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Hi, I wrote a brief thread about training with some Shuai jiao guys, but I never actually got to do any clinch with them before, which is their specialty.
Shuai jiao - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I couldn't find my old thread by search, but to summarize: they showed me some throws, some which I was wary of, some of which looked cool. We did some rolling, for whatever reason not doing any clinch-sparring that day, and I dominated them fairly well...but they made a fight of it. I have about 5 years on-and-off-again no gi BJJ experience.
Now:
I did some clinch with them tonight. Must say I was very impressed. I've done plenty of working with wrestlers, though I'm not one myself. I've picked up a few things and I thought I might be able to show them a thing or two. Not so. I got an armdrag to the back for a trip takedown, and that was it. Other than that, utter stalemate. I didn't get taken down, but their defense and the threat of what they could do was impressive. Obviously I would have been REALLY impressed if they had just annihilated me, but I was already impressed that guys from this little-known (to me) TMA grappling art were holding their own.
They liked to operate out of a thai clinch type thing a lot. Now you'd think that you just bump an elbow, change levels and shoot--game over. Not really. It seems these guys have figured out the mysterious art of the level change and they actually go with you and maintain a strong frame which pretty much negated the shot. Also kept the hips back well. I've heard other people comment here that oh, if a guy gets something like thai clinch on you in wrestling you just shuck and shoot and he's totally dead....I'd like to put that in the myth category. I'm not Dan Gable, but if you consider that not a thai clinch but a "double collar tie" and you imagine hips back and level changes added to the defense....it gets annoying. Not to mention from a self-defense or mma perspective I couldn't imagine trying to shoot in on a guy who had me clinched up like this, unless you like knees to the skull. As I alluded to before, if this was an upright traditional thai clinch that would be one thing...but with level changes and hips far away it changed things dramatically.
Didn't mean to rant on the clinch thing, but the thought kept going through my head: "but they guys on Sherdog said this isn't possible!" Funny how that goes. Overall a fun experience. Like I said, overall not really more effective than wrestling or judo or anything else in the clinch, but much more well-versed than I had anticipated.
Shuai jiao - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I couldn't find my old thread by search, but to summarize: they showed me some throws, some which I was wary of, some of which looked cool. We did some rolling, for whatever reason not doing any clinch-sparring that day, and I dominated them fairly well...but they made a fight of it. I have about 5 years on-and-off-again no gi BJJ experience.
Now:
I did some clinch with them tonight. Must say I was very impressed. I've done plenty of working with wrestlers, though I'm not one myself. I've picked up a few things and I thought I might be able to show them a thing or two. Not so. I got an armdrag to the back for a trip takedown, and that was it. Other than that, utter stalemate. I didn't get taken down, but their defense and the threat of what they could do was impressive. Obviously I would have been REALLY impressed if they had just annihilated me, but I was already impressed that guys from this little-known (to me) TMA grappling art were holding their own.
They liked to operate out of a thai clinch type thing a lot. Now you'd think that you just bump an elbow, change levels and shoot--game over. Not really. It seems these guys have figured out the mysterious art of the level change and they actually go with you and maintain a strong frame which pretty much negated the shot. Also kept the hips back well. I've heard other people comment here that oh, if a guy gets something like thai clinch on you in wrestling you just shuck and shoot and he's totally dead....I'd like to put that in the myth category. I'm not Dan Gable, but if you consider that not a thai clinch but a "double collar tie" and you imagine hips back and level changes added to the defense....it gets annoying. Not to mention from a self-defense or mma perspective I couldn't imagine trying to shoot in on a guy who had me clinched up like this, unless you like knees to the skull. As I alluded to before, if this was an upright traditional thai clinch that would be one thing...but with level changes and hips far away it changed things dramatically.
Didn't mean to rant on the clinch thing, but the thought kept going through my head: "but they guys on Sherdog said this isn't possible!" Funny how that goes. Overall a fun experience. Like I said, overall not really more effective than wrestling or judo or anything else in the clinch, but much more well-versed than I had anticipated.
