The Thai Clinch. The clinch is designed so that when two people
in close, you're going to basically try and manipulate and wrestle with the person's head
and neck and at the same time throw the knees to the mid-section, and if possible at times
to the head. With your partner, we're going to start with
the hands up high. Now, when we enter into the clinch we never
want to enter in, okay, square because our opponents could, you know, throw a jab across,
down the middle, and the next thing you know you're on the ground. So when we go in, they call it threading the
needle which means, basically, when I go in, I enter in with my left hand first okay?,
establishing some kind of hold with the left hand okay? And then putting my right hand up okay, and
then either throw your knees or try to come in on the inside and get in a good position.
There are a couple of positions that you don't
want to be in, okay? And the most dangerous one is here with your
head down. If your head is down, you really don't have
much to pull your head out, okay? You're going to be taking a lot of knees in
from the mid-section if you decide to close the distance to grab the waist, they can take
the waist out and keep you, you know, in that position for pretty much as long as they want.
Okay? Another position you don't want to be in is
if your arm is locked here, they've got you around the neck. Now your right side or left side is going
to be taking a lot of knees. Alright? So, one drill that you can do to get used
to, you know, keeping your head up is – hands up, we thread the needle, we come in, now
with your partner you want to rise up on the balls of your feet and keep your head up,
shoulders up. From that position, we just pommel, okay? Your partner comes on the inside with both
hands, alright? I pommel in, and in, and then he comes in
and in. Alright? So, once you've got the gist of that, you
can take that and go a little bit quicker with it, but always making sure when you enter
in, head up nice and high. Okay? And then try and pommel your hands in one
by one, trying to get control of the head.
Alright? Now, when you come in for the head, you want
to get your elbow in the middle of the chest and get your hand on the crown of their head. You don't want to be in the back of the neck
because now he can bring his head back and he's not in danger anymore. Once his head comes down and you're on the
crown of his head, if he tries to bring his head up bring your head up, okay?, his head's
not going anywhere, alright? Another good position in the clinch is one
hand on the crown of the head and the other hand on the shoulder.
That way, if he wants to try and get his left
hand in okay? Whichever way he tries to get the left hand
in okay?, I lock him off. If he comes in the outside, I can open him
up more on the outside if he decides to come and deliver knees to the outside. From this position, it's very easy to go from
here to the head okay?, which puts him in even more of a dangerous position. Okay? And that's just a basic run through of the
Thai clinch.
