Crazy Monkey Defense

Clinching

Here's to record some of the things we've worked on.

The Entry: Coming close in with your hand guards connecting almost dead on to each other. To get into this distance, use CM2.

The Half Necktie: Snake one of your hand in between his guard around his neck and with your hands cupped onto the crown of his head. Your forearm should be in contact with his neck. Maintaining the necktie requires you to drive forward pressure from the elbow area into the neck rather than trying to to force him down with your arm.

This should be utilized with strikes to the face which can be simple punches, hooks or even uppercuts.

Completing the Necktie: While retaining firm control of your half necktie, only then attempt to snake in the other hand. It is ideal to still go inside the guard but in practice may be difficult so sometimes it's ok to go outside the guard. As long as you have either hand inside, you can establish a solid grip. Do the same thing as the first necktie except place your remaining hand on top of the hand of the first necktie. Rest your chin on your hands and make sure to focus on squeezing your elbows together. Shoulders should be relaxed.

Upon establishing a successful complete necktie, then you can proceed to knee him.

In practice it's sometimes possible to surprise someone with both hands outside his guard and then snake one in but it was not so reliable especially if the other guy knew what he was diong.

An interesting thing I learnt from watching Randy Couture is how he used the half necktie. As the person tries to square up to get out of the necktie, you pull him a bit toward you and then switch to the other side to get the opposite necktie. Playing around with it, it was quite effective but it remains important to continue to be trying to punch the head.

Another tactic I found particularly effective is to CM2 and then ram the person with my guard. As he is pushed back I throw punches forward.