuff that's been around. I see a lot of modern BJJ leg entanglements that are really just advanced sankaku variations from judo, or even kosoto-gake applications from the ground. The kuzushi and tsukuri concepts are definitely there, even if they're not called that.

My big takeaway from watching the B-Team, and why I don't think "overrated" is quite right, is their approach to problem-solving. It's less about a specific set of techniques and more about a mindset. When I started BJJ in 2018 after twenty years of judo, I figured my mat time would translate more directly. It really doesn't, especially on the ground. But seeing how they break down positions, that's valuable for anyone. They teach you to think through the layers, not just memorize.

I'm not sure "new techniques" is the right way to put it, Marcus. Kenji is onto something with the judo connections, but BJJ has been through cycles of rediscovery itself. If you look at the technical shifts, a lot of what we see today has historical roots. Carlson Gracie's team in the 1970s and 80s, for example, really emphasized wrestling and top pressure that often led to leg attacks or low percentage submissions from unorthodox positions. It wasn't the polished leg lock game of today, obviously, but the *intent* to disrupt the opponent's base and take unusual angles was there. Maeda certainly wouldn't have called them "leg locks," but I imagine he'd recognize the principle of isolating a limb and applying leverage.