Yodkhunpon's Fast, Trapping Anti-Clinch Reversal from Outside Position - (8 min, public)

Above is 8 minutes of Yodkhunpon teaching his clinch reversal from the recent session: #156 Yodkhunpon "The Elbow Hunter" Sittraipum - 5 | offensive teeping, clinch reversals, elbow defense (1 hr, 28 min). Below are just a few personal notes on the technique and why I find it so beautiful.

watch the Yodkhunpon full MTL session here

Some background thoughts on this clinch reversal:

Yodkhunpon and Samson Issan

three legends hangin'

I wanted to take a minute out to talk about some of the context surrounding this clinch reversal that Yodkhunpon teaches. We've been exposed to and documented a great variety of clinch techniques in filming the Muay Thai Library, and had not run into this one. I would be surprised if it isn't something that Yodkhunpon himself developed, his own spin on reveral, fast-change principles, we've seen elsewhere, expressive of himself. Something to know about Yodkhunpon, the famed Elbow Hunter, is that he came out of rural Roi Et, out of meager circumstances, but once he got to a main gym in Roi Et after local success in temple/festival fighting he was the gymmate of the irrepressible Samson Isaan. Their success in the ring would run roughly parallel. Samson would win FOTY in 1991, Yodkhunpon would hold the 118 lb Rajadamnern and Lumpinee belts simultaneously in 1992, if I recall. (if you don't know Samson please look him up, we have several sessions in the Muay Thai Library.) Known for his "big lungs" a tiny body, Samson was a runner. That is to say, to this day he LOVES running. You can train and run with him in Ayutthaya if you like. Clinch training with Samson must have been a complete nightmare. He was tireless, small and short - just watch him pop off the canvas in his fight vs Thongchai, legend on legend, or his fight triologies vs Lakhin or Pepsi. His style is simply endless. This is to say, I suspect that Yodkhunpon developed something of an antipathy towards clinch -- just because he had to clinch with Samson Isaan. This is just my own private thought, but something I enjoy imagining. Although a Muay Khao fighter himself with dangerous knees that were set up by his elbow attacks, Yodkhunpon does not have the same relationship to the clinch that many Muay Khao greats do. He kind of, I don't know, repells it, has a forcefield of dynamic movement within it. Sylvie has sparred with Yodkhunpon almost daily for more than 5 years now...and even today he has something of an antipathy towards it, full of subtle shrugs, shoulderings, slipper pivots. This - at least from my perspective - is what is so beautiful about this technique. He imposes a severe and quite fast reversal of the clinch involving deep angle change, and arm-switching, that I suspect came out of his unique and mixed relationship to the clinch...Something more to say is that great fighters in the Muay Thai Library are not only showing their style, their techniques from their fighting days, the Library is also a documentation of their thoughts about Muay Thai and their style over the many years since they have left the ring. Someone like Yodkhunpon is continually developing in his mind, reflecting on his own weaknesses as a fighter, taking in styles or elements of fighters that gave him difficulty, or have had success since. What we find in the Muay Thai Library isn't actually a "Time Capsule", its the living record of a man's thoughts about Muay Thai, and the elaboration of his own training and fighting experiences. This reversal needs to be understood in this way.

Outside Position and The Pretzel

Another thing 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 overlay...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 suspeect 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 in somethign of a stall while still appearing active, throwing knees, timing for a trip, but kind of neutrally trading. Tiring swimming, neck control, struggle over inside position and framing is avoided. In training partners it can become a default "start" position in training, one putting their arms out on the shoulders (double inside position), and the other then pretzeling over. Some attacks have creatively developed out of it, but constantly struggle for position and leverage, 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.

Karuhat has been staying with us rehabbing his ACL and I tried to get a photograph of the pretzel with Sylvie, but honestly he just kept countering the position and taking the BETTER nullifying position, I couldn't even get a photograph of it. Instead here Karuhat shows the initial control at the low bicep and elbow joint, which allows you to control and steer one arm or the other, and refuses any effective over loop. It honestly was pretty remarkable to see him steer, slip and swim and catch the elbow joint over and over, even when we were trying to get him NOT too. It just shows how this fundamental principle is kind of lost or eroded to Muay Thai, this is a first reaction for him.

Hey, this is just my theory...but, what is really cool about Yodkhunon's reversal is that it creates a dynamic attack out of a weak outside position that is now become quite common, part of Muay Thai's historical development, and also reaches back into Yodkhupon's own beautiful Muay. It means that you can "pretzel" from the outside, and still find yourself in a great position. The move also introduces great principles of deep pivots, edge attack, and ambidextrous arm control shifts (something Dieselnoi teaches), which can lead to an entire family of clinch breaking, or clinch slipping attacks other than this. It is really a beautiful technique.

--- Kevin

A few sessions in the Library related to these pivots and the advantage of angles in general:

#131 Panomtuanlek Hapalang - The Secret of Tidal Knees (100 min) watch it here

Called Mr. Tidal Knees, Panomtuanlek completes the trinity of Muay Khao greatness documented from the famed Hapalang gym. This is such a rare and beautiful session, perhaps Top 10 in the entire Library. Panomtuanlek teaches his base of movement and postures which allowed him to become one of the most dominant Muay Khao fighters of the Golden Age.

#150 Lamnammoon Sor Sumalee #2 - Muay Khao Timing (!), Space & Structure (1 hr, 42 min) watch it here

One of the least understood fighting styles in Muay Thai is Golden Age Muay Khao. One of the difficulties is learning how important timing and tempo is to the style. We explore with the Golden Age legend of knee fighting Lamnammoon in our 2nd session with him. Learn how dominance is imposed through pace, balance, protection and insisted but well-timed pressure.

#136 Lamnammoon Sor. Sumalee #1 | Relentless, Spearing, Ripping Muay Khao (92 mins) watch it here or podcast here

In this special sessions one of the great legends of Muay Khao, Mr. Vampire Knees, Lamanmmoon teaches his very particular spearing and attacking Knee Fighting style. He came out of the teaching tree of the famed Hapalang gym, and developed a relentless, quick burst, smothering style. A must watch for any knee fighting enthusiast.

#65 Namsaknoi Yudthagarngamtorn 1 - Sharking The Angles (67 min) watch it here

The Emperor. Fighter of the Year in 1996 and 6 years undefeated as Lumpinee Champion, one of the greatest fighters ever teaches his incredible edge-attacking style. He shows how he is always one step ahead of his opponent, setting them up in a constantly evolving attack.