White, blue, purple, brown, black. Five major ranks, a decade or more of training, and four degrees within each belt.
The starting rank. The focus is survival, foundational movement, and learning the basic principles: posture, base, frames, hip escape. White belt is where most people quit; the ones who stay learn that the art rewards consistency over talent.
The first major rank. By blue belt the student should have a functional guard, basic passing, and a working submission game. Blue belt is the longest belt for many practitioners and is where most refinement of fundamentals happens.
The intermediate rank where personal style emerges. Purple belts develop A-games — preferred positions and attack chains — and begin teaching. In competition, purple belt is the bracket where the largest skill gap exists between competitors.
The advanced rank. Brown belts are typically lethal in competition and capable of teaching at the highest level. The brown belt is often described as the 'pre-black' belt where everything must be polished before the final rank.
The expert rank, awarded after a decade or more of training. Within black belt there are degrees (1st through 6th), and beyond that coral belts (7th, 8th) and red belts (9th, 10th — Grand Masters). Earning a black belt marks the beginning of mastery, not the end of learning.