Keep in mind the champions are also aware of legs locks. They might not be enought to elevate mediocre grapplers to champions status but lack of heel hooks awareness degrades champion grapplers to medicore status.
I disagree. Galvao wasn't lowered to "mediocre" status in his match with Palhares, was he?
Again, I feel like you're confusing the issue. The assertion that knowing a technique (heelhook) is superior to knowing a principles of grappling and why they work, do you think that is true? Do you think you would even be able to enter into your heel hook on a high-level practicioner without a knowledge of the fundamental principles? Of course not!
What everyone saw was a weakness shared by a large multitude of the competitive grappling circuit get exploited, and that is metagaming, not the superiority of a technique over principles. Otherwise, this trend would have continued on until jiu jitsu became a solved game, where it all centered around who could heelhook whom first. Metagaming, at its simplest, is “I think everyone else will be doing ____, so I’m doing ____.”
This worked, until it didn't any more. Now you see a huge rise in back control methodology, and a rise in RNC's, because it is the new lowest hanging fruit weakness.
However, does this mean the RNC is better than heel hooks? Does grappling move forward in one linear progression of submissions, each one better than the last, each technique outclassing all that came before? No, of course not. It's why guys like Xande can hit flowersweep --> armbar and still tap dudes out, at the highest levels of the sport. He understands the principles of grappling; he knows that by utilizing kuzushi, or offbalancing his opponent, their ability to defend is compromised, and he has prepared all the necessary steps before the off balancing to capitalize on that opportunity. It's why if you showed a blue belt that same combo of flower sweep --> armbar, they wouldn't be able to win at the highest levels. There is much more to BJJ than just techniques (and no, it isn't steroids). These underlying principles of how the body moves, of how to use leverage and gravity and fulcrums, they're not only important in BJJ, but any grappling sport. I was part of an interesting conversation with a mountain climber and sumo practicioner, where they told me about the "rest step," which is remarkably similar to the "namba aruki" of sumo, and was germane to me in a conversation about "posting" with your free leg in knee on belly. Principles, not techniques, are the key to grappling regardless of ruleset. But I've gone off the rails at this point, and my workday is almost over!
