truthjusticeUSAway

I practice jiu jitsu, and given that you're a highly-ranked fighter not typically considered a grappler, tell me what you think jiu jitsu adds to the sport of MMA and your game specifically. Do you feel like the days of "you need to know BJJ" in MMA are over, or is it still incredibly important for all fighters, even non-grapplers, to gain at least a mid-level understanding of BJJ (about a purple belt level)?

EDITED FOR CLARITY:

Do you think that jiu jitsu is just as important to MMA as it used to be and that the recent drop in submission rates is due to a greater general awareness of jiu jitsu?

OR

Do you think wrestling has taken ground from BJJ and allows fighters to enter MMA without much knowledge of BJJ by using wrestling?

OR

Do you think that the rules of MMA simply make diving for submissions a positional gamble, so people abandon attempting submissions for fear of losing position and the favor of the judges (even though the fighter may be an incredibly high level BJJ guy)?

I know. But it isn't his specialty and i'd like to know his opinion as a guy at exactly the "minimum experience level" for BJJ on whether or not BJJ is dying out in MMA or if everyone is good enough at it that we're seeing fewer submissions or maybe wrestling is taking ground from BJJ like it did early in MMA. There seems to be a feeling that sub grappling is less important as we see fewer finishes, but I personally tend to think everyone being aware od grappling has just made finishing that way harder.

Thanks. The answer seems obvious, but there has been a lot of "Jiu Jitsu doesn't work" talk out there and I wanted a fighter who isn't biased for or against BJJ to give his opinion.