Creonte is a

Brazilian Portuguese Brazilian Portuguese (' ), also Portuguese of Brazil (', ) or South American Portuguese (') is the set of varieties of the Portuguese language native to Brazil and the most influential form of Portuguese worldwide. It is spoken by almost all of ...

pejorative term roughly meaning "traitor" that is used within

Brazilian jiu-jitsu Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ; pt, jiu-jitsu brasileiro ) is a self-defence martial art and combat sport based on grappling, ground fighting (ne-waza) and submission holds. BJJ focuses on the skill of taking an opponent to the ground, control ...

organizations to refer to a former student who is perceived to be disloyal due to starting an independent school, switching associations, or otherwise moving on from a longstanding relationship with an academy or instructor. In the pre-

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

era, former students were perceived to have knowledge of "secret" techniques known only within their prior school which could be taught and used against former teammates at Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitions such as

IBJJF The International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) is a for-profit company that hosts several of the biggest Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) tournaments in the world, including the World Jiu-Jitsu Championship, World No-Gi Championship, Pan Jiu ...

and ADCC tournaments.

Origins

The coining of the term is credited to the late grandmaster

Carlson Gracie Carlson Gracie (August 13, 1932 – February 1, 2006) was a practitioner of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. A member of the Gracie family, he was the eldest son of Carlos Gracie, and nephew to Hélio Gracie, founders of Gracie jiu-jitsu. Carlson Gr ...

(1932 – 2006), who is said to have adapted the term from a character in a popular Brazilian TV

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

''Mandala''. The character had many competing allegiances and changed his mind and loyalties frequently.

Decline

With the proliferation of modern Brazilian jiu-jitsu organizations and academies outside of

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and the vast amount of BJJ knowledge available online, the notion of a ''creonte'' has become less relevant. While some still adhere to the traditional meaning emphasizing the importance of fidelity to one's chosen instructor and academy, others argue the notion is no longer applicable in the modern multinational era. Thousands of instances of BJJ students moving to a new geographic area and no longer having access to their original training organization, an increasing number of casual or hobbyist students who do not identify as strongly with any one particular school or organization, and the fact that in the

internet age The Internet Age refers to the time period since the Internet became widely available to the public for general use, and the resulting impacts on and fundamental changes in the nature of global communication and access to information. The beginni ...

there are no longer "secret" techniques and tactics known only to a particular academy or instructor all contribute to the notion of ''creonte'' is no longer relevant.

In popular culture

Matt Heafy Matthew Kiichi Heafy (born January 26, 1986) is an American musician, best known as the guitarist and lead vocalist for heavy metal band Trivium. He was also the lead vocalist for the band Capharnaum, along with Trivium's former producer Jason ...

of heavy metal band

Trivium The trivium is the lower division of the seven liberal arts and comprises grammar, logic, and rhetoric. The trivium is implicit in ''De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii'' ("On the Marriage of Philology and Mercury") by Martianus Capella, but the ...

references the term in the song " Betrayer," as Heafy is a student of Brazilian jiu-jitsu.Matt Heafy Of Trivium Talks Touring, Twitch Streaming, Guitars, Gaming, BJJ & What ‘Will Keep Metal Alive’
''Inquisitr'', August 29, 2018

References

{{brazil-stub Martial arts terminology Pejorative terms for people Brazilian jiu-jitsu