Dominating Clinch Details With Anderson Silva
In this video, former UFC Middleweight champion and one of the greatest fighters of all time, Anderson Silva shows us a method he used to dominate the clinch in his fights. In the beginning of the technique breakdown Silva talks about the importance of the head and head control and how where the head is pointed the body will follow.
This is the basic premises behind the Muay Thai clinch, also known as the plum position and the double collar tie. Silva then demonstrates on his partner how this principle works by forcing his partner's head to tilt left and right, as well as forwards and backwards. Doing this breaks your opponent’s posture and takes away their balance, as your opponent will begin to fall in the direction that their head is tilting.
Knowing this principle goes a long way to helping a fighter control in the clinch and even in wrestling and grappling situations. Silva then goes into a practical use for this principle in the clinch. Sliva lets his partner get the Muay Thai clinch on him and demonstrates how the principle that he just outlined can be used to counter this clinch position.
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Whil;e still in the double collar tie position, Silva reaches with his right arm and crosses over his opponent's face and places it on his opponent's right temple. Silva then runs his left arm in between his opponent's arms and places his left hand on top of his right. This same principle applies when attempting to do it with the other hand just on the opposite side.
Now with his hands in place Silva is able to push downwards on his opponent, which breaks his posture. If you use this principle in the way Anderson shows it, not only will you be able to get yourself out of a bad position but also put your opponent in an even worse one where you can strike.
From this position of head control, you are able to throw devastatin knees to the body, which is wide open as your opponent will likely be surprised by this move and be stuck in that position with their hands on your head with their arms stretched out. Silva also talks about targeting the arms and the armpit, which are body parts that the vast majority of even very experienced fighters never target. Your opponent is also open to quick, slicing elbows to their temple, as you are framing out with your hands, it becomes easy to let your hand slip and come down with that elbow.
This position also opens up your opponent to a lot of sweeps and trips, as they are already off balance tilting to the side. This means they won’t need too much effort to sweep, simply just put your leg or foot out in front of theirs and push them over it. This position will also loosen their grip on your head and stretch out their arms, making their hold weaker. This makes it easy to escape if you are someone who does not want to work out of the clinch.
Silva ends this video by talking about how this is a create concept to know, as it is in every part of clinch fighting. Silva then states that your head controls your whole body and that if you control the head of your opponent, then you control them.
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