Muay Thai head clinch

[Poco Pride]

when grabbing an opponents head to bring down for a knee is it better to interlock your fingers across the back of their head, or grab two fistfulls of hair from the back of the head ?

in most fights i've just grabbed two handfulls of the oponents hair and yanked their head down that way while raising my knee to their face. i have yet to fight a bald man where this tactic might not be as effective

 

[possenti]

I was taught to "cup" your hands behind the head. If you "lace" your fingers, it takes a little longer to let go if you have to quickly.

 

[Pale1]

I agree with^^^ But you are leaving yourself open for take downs.

 

[Sinister]

Pshh, anyone who executes a proper Muay Thai clinch is NOT going to get taken down unless the opponent can endure massive amounts of pain and/or overpower you.

I'm going to do a thread pretty soon on REAL Muay Thai clinching because I see to little of it, but to answer the question quickly:

It all depends on how committed you are to that clinch being the end of the fight. Interlocking the fingers takes time and commits you to the clinch postion because once they're locked you're not going to easily let go without being open to counter-punches. So if you're going to take the time to interlock your fingers you beter BLAST knees non-stop after.

I myself when I did Muay Thai prominently would cup my hands either just behind the ears on both sides of the head, or if I wanted to cut off the guy's breathing I would lay my forearms across the sides of the neck, press HARD, and cup my hands one-on-top-of-the-other at the base of the skull. This gives you almost ALL of the control because it hurts, it's hard to breathe, and there's knees coming at you. Opponents don't usually know how to handle that.

 

[Matt]

In muay thai, there is no way to interlock your fingers because you are wearing boxing gloves.

And I've never tried it but I suspect it is difficult to interlock your fingers when you're wearing MMA gloves.

 

[Joel77]

When you interlock your fingers you expose them to fractures.

 

[Sinister]

In muay thai, there is no way to interlock your fingers because you are wearing boxing gloves.

And I've never tried it but I suspect it is difficult to interlock your fingers when you're wearing MMA gloves.

Not all forms of Muay Thai traditionally wear gloves homie. Muay Thai has a decent enough history of bare-knuckle fighting much like Boxing did.

 

[Matt]

Not all forms of Muay Thai traditionally wear gloves homie. Muay Thai has a decent enough history of bare-knuckle fighting much like Boxing did.

Yes, I know. But - with a couple exceptions - modern muay thai that people actually compete in involves gloves.

 

[Brandinho]

I cup my hands, with or without gloves. It works easier for me and it is easier to pinch their necks with the forearms.

 

[chopperj]

I like to control the head by overlapping the hands and squeezing with the forearms like King Kabuki said. This way you can control the head, The body will go where the head goes. And you pretty much can do what ever you like with them once you get control of the head.

 

[Sinister]

Yes, I know. But - with a couple exceptions - modern muay thai that people actually compete in involves gloves.

True dat. I always encourage learning both though. In MMA gloves it's not that hard to interlace fingers depending on hand-size. With gloves opens up other avenues though. I need to make that thread already. I'll do it this evening.

 

[DJGMuayThai]

Pshh, anyone who executes a proper Muay Thai clinch is NOT going to get taken down unless the opponent can endure massive amounts of pain and/or overpower you.

I'm going to do a thread pretty soon on REAL Muay Thai clinching because I see to little of it, but to answer the question quickly:

It all depends on how committed you are to that clinch being the end of the fight. Interlocking the fingers takes time and commits you to the clinch postion because once they're locked you're not going to easily let go without being open to counter-punches. So if you're going to take the time to interlock your fingers you beter BLAST knees non-stop after.

I myself when I did Muay Thai prominently would cup my hands either just behind the ears on both sides of the head, or if I wanted to cut off the guy's breathing I would lay my forearms across the sides of the neck, press HARD, and cup my hands one-on-top-of-the-other at the base of the skull. This gives you almost ALL of the control because it hurts, it's hard to breathe, and there's knees coming at you. Opponents don't usually know how to handle that.

Very true..The other mistake i see is guys bringing knees straight up instead of up and in..a stabbing motion with your knee generates ALOT more power

 

[moodymikey]

I was taught never to interlock the fingers because firstly wiht boxing gloves on its impossible, and secondly if the opponent manages to push you away from the clinch you run the risk of pulling your fingers out of their sockets. Simply put, NEVER interlock the fingers

 

[OldVet61]

I personally never practice interlocking my fingers but I have seen Wanderlei Silva do this when he clinches.

 

[Sinister]

Yeah I seriously don't know about pulling your own fingers out of their sockets. I mean, you can tell when your fingers are being dislocated, I like to think I have sense enough to let go before that happens.

 

[OldVet61]

Yeah I seriously don't know about pulling your own fingers ut of their sockets. I mean, you can tell when your fingers are being dislocated, I like to think I have sense enough to let go before that happens.

I think if you interlocked your fingers though and you pulled down on the head at the same time you throw the knee just like you would in a normal clinch, you could probly fracture your fingers or cause some sort of injury to yourself.

 

[Sinister]

Never happened to me. The indirect impact of kneeing a guy in the face to my hands has never once hurt. Maybe due to adrenaline, but never even caused me hand-soreness afterwards. In terms of missing the knee, my forearms are always pinched too tight to actually miss entirely. I think that kind of injury only happens to guys who don't know how to let up grip pressure properly.

 

[DrunkenCatfish]

Yeah interlocking your fingers is dangerous, There is a risk that you may twist your hands for some reason and expose them to damage when they have no where to go.

Ive seen people use plam to palm grip. or placing one palm on the back of opponents neck/head and then placing the palm of the other hand across the back of the first hand.

 

[Poco Pride]

thanks for the tips. i will work on using my forearms against the neck from now on.