Tips on landing more strikes in the clinch

Boxing or muay thai? Either one..the key to successful striking in the clinch relies on positional dominance, achieving it, jockeying of it, and once there taking immediate advantage of it by getting your short weapons in. It also means negating your opponent's attempts at gaining the same thing. On a more advanced level it means being able to anticipate your opponent's reactions based on feel and experience. There's no easy road to doing that other than putting in the work IN the clinch, in sparring, in drilling, with different guys.

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Brief Duran breakdown on how he used head positioning to land hooks and uppercuts:




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A simple concept of push and pull in the Thai clinch.. seems like a weird clip to reference but on the most basic fundamental level in muay thai most trips, throws, and off balance shit involves the interplay between one person pushing the other pulling. Either can be a position of dominance or a tactic to step the other opponent into. It's super basic but there's lessons there imo:

 
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twist and turn, then strike.



most people make it a neck pulling contest.
 
If it's for MT, like the others said, you have to imbalance him. With pulls, pushes, twists and trips attempts, his mind will be occupied with the footwork and not with a proper defense, or counter measures.
Mix the strikes, with both knees and elbows.
When you train it, train it both with and without gloves. Both have their merits.
Understand the different types and uses of strikes in the clinch. You don't have only one type of knee, or one type of elbow.
Learn how to disengage safely.
 
Remember to pinch the elbows when you clinch to keep it tight and to be pulling the guys head to one side or the other (not crazy just right or left bicep). Ill usually pull him to the same side that is underneath when I grip (eg.my right hand is under my left so I pull him towards my right bicep). If you both have your heads "centred" then its a lot easier to swim through and get an overhook even with the elbows pinched together
 
Boxing or muay thai? Either one..the key to successful striking in the clinch relies on positional dominance, achieving it, jockeying of it, and once there taking immediate advantage of it by getting your short weapons in. It also means negating your opponent's attempts at gaining the same thing. On a more advanced level it means being able to anticipate your opponent's reactions based on feel and experience. There's no easy road to doing that other than putting in the work IN the clinch, in sparring, in drilling, with different guys.

***

Brief Duran breakdown on how he used head positioning to land hooks and uppercuts:



*****

A simple concept of push and pull in the Thai clinch.. seems like a weird clip to reference but on the most basic fundamental level in muay thai most trips, throws, and off balance shit involves the interplay between one person pushing the other pulling. Either can be a position of dominance or a tactic to step the other opponent into. It's super basic but there's lessons there imo:



There is technically no clinching and punching in boxing.
 
I seriously wonder what the tech is without the gloves, and free fingers, and with a jacket.
 
There is technically no clinching and punching in boxing.

True, just referring to the inside game. And admittedly any semblance of clinching like holding an arm, posting the head, etc is a lot harder to get away with modern refs these days. But guys like Mayweather did it, Andre Ward, from recent era.
 
True, just referring to the inside game. And admittedly any semblance of clinching like holding an arm, posting the head, etc is a lot harder to get away with modern refs these days. But guys like Mayweather did it, Andre Ward, from recent era.

Floyd has a better clinch than 1/2 the ufc
 
Do some rounds with a guy who are better then you. Or at least just as good as you. And only he are alloved to strike. You can only block and grapple as defense.

As you do this, you start to relax under fire. Start looking for openings where you could have landed something. But still no striking..

Now do a few rounds where you still only do defensive moves. But feel when you are in balance to strike. Start to grapple and move him into a angle where you could have struck him.

Now switch roles where you get to strike for a few rounds. Now your partner only block and grapples.

Lastly you do some rounds with free clinching.

Repeat this session a few times the next few weeks. You will feel the difference.

But this only work if you got a partner you trust. And that you allready got some clinching skills.
 
what are you asking exactly?

to land more shots you would need to be in the right position at the right time to either elbow,knee,sweep. to do this you will have to know how to clinch, which is a separate art in itself. So to land more shots in the clinch i would suggest improving your clinch. To do this I would suggest to make clinching part of your daily routine. You can try a drill, swimming, from over under, to over under. You can think of clinching as neck wrestling.
 
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