Ghost

I remeber having a discussion with one guy about being open to eye gouges in the clinch.
I offered for him to try this going for the dent above the eyebrow as for substitute for the eye.
I told him that if he didnt enter a grapple with me hed get kneed in the head because hes offering no resistance.
We drilled it a few times and he got me once. i mock-kneed him in the head around a dozen times and applied several of the regular thai standing side chokes as well as elbows to the head.
The problem with not engaging in the clinch is that you are open to elbows and knees to the head as well as standing chokes that leave you open to a really nasty kneeing.
Now he did get me once in the right area, i doubt it would have stopped me.

THe thing was he has no standing clinch game that was anywhere near up to the level i had. He suffered because of it.

The difference was that i was treating it as a real fight. So i wasnt trying to save any energy. I was tossing him all over the place like my life depended on it. Not using hte clinch in a drawn out manner as i might inthe ring to wear my opponent down.
For me this was an easy change to make. I could totally dominate him by using all the technique with maximum power.
Most of the time his head was around my waist height, he couldnt even lift his head up to get his arm high enough to eye gouge.
Thats technique combined with extreme force, but nothing no one else could do. That could be done by anyone of reasonable fitness providing they had the sparring training in the clinch.

That doesnt mean eye gouges arent relevant. But it means you have to be bloody careful when you use them and be aware of the consequences of whenyou dont.

Remember when you watch an MMA guy or whatever they are pacing themselves. They are going at about 60% cos they may have to fight for a long time, and seeing as they are matched up to a fighter of supposedly similar ability the chances are the fight will last.

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There are no second chances.

“Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength.”

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