An Overview and Implementation of the Muay Thai Clinch

*On September 13-15, 2018, 5 PMA students tested for and earned their Black Belts in FILKENJUTSU Kenpo. Follow along over the next few weeks, as we share some blog posts that were written by PMA’s newest Black Belts during their preparation for Black Belt. Today’s post is from Matt Thomas. Matt is 35 years old and has been training at PMA for 11 years. Alongside Bill Molony, Matt became one of the first PMA students to earn Black Belts in both Kenpo and Jiu Jitsu!

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Many fighting arts contain various strikes to an opponent’s face and head.  A problem arises with this however–human beings have an aversion to being struck in the face.  An opponent will usually protect his head and face to the fullest extent of his ability because he understands the devastation of a well placed and timed shot to the head.  One of the answers to this problem has come from Thailand.

Matt began his training at PMA fresh out of college! He started with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, before adding training in PMA’s Phase Program (JKD, Kali, Kickboxing & more), and lastly added FILKENJUTSU Kenpo to his training a few years ago.

“Muay Thai or Thai Boxing is the national sport and cultural martial art of Thailand.  It was developed several hundred years ago as a form of close combat that utilizes the entire body as a weapon” (tigermuaythai.com).  Muay Thai has its origins in the city of Sukhothai.  An army was raised here to defend the government and inhabitants against invasion from surrounding tribes.  This army was taught to use weapons as well as using their entire body as a tool to defeat enemies.  Muay Thai or “The Art of Eight Limbs” formulated the primary martial combat system in Siam (now Thailand) and was widely taught to commoners and high society individuals as well (tigermuaythai.com). 

Matt alongside two of his training partners and Black Belt Test partners, Monty and Iain!

Modern Muay Thai has transformed over the last 100 years while being spread throughout Europe and America through the teachings of Thai soldiers.  This formidable combat system will continue to be regarded as a staple for the progressive fighter, and, as we will see, the Muay Thai clinch can be useful in a variety of situations which call for overwhelming an opponent with high-power, close range strikes.

Matt as a BJJ white belt, back in 2008!

Combat Muay Thai can easily be recognized by violent punches, elbows, kicks, and knees.  However, like the closed guard in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, what decisively separates Muay Thai from the other striking arts is its unique clinch position (muaythaipros.com).  A traditional Muay Thai fighter’s most distinguishable advantage when put in the ring with another opponent of differing style will be his ability to close to the clinch position, and be extremely adept at the inner workings of the technique. 

In 2013, Matt became a certified instructor at Progressive Martial Arts Academy!

First, the entry into the position must be achieved.  Most times this will involve closing distance with an effective guard while taking minimal damage.  Using strikes to close distance can be useful as well.  By forcing the opponent to defend strikes his attention will be minimal in regards to the impending doom of the clinch.  Once the inside control around the head is obtained, one misconception is brute force is all that is necessary to control the individual.  Balance must be maintained while employing a “snap” of the opponent’s head when delivering strikes.  Once balance is achieved, which will most likely involve off balancing the opponent, precise knees, elbows, and headbutts can be delivered.  Unlike other combat styles, in the Muay Thai clinch, a fighter can place the opponent’s head in the optimal position for the strike.  In addition, the head can be “snapped” into the strike, thus creating more combined power.  The pattern of off balancing and striking continues until the opponent defends and pummels to inside control and reverses the position, gains distance, or is incapacitated.  If for some reason the clinch must be abandoned, a take down can be attempted or a quick forearm shove to create distance for traditional striking can be used.

Sempai Matt and his daughter, Wylie, alongside his instructor, David Corrigan, and his son, Auggie. Wylie and Auggie shared the same due date!

Being an effective Muay Thai clinch fighter entails “relaxed, efficient application of strength, not just brute force” (heatrick.com).  One must use large, primary muscle groups to maintain the position.  An active core is paramount to maintaining balance, keeping tight elbows, and delivering forceful strikes.  Thai fighters will set aside 30 minutes after training to develop the ability to battle in the clinch for long periods (muaythaipros.com).  For the application in self defense scenarios, the Muay Thai clinch gives the martial artist the ability to deliver slicing elbows, crushing knees, and sneaky headbutts all the while controlling his opponent’s balance and distance.  This technique from Muay Thai will continue to be taught, learned, and evaluated by professional fighters and serious martial artists as a primary in-fighting and fight ending tool.      

Matt, with his wife, Crystal, and their daughter, Wylie, at last year’s PMA Halloween party.

Get Worse to Get Better

I want you to think back to the time in your life just before you began training martial arts and visualize a scenario in which you may have been attacked at that point in your life. 

Maybe you started training when you were a teenager, and a realistic scenario might be someone giving you a hard time in high school. 

Or maybe you started training martial arts during your twenties, and a realistic scenario might be someone that’s had a little too much to drink at the bar you’re at with some friends. 

