Technique > Strength.
The problem with BJJ nowadays is that people have started to
mystify the art after its initial success in the MMA, thinking
that just knowing BJJ is a substitute towards being creative about
the way you fight.
Which is kinda sad, because the people who developed BJJ, the
Gracies and the like, were originally innovators and ready to learn
and incorporate anything to improve their style, but perhaps in
recent times have started to believe their own hype, as they have
started to suffer defeats.
I dont think BJJ in ineffective, with a skilled and creative
practitioner it is extremely effective. The problem is some people
get locked into the style, think that it is the answer to all your
solutions, they are actually disadvantaging themselves. They are in
a sense becoming just like the strikers who had no clue on what to
do once the fight came to the ground and grappling.
Once a style becomes very famous, you can be sure that people will
find ways of getting around it. Once grappling proved their worth
in MMA, the strikers eventually learnt on how to avoid takedowns or
even incorporate ground fighting into their style and won upsets.
Spraw-and-Brawl and Ground-and-Pound are but birthed from such
cross-fertilization of styles.
As for the bodybuilder losing to the BJJ guy, it is still worthy to
note that its a good show of technique and creativity in a fight
over brute force. If you know proper ground fighting the BJJ guy
did most of his things right. He managed to keep his opponent off
balanced during the stand-up phase of the fight and when it went to
the ground fight he held his opponent in a cuff that prevented the
big guy from landing proper punches before springing the arm bar
when the guy presented his arm. All in all a good show of how
having the skills matter more then buffing up to be as strong and
threatening as possible.
Personally prefer striking and stand-up fighting, but I make it a
point to know some ground fighting. As would any ground fighter
needs to learn proper striking, as the Royce Gracie loss to Matt
Hughes showed. While Gracie was the superior ground fighter Hughes
was able to frustrate his attempts long enough before finally
getting a mount and landing 17 uncontested punches on Gracies
head.
So there, no style is perfect and its really up to the
fighter.
