Tanadet Tor. Pran49 - Mastering Long Clinch (63 min)

About two years ago I wrote a public post on the extraordinary Long Clinch of Tanadet Tor. Pran49. If you read that post you'll get deeper insight into what is being taught in this session.

This is a unique session for a couple of reasons. Firstly, Tanadet is a contemporary fighter who has experienced great success at Rajadamnern and Lumpinee in Bangkok with his clinch and knee style. But secondly, in this session we focus on a single technique, one that Tanadet has turned into an art form to itself: the “long clinch.” This is a positional technique that in flashes is found in the clinch of a lot of Thai fighters, especially those in the North, but Tanadet had explored the position and taken it to an entirely different level. He became Long Clinch specialist, maybe how an MMA fighter might become an arm bar or guillotine choke specialist. So this Muay Thai Library session gets to document an entire, newly developed branch of Muay Thai clinch. That is very exciting stuff. And, you can go to Chiang Mai today and train it with him, just as I did. It can be very effective especially as most fighters seldom train against it. 

I first became aware of Tanadet when he was still just a young teenager. He was part of a gym in Chiang Mai that would come to the gym I was training at – Lanna Muay Thai – in order to let Tanadet clinch with our older, experienced Thai boys. I knew him then as Poda, which is his play name, and he was remarkable. Not only did he hang in with much bigger, more experienced fighters with his clinch style, but his dedication and diligence made the trainers at my gym say out loud, “when I have a gym, I want 10 kids just like him.” Poda’s trainer would tell him to knee the bag for however many repetitions or however long and then literally get on his motorbike and leave, trusting that Poda would finish out the work. And he always did. That’s Muay Khao. Later, Poda was sold to a gym in Sriracha (between Bangkok and Pattaya), where he became Tanadet Tor. Pran49. I’d already seen glimpses of his Long Clinch style when he was just a young teenager dropping in to Lanna here and there. But he really brought it into something incredible in the first couple years that he became a steady Bangkok Stadium fighter. I even did a film study of his Long Clinch, which you can see here. I’ve tried to imitate it and steal from it myself, but the opportunity to actually learn it directly from Tanadet was something I am really, really excited about. So here it is. We spent the entire session just working on the Long Clinch, because you have to feel it. You have to lock it into place and then learn how to relax in that lock. There are body positions and head positions, rotations of the arms and shoulders that all make it work. And strength of the legs is so important. I’ve seen other fighter use the Long Clinch, and it does seem something of a “northern” technique in terms of where you’ll see it. But most fighters us it as a transitional, or temporary position. Not Tanadet. He made it the Home Run position and I can absolutely feel why – both from the receiving end (cannot get out) and the times I was able to get close to it in our session (I felt unmovable). What to look out for:

1. Watch Tanadet’s legs – they are so strong and all the movement in this position comes from the legs. The knees are bent and he’s in a squatted, sitting position with his back straight. They stay so wide and every step he takes is meaningful; none of them are “extra”.
2. Overall position: keep obsessing over the overall position that Tanadet is in when he’s fully locked in. I compare it to if you grabbed a rope or bar and then “sat back” to stretch out your shoulders. His back is straight, his arms are straight and his head is tucked between his arms – right to the ears – and the only bends are at his hips and his knees. He’s on his toes all the time.
3. Rotate the hands: when Tanadet goes long he rotates the tops of his hands toward each other, so the shoulders roll inward and he can relax them, rather than using actual muscular strength to stay in the lock.
4. The 4 Guard: I don’t ever actually get this, so watch him a lot. He keeps one arm straight and the other one creates the “4” across the back of the opponent’s head, locking them in. He can pull that bar closer to his own head or farther away, like a zip-tie along the length of his arm, in order to stay in position.
5. The Head is Everything: Tanadet tucks his head into the jaw/neck of his opponent and forces it upward. Forcing the opponent’s head up puts them in a position where they can’t use their full strength, as well as pressing them into a position where they can’t really see or keep their base wide enough to not be thrown. You control everything with your head, and it hurts the opponent. They will be contorted by the pain.
6. Clinch Entry: Tanadet tells me over and over how you get into this lock via very normal clinch exchanges. You use  your shoulders and arms to control the opponent’s arms, which is what you do to land knees, keep them from locking you, etc. It’s the number one thing any trainer will yell at you about, is controlling the arms. So you do that until you get a clean shot at the neck. You can peel the opponent’s arms down and then, like a bear-trap, the Long Clinch just snaps shut around their neck.
7. Keep Moving: the way you keep the referee from breaking any clinch is by staying active. Because this is a lock, they want to break it fast, but if you keep moving there’s nothing they can do and you can keep scoring. So watch Tanadet’s pulls and pushes, turns and footwork to keep this all moving. He also said it makes the opponent’s counters or attempts to score look “mua,” which means muddled or unclear; it makes them look desperate.  And you feel kind desperate, honestly.

