The Clinch is a Cinch

A private lesson on the clinch. First about the grip:

• Classic plum position your make your hands two hooks and grab the neck
• Fist grip: Place the thumb of one fist behind the neck and grab this hand with your opposite hand.
• Gable grip: Grip palm to palm keeping one forearm across the back of your opponents neck, use this to leverage, e.g. twist down to be able knee to the head.

You can if necessary head pummel in so that your head is under or lateral to your opponent’s chin. This allows you to see where your knees are going.

Pressuring drill

Throw soft hook knees. Your partner pressures into you, either on the left, right, or middle. If they push to one side, drop step away from this side, If they push center, choose a side and drop step. Deliver a knee with the drop step leg.

Knee drop step, knee takedown

Throw a hook knee, place this foot near and lateral to your opponent. Drop step with the opposite foot and throw a knee with this side. Repeat as you move them around the ring. From the hook knee, place your foot next to your opponent and transition into a lunge, bending them backward with your body. Pull with your far hand and push with your near hand over your leg.

Countering the overclinch

You have your opponent in the full clinch, they clinch over your arms. Rapidly elevate the elbow on one side, twisting your body to bring it nearly vertical. This should throw them off you.

Countering the counter to the overclinch

If you are the one clinching over your opponent’s arms and they attempt to do the elbow lift, go limp on that side and pummel inside to get underhooks.

Ian Ransburg Top Level Gym Dragon Leg Style Muay Thai Seminar

Warm-up: 50 jumping jacks

Catching the Kick Series

Range find by rocking up on the toes of your rear leg, straightening the lead leg, extending your lead hand and touching your opponent’s hands. You should be just be able to touch them. This allows you to find them but be far enough out of range to counter.

When you kick your base leg straightens and your posture remains as erect as possible.

Your opponent uses the range finder to set-up the rear kick. Catch this kick at the ankle, stepping with the kick and wrapping your arm over and pulling your hand high on your chest. You will typically try to drop this to your hand and then throw across your body, spinning your opponent’s back to you allowing you to kick them.

They can counter this throw of their leg by squaring up with you, as if they had thrown a tiip and then curling their kicking leg back as if to load another tiip, pulling you forward. They then deliver a tiip to push kick you away.

If your opponent attempts the tiip counter, pull their foot laterally and step medially to it, reaching across to grab the neck and delivering a same side knee. Without letting go of their kicking leg, step forward with your kneeing leg and deliver a same side elbow. Now step back with the knee leg to clear their leg you are holding and throw it to the opposite, spinning their back to you. Deliver a kick.

If they have your tiip grabbed with the mirror opposite hand, roll your foot medially and twist to the floor. Keep your eyes on your opponent and land on the ball of this foot. If they close, throw a rear side/thrust kick, then step away and pivot back to face them.

“Combat Hug” Clinch

Your opponent is using the range finder, as you parry they reach to clinch, tuck your chin and cover with the elbow high. Stop their opposite biceps with your contralateral hand. Put your head on this side as you wrap your high cover arm around their neck, their neck in the antecubit of the arm, your wrist curled around the opposite side of their neck. Square your legs up, your midline in front of their hip on the arm control side. Drop this elbow in to their side. Turn your face away from your opponent.

Put your forehead on their shoulder so you can see their legs. Throw a curve knee on the side opposite your head. As they return the mirror knee, pull on their neck and drop step 45° on this side, return the knee on this side. They throw the opposite curve knee, pull on their arm and drop step 45° on this side. Repeat on the original side.

If you wish to throw your opponent, look for them to throw the curve knee on your arm control side. As they do, pull their neck by twisting your body and drawing the arm inferiorly toward the hip while simultaneously pushing their arm.

To defend this clinch, underhook the arm wrapped around the neck by placing the palm of the glove on their face. Rotate the shoulder and hip forward, locking their arm out. If they retain a grip on the other arm, rotate over the top and deliver knees. Drop step to bring their head down to deliver knees here.

