There are a lot of martial arts out there that preach the notion of "Technique is more important than size/strength", even up to my favorite martial art, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
But that is a lie of course.
Technique can be used to account for a difference in size or strength and IMO that is where a martial art like BJJ does demonstrate real world effectiveness at bridging the gap, but at a certain point there is too much difference. I will get rag dolled by a 275lb wrestler. He may not know much BJJ, but he can pull me to the ground and just hulk smash. There's literally a 115lb difference.
Additionally, I tend to believe that being strong and being able to gain significant muscle mass is a technique in and of itself. But that's literally why there is a weightlifting thread.
Nonetheless, I thought it would be interesting to list out some of the falsehoods and misconceptions in martial arts. Namely:
1. You can learn to defend yourself while never sparring or "going live" with intent.
2. You can rely on some ineffable "mindset" with no skill or minimal skill to win a fight.
3. Adrenaline dumps will reliably work in your favor by "slowing down time" or "Making you significantly stronger"
4. You don't need to cross train striking (if you're a grappler) or grappling (if you're a striker) because you're so good at your martial art that you can just "nullify" the other martial art.
5. You can use dirty fighting tactics (eye pokes, nut kicks, headbutts, bites etc) to reliably end a fight against a more skilled or larger/stronger fighter than you.
6. The "Hollywood neck break". I feel like I don't need to explain how that just couldn't possibly work.
7. Put your keys in between your fingers to scratch an attacker.
8. Your lack of cardio probably won't matter in a fight because it'll be short.
Feel free to add your own. I left out a lot of the "bullshido" stuff like pressure point karate and chi and all that, but feel free to add those too!