Yes and No.
It’s a very grudging acceptance. A good deal of that is in response to the continual verbal pounding that many BJJ advocates administer, a lot of that is “self-induced.”
But more deeply, it is the difference in training and the outlook of the participants.
By training, I mean that BJJ follows the Judo concept of randori–active training with “less dangerous,” techniques yields superior application of those techniques, when compared to simulating dangerous ones. In other words, we have more faith in a boxer’s punch than a karateka’s eye strike–it’s hard to practice an eye strike without losing training partners :). Kano had great success fighting traditional ryu’s with this philosophy, so it has merit. Is it the end all be all… a different argument. But it certainly has merit. It’s an issue of time management–there are only so many hours in a day, and it’s more productive to try and beat the crap out of each other with “safe” techniques (throws), in a “safe” environment (mats) than it is to “almost but not quite,” execute a throat shot.
Now, I realize that plenty of Kung Fu men beat on each other regularly, but you get good at what you train in–and when you are beating on each other sans the “dangerous,” things, you tend not to get good at the “dangerous” things. Case in point–find a BJJer who is very good at heel hooks (considered too dangerous in BJJ) and I’ll show you somebody who has crosstrained in Sambo (heel hooks are a staple in Sambo). The “of course, in a real fight, I’d change this to ‘x’” holds little water with those who believe in this principle.
However, this sportive style training puts BJJ on the “fringe,” of being a “martial art,” in the eyes of many traditional practicioners (it’s a SPORT, not an MA.) That same argument gets applied to boxing, judo, wrestling, kickboxing, MT, MMA, etc. So the respect is again grudging “Ok, yeah, it’s got some good stuff, but it’s a SPORT.” The problem is that the dichotomy is just now starting to be dealt with–nobody took combat sports seriously before and now, it’s clear that the things you learn and do in those sports have real martial value. It’s hard to let go of the “it’s just a sport,” mentality for many people. Geez, I remember in an almost fight I had in high school, where my antagonist said “what are you gonna do, pin me to death?” Ironically, that’s exactly what I’d do–and would have done 10 years ago–but nobody took wrestling (or boxing) seriously. Judo has suffered some of the same “sideways glance,” due to it’s status as an olympic sport… and think of how many people on here believe that olympic TKD is going to ruin it? The current rules are full contact, when it comes to kicks, and frankly, I believe that it will get VERY good at what it does and the overall dangerousness of its practicioners will get far better than it is now–because they will learn to kick, kick well, and kick with ko power. They will learn to do it against somebody who is trying to knock their own block off, etc. Sure, they’ll have some holes in their game, but they’ll be dangerous! Even San Shou gets crap about “not being KF,” because it’s a sport and they limit too much, etc…ironically, the guys on the underground think good San Shou artists are bad mofos.
Finally, you come to BJJ’s western origins (I know it came from Japan, ultimately, but it’s a different entity now). Take the flack that American Kenpo frequently gets from “traditional,” arts, multiply it by about 100 for it’s sportive environment—catch my drift?
The second is outlook–There isn’t a BJJer that I’ve met who takes BJJ for self-improvement. I know that not everybody in TMA takes it for those sorts of reasons, but there is almost an utter absence of that in BJJ. I don’t worry about behaving in a certain way in class (beyond obviously paying attention and not disrupting class), learning ancient traditions and values, or any of that. I don’t have to hear about philosophy or any of that. BJJ, is, in and of itself, valueless in that it doesn’t have a particular set of values attached to it. You as a person is you as a person, and BJJ doesn’t seek to improve that some how.
For a lot of traditional practicioners, that’s kind of repugnant.
Its happened in NHB all the time. Kung Fu has very real skills. If you train how to grapple properly you have more opportunities to use those skills against them. Just my opinion. But I stand by the claim that if you have no experience groundfighting and face off against a grappler you won’t have the necessary skills to defend or win.