Back in 2010, I was a certified level 2 Modern Army Combatives Program instructor in the USAF (We didn't have our own program so we used the Army's).
My unit brought in a group of former Navy SEAL cadre for 2 week training programs. Those guys made us drill vehicle dismount, reload drills, and tons of super basic squad maneuvers hundreds of times every day before we ever touched field ops.
I was teaching my combatives class after training one day and invited the cadre, mostly just to see how badly they would whoop our asses. Now, although they were all 10+ year vets, they had been separated anywhere from 2-10 years. The only two that came were the two youngest, and their technique was absolute garbage. Not that I'm noteworthy at all, but they had clearly never spent a dedicated amount of time training bjj or striking for competition. They were, however, absurdly strong and fast, and had their way with us. Anytime you would open up they would just brute force through. I'm sure a high purple or better would handle them, but as someone who was, at best, a low blue, I could barely keep or retain guard. The other instructor, who's only experience was getting instructor certified couldn't do anything.
The next day my fellow instructor jokingly called out the cadre leader, 'doc'. For record, Doc was probably im his 50s, a 20+ year vet, and total badass. There was some shit talking, then my buddy dove into a clinch, and went for a seatbelt trip.
Well, you know how when you grapple with someone, you generally don't strike? Apparently Doc didn't follow that line of thinking because as soon as he started to tip over he blasted my buddy in the face with the back of his elbow or something, and they landed in a heap. Doc nailed him with a few good shots before my buddy curled up and called mercy and the rest of us watched in shock.
Later I was talking with Doc about it, and he was saying they used a sort of 'block' method, forearms up infront of you making a block or window shape right in front of you. You use your forearms to deflect whatever you can and rely on hittimg hard and fast with elbows or whatever you can cleanly. This is, of course, assuming you don't have access to a weapon.
From an MMA perspective it seemed completely useless, but, figuring that most spec ops cqc would occur in tight spaces with all sorts of variable parameters and makeshit weapons, it actually seems like a legit concept. It's relatively simple to train, and relies on the operator being fast and strong, which they generally are.
That was also probably 20 yeara ago, so I can't speak for how they train now, but my run in with SEALS confirmed 2 things for me. 1) They would get destroyed in an MMA match by most pros 2) They are complete badass, A type personalities who would fuck up most people simply through being in top shape and having no reservations about rearranging your face at the drop of a hat.
