Except its not just an issue of reach, as I can attest from the time when I used to do martial arts and some martial weapons work, or the judoka I was sometimes up against would have won every time (most of the weapons I was using weren't particularly long, such as the bo). Even if your premise is that reach is the issue, unless you have particularly robust rules for that benefit, the result is still going to be that if you know how to grapple, that's what you'll always do, and I don't think that's what the sources you're quoting indicate happens.
If that is your belief as to the situation, I guess we don't have anything further to talk about.