Keenan’s Take on Trash Talking

Is trash talking good for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu?

This a pretty complicated question when really considering the value of creating entertainment. About 99.9% of Jiu Jitsu practitioners exhibit an attitude of respect, humility, and honor, including those grapplers who often use the internet to trash talk against opponents.

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Trash talking in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has not been around for very long and can be attributed mostly to the younger generation of elite grapplers. Gordon Ryan, one of the best trash talkers in the sport, uses the internet often to make humorously negative comments about other grapplers who he wants to go up against. Under the disguise of the evil guy, however, Gordon Ryan is actually a very courteous and respectful person and uses trash talking only for entertainment and revenue generation.

As a result of Gordon's extensive trash-talking ability, a lot of younger upcoming grapplers are using trash talking as a method of drawing attention. Trash talking in Jiu Jitsu has a lot of critics, especially from older grapplers, but also has some people who actually enjoy it due to the entertainment value it adds.

In the following video, Keenan Cornelius talks a little about how he feels regarding the consequences of trash talking in our sport.

Keenan goes on to say that trash-talking sets a bad example for younger grapplers, especially teenagers and kids. The still maturing minds of these youngsters may not understand why grapplers trash talk and may take it as a true level of hatred against opponents from grapplers like Gordon Ryan, AJ Agazarm, Dillon Danis, and so on.

If taken at face value, young grapplers may assume that you have to talk a lot of shit to become an elite grappler. This may also encourage newer grapplers to shy away from competition if they start to think that all competition is hateful and filled with mean people.

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Most grapplers, especially adults, understand that the trash talking is just a way of creating entertainment and even lightheartedness in the sport. It has also brought a lot of money into the sport because matches are expected to be more entertaining if two grapplers were publicly speaking negatively about each other. Prior to this new group of elite grapplers, there was very little money in Jiu Jitsu competition, but after their ascension, there are competitions in which grapplers can make tens of thousands of dollars if they win. In all, I personally don’t see trash talking as big of a problem as people make it. If you don’t like, just don’t do it, and if you do it, you better back it up.  

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