Or maybe you began training in your forties, and a realistic scenario is that someone having a bad day has a case of road rage and gets out of the car to teach you a lesson!

Now, let’s imagine how that scenario goes down and how you might have responded to the attack, assuming that you can’t get away and the attack was physical. You haven’t learned how to throw a proper punch yet or how to parry a strike. You haven’t learned how to take down an aggressive opponent or escape from the mount. You haven’t learned how to prevent being killed by a knife-wielding attacker.

I am proposing that it’s possible you would have done better defending yourself in that scenario than you would have after taking a few martial arts classes.

“WHAT!?” “THAT’S OUTRAGEOUS!” “WHY AM I TRAINING THEN?”

Stay with me for a minute. The ultimate level of mastery in the martial arts is when we are performing the techniques taught to us without thought. In the Chinese arts, this is called “mushin.” 

It is highly unlikely that you will have achieved mastery with your martial arts abilities within a few months of training. Therefore if you are in the same scenarios we thought of above, but with a little bit of martial arts training, it is highly possible that you will hesitate and think about what you should do. What techniques are you going to use? 

In that moment of hesitation and thought, we could be overrun and beat up.

You may have fared better had you been attacked before you began your martial arts training because you would not have thought about what to do. When the attacker threw a punch, you would not have thought about how to block it because no one would have ever taught you how to block it. Therefore you would have just reacted with some flinch response. And whatever that response is, would have been better than hesitating while you were trying to come up with the perfect response.

Now, of course, there is still a high percentage chance you would not have handled the situation well without any training and be beat up or worse. All I'm saying is that it's possible that you could do worse with just a little training than had you done none at all.

Over time, we will train your automatic responses to be effective and efficient responses of a martial arts master. These will eventually become your reflexes. How long?

Somewhere between 20 to 10,000 hours. 😉 More on that here - 

http://www.pmaoakridge.com/blog/hours

Bruce Lee used to explain this by saying that before you begin training, a punch is just a punch. Then, you start training and realize a punch is much more than you thought! You now are thinking about how you stand when you punch, how your body moves, which part of your fist to make contact with, what to do after you punch, and more! At some point, you train long enough that a punch goes back to just being a punch. Those other details are still there, of course, but they’ve reached the point of mushin which means you aren’t thinking about them anymore - you are just throwing a punch.

This level of skill is IMPOSSIBLE in the beginning stages of training as the techniques have not been repeated enough for this to be possible. It is for this reason that at our academy students do not spar with each other until later in their training when they have had an opportunity to develop a solid foundation of proper technique, control, and reflexes - which will then be enhanced by sparring, not hampered by it.

If caught in a scenario like the ones listed above, remember that all 3 of these were scenarios involving ego and can often easily be avoided. If you are caught in a scenario that cannot be avoided, try your best not to hesitate.

The key will be to just fight. 

Should We Teach Children How to Fight?

When watching kids play, you’ll often see one lose his temper when he doesn’t get his way. The feeling that arises when he doesn’t get his way is completely normal and okay, what we aren’t okay with is the reaction to lash out at the other child in response to that feeling.

Adults aren’t any different. When you watch a sporting event, you’ll often see tempers get the best of the athletes and fights break out during what was supposed to be a game. In some sports, like hockey (one of my family’s favorites!), the fighting aspect may even be encouraged. The crowd goes crazy, and some argue that it even has a place in the game so that the bigger, tougher guys on the team can stand up for the smaller, skill-based players when they take a big hit or are getting roughed up by the opposing team trying to slow them down.

When two kids fight, you’ll often hear the adults say, “they're just kids,” or, “boys will be boys." I'd like to argue, though, that they're just human. Adults and kids alike!

Fighting is a natural part of life, and unfortunately, children may sometimes be put into situations where they need to stand up for themselves or a smaller, weaker child. Teaching them how to fight should be an essential part of their childhood.

However, it is not because we want them to fight.

We teach our kids how to fight so that they don’t have to. When training martial arts, the most important things you learn are how to respect everyone (including your opponent), how to control your actions (even when you are angry), and who you are at your core. How do you respond to stressful scenarios? Do you run? Do you stand up and fight? Do you let your pride get the best of you? How do you walk away from a fight? When should you walk away from a fight?

These questions are all critical for a child to answer for themselves, and martial arts training will help guide them to the answers on their own. No one will sit down and tell them the answers. They have to come to them on their own.

How? Through learning how to fight.

Next Thursday, September 14 we are canceling all of our kids’ classes for the night and holding a free bullying prevention class from 4-6 PM open to the public. We would like all of our youth students ages 6 & up to attend this class and invite some friends to also. 

Our space is limited, so please reserve your spot at the link below (even current students should reserve their place). We encourage parents to attend this class also, as we will talk about some valuable information that you and your children should discuss at home so that you are on the same page when it comes to how they will handle these challenging scenarios that are bound to happen.

CounterBully: More Information and Reserve Your Spot Online - 

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/counterbully-seminar-tickets-37441138453