In this article I will go over different Muay Thai Clinch Techniques. This will help arm you with the tools you need to dominate your opponent in the clinch position. Remember these MMA clinch techniques if practiced can be used in a real street fight to give you an edge over your opponent. Use the tools you have to fight your best fight and protect yourself.

What is The Clinch In Muay Thai?

The Clinch is an aspect of where the combatants are grappling in a clinch, typically using clinch. Clinching the opponent can be used to eliminate the opponent’s effective usage of some kicks and punches. The clinch can also be used as a medium to switch from stand-up fighting to ground fighting by using take downs, throws, and or sweeps. And those are some of the techniques we are going to get into in this article.

How To Do A Standing Kimura Armlock

The Clinch Can Protect You

Fighters can use the muay thai clinch for many reasons. As mentioned above one is to protect themselves from getting kicked or punched. This is a wise thing to do especially against a bigger opponent or someone who is an extremely good puncher; like a boxer. If you stay at distance against someone like this they can throw a bunch of punches or kicks and it will only take a lucky one to slip through your guard to knock you out cold.

Bigger guys have  stronger punch due to their size and an untrained big guy is known to throw wild hay-makers. Clinching up against a bigger opponent can allow you to avoid those big punches while breaking him down with some of the clinch techniques.

The clinch can also help you after you get hit. We’ve seen this many times in the UFC and boxing when a fighter gets hit with a good punch and his knees buckle. He immediately leaps to his opponent to clinch him up so he doesn’t get hit with a big shot again.

Clinching In Different Combat Sports

Clinch fighting is an important aspect in many combat sports such as Judo and it is also a fundamental part of Collegiate Wrestling, Sambo, Muay Thai, Lethwei, and Mixed Martial Arts. The nature of the clinch in each sport depends on the rules involved. In Muay Thai they put much emphasis on strikes from the clinch, while Judo focuses on throws. But keep in mind the Muay Thai fighter can execute a combination of strikes, sweeps, and throws form the clinch.

The rule common to all these forms is the allowance for the grappling necessary to form a clinch. Others combat sports like Boxing or Taekwon-do only allow clinching for a short time or do not allow it at all. If clinching is disallowed, the clinching fighter will be issued a warning, or the referee will restart the fight from a distance.

How To Clinch In Muay Thai

Here’s how you do a basic clinch in muay thai. Remember that the more you practice the better you’ll become. First, your foot has to stay parallel to your opponent. What your trying to do is get closer to your opponent to execute the clinch. When your opponent tries to grab onto your neck one of your hand needs to be at your head guarding against the attack, while your other hand grabs on to the back of his neck.

As soon as he tries to lift his other hand to make an attack you immediately place your other hand around his neck and clasp both hands together (palm to palm). Press your elbows tightly against his chest, make sure your arms and elbows are tightly squeezed together. This will form a tight grip and allow you to control and move around your opponent by way of the back of his neck.

The back of your neck is a very weak point on the body. Someone grabbing the back of your neck with both hands and forcefully pulling your head down can knee you in the face or toss you to the ground. And we will get into those clinch attacks right now.

Hand And Arm Position In The Clinch

Here are some muay thai clinch basics. While clinching, the position of a fighter’s arms is vitally important. The fighter always tries to keep his arms on the inside of his opponent’s, allowing him to press his elbows together building a tighter grip. The fighter attempts to always hold his hands in a “cupping” position.

Advanced Clinching Set Up

Once you become more comfortable with clinching you will be able to establish it off a punch. You would block the punch and move in with the same hand to grab your opponents neck, then complete the rest of the clinch.  Or you can establish it by checking a kick and moving in for the clinch. This take timing and skills so practicing for the real thing would help you out tremendously.

Muay Thai Clinch Positions

When it comes to mastering the clinch you have many in muay thai to choose from. To diversify your arsenal below I have listen the different types of clinch you can use on your opponent. Below are the different types of muay thai clinch.

Double Collar Tie

The Double Collar Tie is the clinch i mentioned above. it’s the first clinch you will learn in mixed martial arts training. The double collar tie is grappling clinch hold that is used to control the opponent. It is performed from the front of the opponent by grabbing the opponent by the collar, behind the neck, or behind the trapezius muscle. A collar tie with both hands is called a double collar tie.

Single Collar Tie

The single collar tie is pretty much self explanatory. Instead of two hands clinging you it’s one. One hand behind your neck and the other is hooking your shoulder; controlling your opponents arm with your forearm.

Single Collar Tie Overhook

This is when you apply the single collar tie with one hand and your other hand overhooks your opponents arm, as the picture to the left shows.

Remember to always keep things as tight as possible in the clinch it gives you more control over your opponent and makes it harder for him to strike or reverse the clinch. keep him as close as possible to you.

Double Underhook

While in the clinch hook your arms around your opponents upper section of his body.

This move is liken unto a bear hug but your separates you from your opponent. You want to keep your lead food bent and your other leg extended behind you for support. The easiest move to transition into from here is a throw or takedown.

Cross Lock

The Cross Lock is when you underhook one of your opponents arm and place your other arm over his shoulder to complete a palm to wrist to  lock. While doing this your head should be under your opponents chin.

You should use your lock to squeeze your opponents chin and face against the top of your head. This will cause tremendous pain to your opponent and have him tap out in competition or cry like a baby in a real fight.

Below is the full video of all the clinch positions that was just listed above. A video visual may give you a better insight on how to execute these different moves. As I have said before practice often in order to give you the confidence you need to pull these moves off in a real life situation.