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In The Arena Blog

Tip of the Week: Options for The Clinch

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Vince:
How’s it going? I’m Coach Vince Salvador from the Arena.

Charles:
I’m Coach Charles Martinez. We’re here to discuss some options for the clinch different than what you may have seen before. We’ll start here.

Vince:
A lot of times in the clinch, the basic rule for the clinch is to have my hips close to his hips. People say cup to cup or belt to belt. If I’m out here in a clinch, I’m gonna get kneed all day. It’s easier to snap my head down if this is MMA. If I see my feet in the clinch, I’m probably gonna see a knee in my face, as well. I need to bring my hips in and I need to trap the inside of his biceps. When I do that, it prevents him from being able to grab me. It prevents him from hitting me, punching me, throwing elbows.

Vince:
Also, if he tries to throw a knee, I have a steering wheel. The steering wheel is what I’m gonna use to open up the space for me to land my shots. If I’m controlling the bicep here and I wanna make some space, I’m gonna use my inner thigh and my steering wheel to open up one side. If you come around to this side, you can see it on this side. We’re hip to hip. I have no space. I cannot knee from here so I need to make some space.

Vince:
What I’m gonna do is I’m gonna get his weight to this side so this leg is light. The way I do that is with the steering wheel. I can use this grip, this grip, either/or. It’s really a preference thing. I like this grip. This is gonna make it easy for me to bring his head down. For me to do that, I distract him with a knee. Then his weight goes here. I pull where my inner thigh is gonna meet the inner thigh of his inner thigh to open up his body.

Vince:
I’ve already opened up that side with my elbow lifting. Now my left knee just comes up and right back down. When I land that, I don’t wanna leave it there too long, ’cause he might grab it. If it’s MMA, I’m going on my back. It’s quick and down. If he does grab it, I can still kick my leg down, throw an elbow to attack on that same side, but as long as I have the bicep I’ll be strong here.

Charles:
Often times, when you’re taught this, everyone’s taught to clench the head right away. That means that you’ve gotten past all these other phases of pummeling and clench. A lot of times here, this happens in the pummel. He goes to swing his hands inside. If I reach for the head and I’m strong, he has a hard time breaking this off but he swings his hand to the inside, he can use the bicep to start to clear that grip. If he swings his hand to the inside to the collar tie, when I clear the bicep, I also use leverage in my body and I try and establish that inside control.

Charles:
If you want to think about it from an MMA perspective versus a Muay Thai perspective, when I’m controlling the biceps, he reaches in, tries to grab it under hook, I’m already in contact. If he tries to try and run his body that way, I’m able to start wizzering hard on that side and I’m already in contact versus being up here where it makes it easier for him to kind of bump and establish this good hard under-hook that he’s really looking for.

Charles:
So close, head in, and then I’m able to start advancing to a better clench from here to deliver the unbalances, knees, elbows and I’m able to be attached to him to prevent these take-downs.

Vince:
That’s your tip of the week.

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