Absolutely.
I completely agree on how everything is defense and escape oriented.
Something ironic about that too, because of their lack of ground skills when they try to turtle up or try to use the fence to stand back up, many times lately I see them giving up their backs in the process. There have been quite a few Rear Naked Chokes lately that weren't exactly super impressive for the winner but rather somebody carelessly giving up their back.
Elite grappling is definitely less widespread out these days but that has sure made the select few world class specialists look incredible the last few years. Guys like Werdum, Jacare and Maia tore through their divisions. Jacare and Maia obviously used their grappling more than Werdum but that is only because the HW division is frightened to death to hit the mat with Werdum. When they do, they get submitted immediately. I also tend to believe their fear of a grappling situation with Werdum helped him KO Mark Hunt, helped him outstrike Cain (took away Cain's usual wrestling strategy), helped him rally back in the 3rd vs Reem in the rubber match. Nobody can feel comfortable striking on the feet with Werdum because they are so scared to go to the ground with him.
Alexey Oleinik is another man whose grappling skills are decades beyond unreachable for most HWs these days. He is also older and has been enjoying success the last few years where his skills can really shine with so many subpar grapplers around. These guys are very few and far between but they are the few that actually took the sub game seriously. Too bad all these guys are about 40 now but it was nice seeing them making a late run, taking advantage of the times.
Another thing that just popped into my head...a lot of the old school fighters had no choice but to learn to fight off their back and look for sweeps and submissions. There was no simply "I'll just stand back up" when you are fighting a Mark Coleman, Mark Kerr, Kevin Randleman, Tom Erikson, Matt Hughes, or GSP. If you try to just stand up on them they will break you back down and flatten you out. Worse case scenario they lift you up for a huge and painful mat return slam and now these wrestlers might land in side control or taking your back.
Getting taken down and held down by those guys was inevitable.
Everyone 15 to 20 years ago accepted the fact they must learn how to fight off their back when Coleman was roaming the land.