Question on BJJ in mma

This is similar to the, why do bb's use their BJJ for defense only but a bit different.
My question is this.

Every day i see new techniques at my BJJ school. Very nice, skillful techniques, including but not limited to awesome sweeps and submissions. I wonder why do nobody use them in MMA. Is it because of all the ground and pound and there are only so many sweeps or subs that can be safely used, or is the traditional MMA training to blame on this? Even in Nogueira's BJJ for MMA dvd's, he showcases beautiful controls from the guard, amazing passes and subs I have never seen before. In MMA though I have never ever even seen himself use them...

yeah i agree i think i saw 2 butterfly sweeps in mma
ONLY 2!!!!!!!!

the most obvious answer is that it MMA just hasn't gotten to see enough of that extremely high-level BJJ yet. I think the other factor, though, is that it does happen occasionally, but it is few and far between, and the commentators often miss it. I'm surprised at how often I am watching a prelim or "minor league" match and say "damn, look at that deep half-guard sweep". But most commentators will say "OK. They are fighting in half guard. The guy on top is trying to pass... Oh, very nice, the guy on bottom just rolled him over." In the heat of an MMA battle, even we as fans will miss a quick, clean technique, especially while striking is also happening, and especially when the commentator points our attention elsewhere.

I watch most of my fights without commentary to stay away from the commentators directing my attention to unnecessary places like their favorite fighters un-landing jab or the newest UFC video game whatever.... I still don't see much, and I pay a lot of attention to ground battles, I rewind, pause, pay attention to grips etc.. and still not much.

Yeah its a combination of just missing it happen.. and when strikes are added it becomes a new game.

No-gi is faster than gi, mma is faster than no-gi; you gotta have the elaborate shit down just as tight as your fundamentals before it'll work at the highest intensity and speed. If all you do is ham sandwich sub/sweeps all day long, your going to eventually land them regularly in mma sparring despite eating a few face-fulls of leather in the process. Can't fuck around and think about your next move when striking speed is added to the equation, gotta move, gotta bait/taunt/out-manuver, ninja your way thru the brutality of a closed guard striker :)

If you punch a black belt in the face enough times they will become a white belt. Its common when you come from a grappling only sport then go to mma that even high level bjj guys can be taken by surprise by strikes.

yea it's a big difference once the punches start flying. We do alot of grappling with punches where i train and i love it because i'm used to getting hit and the other guys aren't so it makes everything so much easier. Someone tries to stall you punch them in the face and what do you know they start moving again :p

Good question personally i think bjj becomes different when someone is trying to bash your face in with punches.

I don't agree with the BB becomes white belt if he gets punched enough times comment. I think it is demeaning of BJJ and makes it look like GnP'ers are the shit. If that was the case, Anderson Silva would have not triaangle/armbared the living shit out of Chael Sonnen. Also I am talking about Nogueira DVD's which are made specifically for MMA. The name is guard for mma, etc... He is showing stuff like, ok if he tries to strike you duck under here, block here, grab this and baam shoulder lock. Sometimes I am thinking we are still pretty far away from that perfect fighter, who can strike like the best boxer, kick like the best kicker, out wrestle olympic wrestlers and have amazing BJJ. Some of you may think GSP but i dont think he qualifies at all.

Guard, is a reactionary position. Meaning, The guy on top must make a mistake for guard to work. More and more guys know enough BJJ/grappling to not make big mistakes on top. When you are on top, you dont need the bottom guy to make a mistake to pull something off/win, you can do so through pressure alone.

I think part of the reason is too many guys use closed guard too long. Closed guard is for attack only, not so much defense. If you cant get a guy's posture, you need to open the guard and work from there. Part of the reason guys who are bad at closed guard use it though is MMA rules. They know if they can stall a fight on bottom, they might get stood up. Top guys know they just need to "look" busy enough to stay down. The results tend to be a top guy who wont pass/go really hard with posturing blows to try to finish (not worth the risk, because when you really try to do things to "win" you open up chances for the other guy to do things) and a bottom guy who is satisfied to not take alot of damage and try to stall back to the feet, either to try to land blows or to end up on top himself.

A big part of this equation is elbows. In MMA, a guy can elbow you inside your guard, and not necessarily hit you with a blow than can KO you, but can badly cut you or crack something (nose/eye socket/etc). Without elbows, bottom guys tend to work more because top guy has to have real posture to do damange, and top guy tends to work harder because he needs to pass/posture to do damage.