‘Technique beats strength’ is a cliche you’ll hear repeated often in BJJ, but what happens when a black belt decides to grapple with a 300lb powerlifter? The cliche generally only applies when the two are mutually exclusive, where a proficient grappler will be able to control and even submit an untrained opponent who might have the advantage when it comes to pure strength. Additionally, there’s obviously a limit to just how much strength one person can overcome. Jiu-Jitsu is the great equalizer but it’s not an actual superpower, a good grappler can only do so much if the person he’s facing just so happens to be the strongest man on the planet who’s literally hundreds of pounds heavier them.
In this example of a BJJ black belt deciding to grapple with a powerlifter there’s obviously a significant weight difference coming into play, one that appears to be around 100lbs or maybe more. On top of that, the powerlifter in question isn’t a completely untrained grappler either, he’s actually a BJJ blue belt in his own right and judging from the footage provided, it appears as though he’d fare pretty well in a competition among his own weightclass and belt level.
The below video comes courtesy of Jordan Teaches Jiu-Jitsu, an excellent YouTube channel dedicated to the sport with some fantastic technique and fundamental concept videos for everyone to learn from. The channel is run by Jordan Preisinger, a BJJ black belt with a wealth of competition experience across several different combat sports including Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai, and amateur MMA. This is just one of many examples of rolling with commentary that Preisinger has uploaded to his channel and it can be of great use to anyone who has trouble with bigger and stronger training partners:
