What? Put an elite wrestler against a high level black belt of Jiu Jitsu, the wrestler will lose 9 times out of 10. Plus DC himself was an Olympic wrestler. Dont think you understand what level these guys are at.
Uhm, yea no.
I've been watching MMA since 1995ish. BJJ has long since been surpassed as the pre-eminent grappling skill in MMA. The truth is, BJJ was really only effective against wrestlers, when wrestlers had no idea what or how to defend against submissions. The moment wrestlers began to train basic submission defense and understand how to navigate a JJ players guard, was the moment that balance of power shifted inextricably in favor of wrestlers.
Wrestlers are by the nature of wrestling, better athletes. They are more "game bred". Wrestling dictates when and where the fight takes place. Wrestling vs JJ is almost always the Wrestler in the dominant top position, pounding away on the JJ player in the dominated position.
Daniel Cormier was an olympic level wrestler. He never medaled at the Olympics, and he's also 40 years old. 30 year old DC takes Stipe down and decisions him. 40 year old fat DC gassed after 4 rounds. I'll also note that, if DC actually took his diet seriously, he'd probably be fighting at 185 pounds. He has an undisciplined diet, and so has fought at HW and LHW, and was incredibly sloppy at both weights.
Geno Petriashvili would run through Stipe, and hold him down for as long as he wanted. I'd guess that Sadulaev who would technically be a 205 pounder in MMA, would have his way with Stipe on the ground as well.
Most Brazilian (or just JJ) black belts, are essentially amateur hobbyists. Being a black belt means almost nothing, because there is almost no athleticism requirement to achieve a black belt in BJJ. You're not required to be sport competitive to acquire a black belt. Take wrestling for example. Let's use the US model for developing wrestlers. For every division 1a full ride athlete on scholarship for wrestling, there are THOUSANDS of kids who fell by the wayside through the grind of competition. The attrition level at every step of development in wrestling is enormous. Every year kids try out, some make it, dozens don't. Each level this group is whittled down further and further until you reach the college ranks, and virtually every single person who is wrestling in college, is not only an extremely high level athlete, they have a mindset that has been ground to a razor edge through a decade + of grueling competition, and grueling training.
Compare this to JJ and BJJ, which for most is a hobby. Where progression isn't a function of competition, it is a function of time and money. For every Jacare Souza, who is a world class athlete, you have dozens of black belts who have never touched a basketball rim in their entire lives. Who are not elite athletes, and wouldn't last 2 days training with college wrestlers.
So no, there is no equivalence between JJ and wrestling these days. Wrestling is the base of the pyramid now. It has been for a long time. Almost all wrestlers have an interest in MMA now as well, and know how to not be easily submitted, unlike 1993 when BJJ was basically Pearl Harbour to the martial arts world. Nobody saw it coming, or was prepared for it, but once people knew what to do, and how to adapt, the magic was gone. Now wrestlers dominate JJ people.
Just look at the Diaz brothers records. They are journeymen, who are considered among the best JJ players in the game. Why are they journeymen? They are journeymen because they get OBLITERATED by wrestlers.
I'll also add that, just in general, the level of athleticism in MMA is absurdly low for a dynamic professional sport. Yes, there are super athletes in it, like Yoel Romero and Jacare Souza, but the fact that a 42 year old Yoel Romero is arguably the most athletic guy in all of MMA tells you all you need to know. The fact that DC, at 40, was just the HW champ, that Stipe at 37 is NOW the HW champ only further emphasizes this.
The super athletes, are playing soccer, football, basketball, baseball, hockey, or they were going and staying in wrestling, and coming to mma when they can't hack it at the elite levels of wrestling anymore (Yoel Romero, Cejudo for example).
Meanwhile, almost every tier of MMA is dominated by wrestlers, and most of them were never world class wrestlers at the levels they eventually maxed out at.
will watch with interest!