Size versus skill is one of the oldest topics in martial arts and one of the most common reasons why people take up training. Can skill and correct technique overcome an opponent who relies on their size and strength? This concept was put on display in the early UFC’s as a 176lb Royce Gracie defeated much larger and stronger opponents with his family’s art of Brazilian Jiujitsu.
In the following video, we see a lively Russian coach wearing a kilt, overseeing a classic David versus Goliath style match-up. One participant is a 150lb man trained in Sambo and Greco-Roman Wrestling; the other is an untrained man who weighs over 550 lbs.
Will the smaller man be able to use his arsenal of techniques to get his much larger opponent down or out, or will he find himself smothered by the sheer size? Watch it unfold below.
The Takeaway
Many martial arts that do not practice with significant active resistance lack an understanding of the degree to which size truly matters. While it’s fun to imagine making Passing Vengeful Wind technique work on a giant, it won’t. And practitioners of most martial arts never find out, because they do not pressure test their core techniques with trained, live, active resistance.
If you saw this video, and concluded that the little guy wasn’t very good, you likely don’t train realistically.