Yodkhunpon's Fast Anti-Clinch, Arm-Trapping Reversal from Outside Position (8 min)
study Yodkhupon's trapping, clinch reversal here (8 min, public)
Talking about The Pretzel
Something about this reversal, which is pretty incredible, is that it comes from a fairly weak clinch position, the double outside position. It is fairly difficult to get a dominant moment out of the outside position. There are some beautiful trips that are available. You can control and knee. You can slip quickly into side clinch...but its a position with limited options. And - this is just my opinion - clinch training and technique has eroded so much over the last 10 years, the outside position has become increasingly common in the ring. You'll see the, I don't know what to call it, I call it "the pretzel", or maybe the "chicken wings" where the fighter folds his arms over, sewing them down to control the fighter with the inside position. This really isn't a position you find in Golden Age clinch much, and a knowledgeable friend tells me that he believes it started entering the ring in the 2010s, but only as a momentary transition position. But this Pretzel position has rising in part because fighters taking inside position no longer control at the elbow, and often rest on the high bicep just below the shoulder, opening up this counter...and I suspect that some of this "pretzeling" has proliferated because fighters no longer train clinch for extended hours under a very watchful, correcting eye. Fighters in Golden Age rings just didn't really "pretzel" very much. This pretzel is I suspect is common because two training mates now will pretzel in long practice hours and this is a pretty easy way for both fighters to rest while still appearing active, throwing knees, timing for a trip, but kind of neutrally trading. In training partners it becomes a default "start" position in training, one putting their arms out on the shoulders (double inside position), and the other then pretzeling over. The exhaustion of constantly swimming in, the trademark continuity of Golden Age snaking and shifting adjustments is no longer as present today. There's a lot of agreed-upon back and forth, and the preztel makes this possible... study the video and read the rest here
Posted Jun 13, 2025, 3:53 AM UTC