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Philios
Philios's picture
Using Your Head in the Clinch

So most of us have probably seen Iain's explanation of the opening salutation in Naihanchi.  The particular part about using your own head to turn the opponent's head and control was really fascinating to me as I practise Tekki Shodan, which does not demonstrate the pushing down on the head nor the turning of the head.

 

There was a video I came across today which has professional Muay Thai fighter, Sylvie Von Duuglas discussing using the head or the "9th limb" in Muay Thai.  I thought she covered some important points about the nuances of using your head in the clinch to better control your opponent, particularly weakening structure, protecting your vital targets, and, of course, inflicting pain.

Anyway, I thought it would be worth sharing with you guys, as the first thing I thought to myself when I saw it was "Naihanchi!".

Cheers,

Phil

Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy's picture

Philios wrote:
So most of us have probably seen Iain's explanation of the opening salutation in Naihanchi.  The particular part about using your own head to turn the opponent's head and control was really fascinating to me as I practise Tekki Shodan, which does not demonstrate the pushing down on the head nor the turning of the head.

Motobu includes that motion in his writing; although it is omitted from some books purporting to show Motobu’s version of the kata. I once visited the home of martial historian Graham Nobel and we talked about this. Otsuka (founder of Wado) claims in his book that the Wado version of the form is largely Motobu’s version with some of Otuska’s own tweaks. I was taking about this with Graham and remarked that the head turn must be one of the “tweaks” because Motobu does not show it in his book. Graham asked “Which version of the book have you got?”. To which I replied, “I’m guessing the wrong one” :-) Graham returned with an old copy of the book showing Motobu doing the head turn as found in Wado-Ryu.

You can see it here when Motobu’s son does that kata too:

 

My take on that is also found in this video (were the sound is a little better):

 

Philios wrote:
There was a video I came across today which has professional Muay Thai fighter, Sylvie Von Duuglas discussing using the head or the "9th limb" in Muay Thai ...

Very good! Thanks for sharing!

All the best,

Iain

PASmith
PASmith's picture

For using the head in the clinch it's well worth looking at some of the MMA guys with a Greco roman wrestling background. Someone like Jon Jones uses his head all the time in the clinch as Sylvie explains in her video. Grinding it into the face and jaw to stand his opponent up, break posture and hide his head from strikes. The tricky thing with lowering your head, which is less of a consideration in Thai, is being open to a snap down takedown or entry into a guillotine or front headlock.

JD
JD's picture

Hi Philios,

It's incredible you've create this thread, only last night was I in an over and under position but with chests touching in close up, when I kept stressing to myself about using my head (top and corners of forehead mainly) into my opponents jaw, face and temple area to create space in order to throw, trip etc. 

I believe when close clinch work is used, utilizing the head in order to control, put off and make space for setting up finishes is really important. 

Great vids and thanks for taking the time to add them, this post was timed spot on for me. 

As for what PASmith put regarding snap downs as a disadvantage of using the head, I've never really had that issue and can't feel it being a major concern, I guess if you're really low down with your arse stuck out it might be a consideration, but even then with your head wedged into your opponent grinding away, is a neck drag or snap down going to be a likely thing an opponent would go for? Maybe so? 

Only time I've had a neck pull down is in BJJ (no gi) when starting from standing and fighting for grips, you tend to see BJJ fighters arch their backs and bend from the lower back whilst having relatively straight legs (shallow stance) when engaging opponents, this makes your weight distribution off with your weight being past and over your legs, making the snap down a really easy and an effective choice. 

Little details like this can make a huge difference to someone's clinch game, self defence and overall outcome when grappling, love it! If anyone's got any other techniques or details like this (using the head) please share!

All the best 

JD

deltabluesman
deltabluesman's picture

Phil,

Great find!  Thanks for sharing this.

--J