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Originally Posted by Anomaly_
Royce Gracie is a legend in MMA without a doubt, but the jig is up as far as Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu goes. In the early UFCs, few fighters knew the BJJ ground game and were summarily schooled by guys like Royce. His loss to Sakuraba was a changing of the guard, and it cemented the fact that MMA was an evolving sport rather than mindless brawling. The subsequent posturing of Gracies like Ryan and Rickson is disappointing, but at least Renzo is a good ambassador for the family and sport.
It's interesting that you bring Royce up, because another legend in the making, Fedor Emelianenko, defended his HW title against Mirko Cro Cop last night. He's a Sambo/Judo wiz who's not afraid to stand up or pound it out on the ground--the epitome of well-roundedness.
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They also altered the rules quite a bit. A good submission expert will almost always win if the fighters, once down on the ground, are allowed to remain there. In the early UFC days this gave a big advantage to the Gracies. Now, fighters are made to stand up if the ground fighting is going nowhere, which is an enormous disadvantage to the BJJ guys versus more rounded fighters and strikers.