244- Kajukenbo Reality Check: What Happened to Jiu Jitsu?

In this episode of Social Gelo with Angelo, I sit down with Taybren Lee — a judo black belt, BJJ black belt, grappling coach, and JJIF-affiliated instructor with deep experience in both traditional and modern Jiu-Jitsu — to break down how Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has changed over the decades. What started as a conversation about why it took me 18 years to get my brown belt turned into a deep dive into the entire evolution of the art. I also share how I see all of this from my Kajukenbo perspective, since I came up in a system that blends striking, grappling, and self-defense. We get into: 🥋 Why practitioners used to stay at the same belt for 10–20 years ⛔ Old-school rules that didn’t allow coaching unless you were a black belt ⚔️ How people now coach after one year — good or bad? 🧠 How Jiu-Jitsu shifted from a fighting art to a sport-focused system 🤼 The underplayed influence of catch wrestling on early Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu 🕵️ Some of the lesser-known parts of BJJ’s early history 📜 Carlos Gracie’s controversial role and the politics behind the scenes If you're into BJJ, martial arts history, or you’ve ever wondered what really happened to Jiu-Jitsu, this episode goes deep into topics most people don’t talk about.