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By Kru Hemanth Kumar Published on: Wed Mar 9, 2022
The first involves maintaining a parallel stance and looking for an opening to lock the opponent's chest from the front. Locking the attacker’s stomach rather than the chest is sometimes preferred as it makes it harder for him to break out of the hold. While doing this, one can also use a subtle motion of the leg to throw him off balance.
Seasoned Muay Thai fighter and 3-time bronze winner in the world championships, Kru Hemanth Kumar has also perfected Self-Defence techniques targeting vulnerable pressure points. He has spent three decades teaching and training in multiple styles of Muay Thai.
The Muay Thai Clinch as a defensive move can not only target the opponent’s neck and head but also lower down, locking the chest and stomach depending on various parameters in the fight. There are primarily 5 variations of the clinch that engage the opponent’s chest and stomach.
Once you’re in a close enough position to the opponent in order to initiate the clinch, maintain a parallel stance and look for an opening to lock his chest from the front. Use both hands to wrestle him into the hold. When done right, this clinch severely restricts the opponent’s mobility, giving the fighter control and the upper hand in battle.
In certain scenarios, locking the opponent’s chest from behind might be more feasible. Take for instance if you’ve sidestepped and evaded your attacker; that gives you leeway to wrestle him into a chest lock from behind. The advantage is that it becomes even more difficult for your opponent to break free.
Wrestle using one arm (your lead arm) to grip and lock the opponent’s neck. Pull down on the shoulder to dominate his biceps and forearm.
Sometimes while wrestling with both hands for control, one may spot an opening wherein the opponent’s chest can be locked from the side. This forms an equally effective defence in Muay Thai.
There’s yet another clinch from the front which is often preferred to locking the chest. This involves locking the attacker’s stomach. The primary reason it is preferred is because it makes it harder for the opponent to break out of this hold than if you’ve locked him higher up on the torso.
While locking the opponent’s stomach, one can also use a subtle motion of the leg to throw him off balance, causing him to fall to the ground. This is useful in a fight when the attacker is relentlessly pursuing you and all you want is to break that momentum somehow.
Most of these clinches can be combined with a knee strike for a powerful counterattack. The clinch presents infinite opportunities in a fight and this’ll become more evident as you continue training. In this blog on mastering Muay Thai, we’ve covered most of the basic moves until now. In the next set of posts, we’ll be introducing slightly more advanced and codified techniques that’ll take you from beginner to intermediate in no time.
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