Technique and Strength in the Martial Arts

[Maxrip13]

strength is good to have. all else being equal, the stronger guy will win the fight generally.

Godjira, this is a meaningless phrase. It's like saying all else being equal the guy with better conditioning wins. Or all else being equal the guy with better technique wins.
Playing Devil's advocate, but I think I'm seeing a trend in this thread where the grapplers/BJJ-ers tend to favor strength more heavily than the MMA /mixed/striking crowd. Which would make sense, as it would with wrestlers. Maybe grappling based arts benefit more from maximal-strength?

You are completely right with grapplers and grappling orientated mma fighters favouring strength. Some form of strength training has always been included as training for the sport even back in the pankration days. Grappling itself is a form of strength training against a resisting opponent. Grappling requires gaining control (grips) of your opponent and then in some way dominating them either via position or submission. You can use all the technique you want, but perfect technique won't break a grip on your sleeve or arm if you don't use some form of strength to assist it.

Most striking arts do not require that much strength. It is much more important to have power and strength endurance. I have always looked at strength improving both of these, but there is definitely a point of diminishing returns. You aren't pushing and pulling against resistance when you strike. You are basically "throwing" your fist/foot/knee/elbow at velocity in a controlled manner. When you strike properly the movement is very relaxed until just before impact.

The great thing about MMA is that fighters require everything to be highly successful. Strength athletes might not think of them as traditionally strong, but I guarantee you that most aren't getting overpowered on the mats by the average guy in the gym. At the amateur level, strength can be more of a deciding factor. As you move up the ranks the average athlete improves and technique becomes more important. At the highest level the technique is usually relatively even and strength, but mostly conditioning become the deciding factors. Though with MMA being MMA there are so many other factors to consider. In short be the best at everything and hope that you have all your bases covered Just like Military/LEO

[godjira1]

strength is good to have. all else being equal, the stronger guy will win the fight generally.

Godjira, this is a meaningless phrase. It's like saying all else being equal the guy with better conditioning wins. Or all else being equal the guy with better technique wins.
Playing Devil's advocate, but I think I'm seeing a trend in this thread where the grapplers/BJJ-ers tend to favor strength more heavily than the MMA /mixed/striking crowd. Which would make sense, as it would with wrestlers. Maybe grappling based arts benefit more from maximal-strength?

dococtagon - I stand corrected. It is indeed a poor argument when framed that way. Let me try again.

Being very much stronger helps. However, it is not possible to get that sort of advantage vs your opponent without dropping too much mat time/conditioning or stressing the recovery periods once you get to a certain level of strength. You could argue the same for every one of the attributes that matter (conditioning, technique) as well. So ideally for the martial athlete he needs to training where he gets the best bang for buck in terms of increase in combat ability per hour of training.

Re emphasis on strength in grapplers/bjj vs striking... I think you are almost certainly right about the strikers emphasising conditioning generally. However for the grapplers, there are plenty who do next to zero additional strength training and just add more conditioning as well.