If an opponent is pushing away as above, when you clinch overhook this arm, cinching proximal to the elbow. Take a slight step back, sliding distal to the elbow, and bring your arm medially and superiorly twisting their elbow medially. Pass their other arm underneath this glove and trap it. Now deliver elbows with your free arm.

D-FENS

If they catch your kick:

• Your kicking leg foot dorsiflexes, then bend your knee pulling your opponent to you. Grab their neck with the ipsilateral hand, your contralateral hand can control their free arm biceps. Place downward pressure at 45° across their hip line. If necessary push their head toward the floor, turn through and pull your leg out (as if finishing the turn of the kick).
• Recoil your kick leg by turning the knee laterally, this rotates the foot in front of them.  Tiip them away.

If they get double underhooks #1:

• Place knee on there abdomen just inferior to the umbilical line, your foot should hook medially to their knee. Create space to inset the ipsilateral hand in plum clinch and use pressure with your forearm to create space. Pop your hips back to break their grip, overhook with your free hand and load your wedge knee to throw it.  If your opponent reaches for your leg while the “hook” is in, elbow him to the head.

If they get double underhooks #2:

• Drop your weight and put your hands on your opponents hips.  Place the back of your head on the side of theirs, step laterally to this side and drive their head toward the floor.  Overhook in the side closest to them, rotate your body away to insert your other hand on the side of their face and drop step this leg, to set-up a lunging side clinch position.  Keep your weight on them but at the range of your extended arm. If they stay, knee to the head.  If they stand-up let them go. If they rise, go with them and throw the head kick. If they try to rotate away from you, step in a kibadachi (horse stance) behind them, placing your leg midway between theirs.  Now calf raise on this side, displacing their legs as your upper body turns, dumping them backwards over your leg.

Clinchology 101

Until today I consider myself as someone who knew how to handle the clinch.  That was until Ian dropped some knowledge on me.  True muay thai fights with elbow strikes, which changes the dynamics of the clinch significantly.  Your desire to drive forward and wrassle in the clinch is diminished by the prospect of cuts and knock outs due to crisply thrown elbows.

Loose clinch (heads are far apart)

• Pivot step 90°, keep pushing away, deliver a knee to the body or head as appropriate to the rules you are fighting under.

• Swim inside (bring first one hand, then the other inferiorly and medially to their clinch) and establish your own clinch.

• Swim one hand inside, use the other to drop inferiorly pulling on their arm while pulling them into the upward elbow.

Hip space clinch
Overhook and grab their head on one side, place the ipsilateral shin across their waist like a roller coaster seatbelt.  Drive your shin down and away from you by extending the hip while simultaneously turning your chest away from your opponent

Tight clinch (heads are tight)

Overhook one side and on the contralateral side place your palm in their axilla or hip. Step the foot opposite the overhook in close to your opponent, dip the knee.  Immediately thrust with this hip as your pull with your overhook and push with your contralateral hand.  Rotate as if to throw your opponent behind you while simultaneously sweeping with the leg opposite the side you bumped their hip.

If their arms are parallel, their elbows will close off the space to allow you to swim inside and re-clinch. Overhook one side and turn 90° away from this arm, lifting your chest higher.  This should extend and break their clinch, but you may need to do the same going back the other way to free yourself. If they stop your turn with flared elbows, swim inside.

One hand push variations
Each of these uses the push to your opponents face to set-up clinch counters.  The hand goes superior and lateral to their arm on the same side. Straighten your arm to create space.

Long range sweep
Hook their opposite cubital fossa with your glove, pull down as you push, spinning them, sweep with the same leg if needed.

Pivot step
Using the push pivot 90° away on the same side as you are pushing, control the far hand with your free had, throw the knee to the gut
With near elbow: If you feel them pushing against your hand, collapse it medially to throw a horizontal elbow to the head
With far elbow: Collapse your outstretched arm on your opponents arm to tug them close, throw the horizontal elbow with your opposite arm.