No Lineage? No Legitimacy.

I’ve been seeing a lot of people lately—especially in the MMA, BJJ, and even FMA communities—saying that lineage doesn’t matter. And here’s my honest take: when someone says that, it’s usually because they don’t have one.

Yes, doing the work matters. You’ve got to train hard, pressure test, and be consistent. But lineage also matters. Knowing where your art comes from, who passed it down, and how it was developed—that gives your training roots. It provides structure, authenticity, and legitimacy.

Think about it: when you go to a doctor, their degrees and certifications are right there on the wall. Same with attorneys. Why? Because it matters where they learned and who taught them. Martial arts should be no different.

I’ve been around long enough to remember when the MMA boom first started. And honestly, it was one of the most frustrating things I ever saw. People who had a few fights—sometimes underground or on the reservation—mistook that for being qualified to teach. Suddenly they were opening gyms with no formal training, no teaching experience, and zero understanding of safety protocols or proper instruction.

Some of these folks may have taught themselves how to fight, but they were never taught how to teach. And in my opinion, that’s a betrayal of trust. Students walking through that door expect a professional, safe environment—not some guy who got lucky in a cage fight and thinks that makes him a master.

Now, to make things worse, anybody can jump online and order a black belt and uniform off Amazon. But wearing the uniform doesn’t make you legit. Before I’d ever train with someone, I’d want to know: what are your credentials? Who taught you? What system are you teaching—and did you earn the right to teach it?

We’re now seeing people who barely scratched the surface in one system creating their own arts. Not because they mastered anything—but because they’re trading on gimmicks, personality, or even nationality. It’s all smoke and mirrors if you can’t back it up with knowledge and experience.

So if you’re a student looking for a place to train, do your homework. Ask questions. Look at their website (if they have one). Who certified them? What’s their lineage? Are they preserving something meaningful—or just making something up the night before and slapping their name on it?

Lineage isn’t about living in the past. It’s about honoring where the art came from—and building a future that’s worth something.

Respectfully,
Tim Hartman