Once again, the calls of "The styles don't have any limitations, only the student." It's the right thing to say in a certain sense. It's also wrong, and almost everyone who says it out of pious respect and good fellowship knows it. It can also get people pretty seriously dead if they take it to heart.
Even if every martial art contained solutions to every possible situation there are only so many instructional hours in a week. So things won't get taught or learned. And frankly, no system has everything. Royce Gracie threw kicks in his UFC appearances. In all humble respect of his grappling skills, his striking didn't suck. If it sucked it would have been good for something. Kendo has no empty hand work to speak of. Pure strikers are laughably bad on the ground (no I don't count Fukien Dog Boxing as pure striking), and most aren't much better in the clinch.
It doesn't matter how hard you practice BJJ. It won't make you a decent puncher. You can have the best Thai boxing instructor in the world. Unless he's also got Krabi Krabong you will never be good with a spear. All the Chung Do Kwan in the world will not help you the tiniest bit if you're fighting ankle deep in slippery mud. And the world's top MMA coaches will be completely lost when it comes to many-on-many fighting.
These are undeniable limitations on the styles. The student who says "It's not the Art. It's my limitations. I just have to try harder," or worse, the teacher who sells the student that particular line is engaging in delusion and madness.
There are systems that simply work for one person which will never work for another. A blind man can be a fantastic wrestler. I recall a case about ten years ago where a totally blind from birth Judo player in Philly killed an armed mugger. No matter how hard he trains he will never be a sniper. I have a long torso and arms, short legs and a particular congenital deformity of the hips. Capoeira Regional and classical Wing Chun are forever beyond my grasp. But I do better at wrestling than I should based on my (pathetic) skills. My wife is a hell of a martial artist. She would need to triple her weight, add half a foot to her height and put on a lot of muscle to be anything but a hollow joke at Sumo.
Nothing, MMA, not Silat, not Krav Maga, not JKDC, not even Bo Fung Do (which comes as close as anything I've seen) has everything or will be effective in all circumstances. Every single system and style out there has undeniable strengths and glaring weaknesses. Anyone who has been around the block a couple times and maintains otherwise is, I wish there were some kind way of saying it, telling a lie. It may be for the best of reasons. It may be from the highest motives. But it's still not true. And if they've ever had a reality check bounce they'll know it's not true. If it were true martial arts would be completely unchanged from back in the days of the Olduvai Gorge. There would have been no need for development, collaboration or evolution. We'd fight the same way all over the world because everything was already there.
We don't. We pick ourselves up or pick up the remains our buddy who wasn't so lucky, say "That didn't work," and come up with something new to patch the holes in what we were doing before. The phalanx beats the heroic warrior. The legion beats the phalanx. The Mongols beat everyone who doesn't adopt their tactics. Everyone lives and learns or they don't live long. Pious mouthings about how their style isn't really limited or deficient are abandoned when they lead to burned crops, dead men, babies' heads bashed against the ruined buildings and lamenting women being led off as chained slaves. "Men fight men. Styles don't fight styles," as one superb teacher says. It's true. It's also true that martial arts is a tool. Some tools are just better than others for different jobs. No matter how good you are with the most expensive drillpress it will never be a television set.
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