the thai clinch

[seppuku]

if your familiar with the muay thai clinch can you give me some advice about getting out of it? ive done several years of grappling, and only 8 months of muay thai so i should have some idea what you mean. i did judo and ju-jitsu btw.

any ideas appreciated, throw ideas could be good but im aware that there is likely to be knees etc thrown at me in the clinch, and im so not into running into a knee to the kidneys. something quick and simple that makes them let go would be ideal, preferably something that can be done with gloves on.

i know its not a spectacularly easy question, having had trouble with it myself. a simple way to reverse it would also be good, as im quite happy in the clinch when im not the one who can barely move

[gabbah]

I haven't trained in clinch work very much, but after having watched tons and tons of video, I can mention one muay thai technique (which I happen to have tried out myself) that might help you if a guy has you in the clinch. You will have to train it of course.
First of all, when you get into his clinch, move towards him and not away from him. This will somewhat smother his knee attacks. He will still be able to throw sideways knees at you. But this is what you want. Your hands should be close to his neck, or you will wrap one hand around his neck.
Now, as soon as you feel him starting the throw a sideways knee, you will jerk his head towards you and to the opposite side his knee attacked you from. This will bring him off balance and you can throw him to the ground.
As he starts falling to the ground you can push him off you with your other hand and at the same time let you head fall forward so his clinch slides off your head. That way he has nothing to hold on to.

There are so many more things to be said, but I hope you understand the general picture. Look for this technique used in muay thai matches and study it, and ask your coach to show you everything about it.

As far as I know, if the guy controls your head your're pretty fucked
There is no EASY way out of the clinch, unless if your allowed to knee to the groin and your lucky enough to hit him before his knees totally messes you up.
Perhaps you can get uppercuts in, but as far as I have seen people are generally not that successfull with striking their way out of the clinch.
But at a lower level in the sport this might be possible, because guys aren't THAT good with the clinch.

In a real life situation I think you should try to grab his waist, pull him close to you (and lifting slightly), and trip him to one side with one leg hooking his.

[aseepish]

If a decent Thaiboxer has control over your head (both arms inside yours) you are indeed in a lot of trouble. They will pull your head forward and throw straight knees to your midsection and eventually your head. I saw a lot of nasty KOs from this sort of thing in Thailand.

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DUCK OUT OF THIS GRIP!!!

Instead, keep your head up. Stay as tall as possible. Getting close to your opponent is a good idea - if you aren't adept at getting the inside position yourself, it might be easier to grab around your opponent's lower back and pull him to you. You could also go for a double overhook of his arms and then take him down.

Gabbah's advice to off-balance and spin your opponent is good too.

These can all be used with gloves.

In a non-ring situation, what about a good old-fashioned head-butt before your opponent can establish the clinch?

[gabbah]

It will be hard to head-butt him if he comes in with his chin tucked. You will probably hit his forehead instead.
I think another good way is the way they teach in krav maga, fingers in the eyes. In this case it would be to place your thumbs on his cheeks and sliding your thumbs to the eyes then press. He will let go of the clinch or go blind.
But I think he was asking how to escape the clinch in a muay thai match.

[ciscodog]

stand as upright as possible to jam his knees, then take an elbow and throw it vertically up at his chin or around the side of his head to his chin/temple/ear. That should get him to let go.

[seppuku]

agree'd, if you can catch him under the chin with an elbow he isnt likely to hang on any more.
its difficult to hit the side of the head with an elbow while in the clinch then, its hard enough to throw a hook there

its really quite hard to hit the knees with your elbow when they're being thrown fast, i had very little success with that last night

[ciscodog]

you could also try to punch the nerve on the inside of an arm to shut it down. That will also get someone to let go of the clinch but the vertical elbow works best in my opinion and after you make contact with one they will think twice about clinching again

[seppuku]

you could try to punch the nerve... i cant see that working too often tho (esp. given gloves are involved). throwing the elbow upwards is fine if you see them coming...

thanks for all the advice tho. i think i may try a simpler, if less strategic approach and condition myself to take the knees long enough to throw my own back harder

[kungfupanda]

(i didnt read the other post so here goes a rant based only on the initial question...)

why would you wanna get out of a clinch? Its a great place to be if you know what youre doing. If youve trained to avoid groin shots while hurting your opponents thighs and ribs you can really benefit from blumbing even if opponent starts it.

basically the clinch gives you the chance to weaken your opponents energy by battering his legs and midsection (without worrying about getting kicked in the head) so the when you break the clinch you should, if all goes well, come out with MUCH more of a fight left in you than the other guy.


as far as getting out of a clinch (if youre facing someone better at that particular act or are fighting more than one opponent) i find that putting your hands up to a upper/facial guard position, then trusting at the opponents face, pushing his head violently back, should get him off you. remember: where the head goes the body follows. this technique should even work for you when both your arms are under his just treat it like a nelson.


hope that helps

[seppuku]

why would you wanna get out of a clinch?

lets see... start with they may be bigger and stronger than me and throwing me all over the place. they may be grinding their wrist bone into the back of my neck which hurts like hell. But most of all, they will be throwing far harder knees than i can because they are in a better position. i cant think of many places id less want to be than held in the clinch by someone bigger than me who happens to be pissed off at me

i liked the point about not getting kicked in the head tho.. .thats a sound idea... pushing their head back is very difficult if theyve got hold tightly so im not sure how much success ill have with that escape

thanks for your input tho kungfupanda, even if i dont agree with all of it
i dont wanna be in the worse position in the thai clinch. thats just me.. havent trained for it i guess

[Eyegouge]

Stand up yeah, grab one of his elbow and push it toward the sky, if you don't like locking up in a clinch, don't let him. Chuck him off.

The easiest way to get out of something is to never get in it in the first place.

[paradoxbox]

Easiest way out of the clinch is with an armlock. Get one of your arms inside theirs, twist your body up along with their arm then kick their legs out from under them. Very very easy escape from the clinch and almost no one is strong enough to strongarm their way out of it when you're twisting with your whole body.

[Shard]

Well one of my defense tatics in a clinch is to hold your elbows at your sides and counter his knees with elbows into his thighs.
Its not very hand to get out of a clinch, Just counter-clinch him. He puts his hands around your neck. You slide your a hands in the space inbetween his neck and arms and you should have no problem pulling his arms off you.