A resurfaced viral video demonstrates that having a muscular body doesn’t guarantee success in hand-to-hand combat.
Recently, a debate arose in the combat sports community when famous bodybuilder and social media influencer Bradley Martyn began challenging UFC athletes on his podcast. Despite having little to no experience in mixed martial arts, Martyn was confident in his abilities due to his imposing physique.
He challenged several athletes, including UFC legend Nate Diaz, but it was his claim that former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson couldn’t beat him no holds barred that sparked the most interest.
During a podcast appearance with Brendan Schaub, Martyn refused to believe that Johnson, who holds the record for the most consecutive title defenses in the UFC, could defeat him. Schaub, on the other hand, was confident in Johnson’s skills, despite his smaller physique.
To settle the debate, Schaub arranged for Martyn to spar with Johnson. Many speculated that Martyn’s size and weight advantage might secure him the win, while others were certain that Johnson’s skills would triumph.
However, an old video resurfaced online, showing a 150 lbs jiu-jitsu black belt facing off against a 250 lbs bodybuilder.
Even though the BJJ black belt is taller, it’s clear, the body builder has plenty more muscle.
The body builder doesn’t seem completely inept and he even lands a takedown early on, however this was possibly not a great idea.
The black belt is quick to sweep him and dominate from the top.
The black belt dominated the bodybuilder in striking and grappling.
Despite landing the first sweep, the black belt has difficulty sweeping again, possibly due to the weight difference and takes a while.
Ultimately he recovers half guard and gives up on butterfly guard sweep. Ultimately the bjj belt isn’t able to get on top, but he’s quite successful landing from the bottom, which greately angers the body builder who attempts to throw a flurry.
His punches get redirected and the bjj black belt snags an arm quickly, hyper extending it in an armbar.
The video demonstrated that skill outweighs size and strength in hand-to-hand combat.