Clinch

What it is

The clinch is any standing position where your upper bodies are tied up: a collar tie on the back of the head, over-under (one overhook and one underhook), double underhooks or a body lock around the waist. It is where most takedowns start, and whoever wins the inside position decides what happens next. The fight to get your arms inside theirs is called pummeling.

What you want from here

• Standing, when you close the distance and your arms meet theirs.
• You want to set up a takedown such as the body lock takedown, a snap down, a trip or a throw.
• You want to stop someone shooting on your legs by keeping their upper body tied up.

Key details

• Underhooks win. An underhook lets you control their posture, move them and get to the back or a body lock.
• Pummel to keep the inside position: swim your arm in between their arm and body, palm in, every time they take your underhook.
• Hips close and stance square, so they cannot get under you for a hip throw.
• Head position matters as much as the arms: keep your head on their chest or under their jaw, not behind your own arms.
• From a body lock with hands locked low, you control their hips, which is the best clinch of all.

Common mistakes

• Mistake: standing tall with your hips back and both arms outside. They take double underhooks and the body lock.
• Mistake: pummeling with your hips far away. They hold your arms and shoot under your hips.
• Mistake: reaching for a headlock in the clinch. They step behind you and take the back or throw you.

How it is escaped or passed

• A whizzer (overhook) to kill their underhook and keep them from getting the body lock.
• Pummeling back to the inside the moment they take an underhook.
• Framing on the hips or neck to break the clinch and reset to distance.

Gi and no-gi

In the gi the clinch often becomes a grip fight on collars and sleeves, and you can hold a grip from further away. In no-gi the clinch is closer: collar ties, wrist control and underhooks replace the cloth grips.