Thoughts against larger opponents

In Brazilian Jiu Jitsu: Theory and Technique, the intro claims that Jiu Jitsu provides the solution to the fundamental problem of martial arts- How do you control and defeat a larger, stronger, and more aggressive opponent?

Growing up in the late 80s and early 90s, I had this idea that people who knew karate and tae kwon do were invincible killing machines. If I learned anything from Daniel San or Ernie Reyes Jr, it's that a couple classes of martial arts would have you knocking out legions of goons in no time.

I remember back in grade school this idea was shattered when kids who were supposedly black belts in tae kwon do would be turned into a sniffling mess by some random scrub who landed a haymaker. Now, if you're going to spend all the time practicing those stances and blocks in class, shouldn't they at least give you the ability to defend yourself? Clearly, these martial arts weren't doing the job. They would work in a controlled environment when everyone was playing by the same rules, but that all goes out the window when an actual confrontation happens on the street.

In the early 90s, I found the answer when watching Royce Gracie in UFC 1. These hulking opponents had no idea what the hell was going on when Royce took them to the ground. Each and every opponent ended up giving up his back and getting choked out or made some other critical error due to an inexperience in grappling. Royce escaped each match barely even breaking a sweat, manhandling these kung fu masters with the greatest of ease.

Clearly, if someone was not aware of the principles of submission grappling they will almost always get destroyed on the ground. It's like a fish out of water, for real. Those spinning roundhouses and tiger uppercuts aren't going to work too well when you're trapped on your back or getting choked out.

The evolution of MMA shows us how important grappling is to the sport. Nowadays, submission grappling is a prerequisite to competing in MMA. Everyone is aware of it.

So, the fundamental problem gets complicated. How do you defeat larger and stronger opponents who are ALSO well versed in submission grappling? Particularly if you are at about the same skill level.

I've been struggling for the past week with this question. I still have yet to find the answer, but several concepts have revealed themselves through my ruminations.

Something occurred to me- I always end up pulling guard against them. I see them charging with their hands stretched out like a maniac, and I elect to just flop to my back and pull guard rather than trying to match them in strength or fight against their force. Perhaps its because it's a comfort zone, or perhaps they are just coming at me with too much momentum, but for whatever reason I will ALWAYS end up on my back within a few seconds of starting a sparring session.

Now, this isn't an overall bad strategy, but when an opponent's main objective is to stack me and smash me down all crazily, I think I might be taking the wrong approach. Rather than allowing them to get on top (and more than likely stay there), I am going to experiment with trying to avoid pulling guard altogether. If I end up there as a result of getting swept, that's fine, but I think a big part of my problem is because I keep falling into the same patterns and expecting something different to happen.

I can fight from my guard alright, but I think I might be better off if I try and be the one controlling the action rather than reacting to what someone else is throwing at me. At least for now.

New approach- arm drag, arm drag, arm drag!

I'm going to try and take the back or at least get the takedown from the knees, electing to take the more offensive approach against these larger opponents.

Going back to the attributes post from yesterday: while these larger opponents might have one up on me in strength, I more than likely am a few steps ahead of them with speed. Gotta experiment today and see where this takes me.