I too think the growth in popularity is starting to level off.
7 years ago there was a large group of people to whom BJJ would appeal who had never heard of it. People like me.
I happened to accidentally see the first UFC live on PPV. My mouth fell open as I watched it. "I KNEW IT!!!" I said to myself.
The conventional martial arts wisdom at that time completely discounted groundfighting. 99% of the MA instructors in this country would have laughed in your face had you told them that a grappler could usually beat a striker. Seriously. The very idea was considered ridiculous.
I knew better because I'd been in a lot of fights. The things my MA techers were telling me just didn't sync-up with what I'd seen in real life.
My experience was: Guys in a fight will stand there and box until one of 'em gets popped good. Suddenly, one guy doesn't want to box and tackles the guy who popped him.
All that dancing around throwing jabs and roundhouse kicks goes right out the window the instant one guy decides he doesn't want to box anymore.
Almost all the guys who would want BJJ have heard about it. The only growth will come as qualified instructors seep out into the hinterlands and establish proper schools.
The same thing happened with "Korean Karate" back in the early '70's. Now we have at least one TKD school in every hick town in America. TKD has hit market saturation. The only grown of TKD now comes from actual population growth.
It will take another 10 years for BJJ to hit market saturation because promotions are much slower than TKD/Karate.
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