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Good points, but what if you're dead from a fire-and-forget missile 50 miles before entering the dogfight? Bigger, heavier fighters do have a hard time mixing it up with the smaller lighter ones. That's why they don't do it. They shoot at longer ranges, and if they get caught up in close, they use their big heavy engines to extend and escape.

No sane fighter pilot is intentionally going to fly into a dis-advantageous situation. Adversaries that can, will shoot from as far away as possible. Mixing it up is hard on pilots, hard (stressing) on airframes, and it only takes one mistake or lapse in concentration/judgment to lose the fight, regardless of the capabilities of your aircraft. Fighting BVR is a safer, easier bet that lets you come back and fight again tomorrow.

I'm not saying you don't need to have dogfighting capability. (witness the F-4 without a gun, oops!) But I don't think that mode of combat should be your primary tactic, nor the primary deciding factor for a modern multi-role fighter. Being a good dogfighter is nice. Being a good enough fighter to get the mission done and avoid the dogfight is even better.