Quote Originally Posted by lkfmdc View Post
yadda yadda, we've all heard that argument before, but not everyone agrees, two noticable exceptions being of course Eddie and Carmine

I'd agree if you say you can't claim rank in the "total" of BJJ, but you are claiming rank in that school/teacher's BJJ. Ie you are earning a rank in either Eddie's method or Carmine's
A big portion of BJJ is the manipulation of clothing. If you have not learned that, you cannot know that and cannot be ranked in BJJ. You can be ranked in that specific instructor's version of no-gi BJJ, but, since you will not have knowledge of clothing manipulation in terms of submissions and control, you cannot claim rank in BJJ.