If you want to get a good picture of what Tanadet's Long Clinch looks like, I do urge you to watch the video we made a few years ago, a lengthy edit of his use of it throughout his career thus far, click here to watch it.

watch it here 

TIP BOX: If you benefited from this session you can send a donation, tip or monetary thank you to Tanadet who would sincerely appreciate it: Just message $5 or more via PayPal to the address sylvie@8limbs.us, please in the "add a note" section specify "for Tanadet". I will transfer the funds.

KRU FUND: additionally, 5% of all Patreon pledges go into my Kru Fund, and is directed back to the Krus and ex-fighters who have helped make this documentary Library possible: http://8limbs.us/muay-thai-thailand/starting-the-kru-fund

If you enjoyed this session you might also like these Muay Thai Library sessions as well:

#48 Dieselnoi Chor. Thanasukarn - Jam Session  (80 min) watch it here 

Possibly the greatest fighter who ever lived, Dieselnoi, teaches his fighting tactics and strategy, keys to winning as a Muay Khao fighter. He is accompanied by Rajadamnern Featherweight champion Nopidej Sor. Reodi, so you get to see see the interaction between two related philosophies of the Muay Khao style. This session could be watched and studied over and over.

#45 Langsuan Panyutapum - Monster Muay Khao Training (66 min) watch it here 

One of the greatest knee fighters who ever fought, 1987 Fighter of the Year Langsuan shows how an elite Muay Khao fighter of his day trained. This session is powerful on the basics that elevate the body and mind, at high repetition, allowing the relentless, pressing style that made Langsuan the fighter nobody wanted to fight.

#42  Boraphet Pinsinchai - Muay Khao Fighting Techniques (50 min) watch it here 

Kru Ten is probably the best Muay Khao (knee fighting) private in Thailand, and one of the best in the Muay Thai Library. He not only is expert at clearly illustrating techniques, he has a perfect energy pace in his instruction.

#30 Dieselnoi Chor Thanasukarn 2 - Muay Khao Craft  (42 min) watch it here 

The greatest knee fighter who ever lived not only shares his secrets in ring tactics - how to draw out your opponent and then ultimately hem them in - and various closing and tripping techniques, he also shows his amazing heart. He's a Legend among Legends, the fighter without equal in the history of the sport.

#23 Boraphet Pinsinchai - Muay Khao Mastery (64 min) watch it here 

Kru Ten (Boraphet Pinsinchai) lives and breathes the Muay Khao fight style, and in this session just unfolds a treasure of interlocking techniques, all of which express what I would call his "sticky" style. Trips, counters, locks, elbows the list is extensive, almost too much to fit into an hour.

#10 The Clinch Techniques of Yodwicha - Session 2 (34 min) watch it here 

This is my second session with Yodwicha, you can see the first further down below. This one really gets into the specifics of clinch technique and defense. One of the best clinch fighters in Thailand, co-Fighter of the Year, sharing his unique attack style.

#4 Yodwicha - Clinch and Muay Khao (Knee) Specialist (35 min) - watch it here 

Yodwich shared the Fighter of the Year award as only a 16 year old, and his success in the Lumpinee ring made him one of the most feared clinch fighters in Thailand. In this session he goes through his favorite Muay Khao techniques, shows why he prefers side-attack locks, and turns. 

Remember, you can browse the Table of Contents of ALL the Muay Thai Library archive here.