What is the collar tie in MMA?

The collar tie is a clinch grip where the attacker's hand is on the back of the opponent's neck or upper traps. It is considered the most fundamental upper-body clinch position and the entry point for almost every other clinch technique in MMA.

What are the key mechanics of a single collar tie?

Mechanics include placing the lead hand on the back of the neck with fingers gripping and palm providing leverage, pinching the lead elbow against the opponent's collarbone or upper chest, and keeping the head into the opponent's shoulder rather than aligned with their centerline.

What techniques can be set up from a collar tie?

The collar tie serves as a setup for Thai plum, snap-downs, ankle picks, dirty boxing, and knee strikes. It allows the attacker to break the opponent's posture and control their head to execute these attacks.

What are common errors when using a collar tie?

Common errors include gripping only the neck instead of the upper traps, flaring the elbow wide which allows the opponent to pummel inside, aligning the head with the opponent's centerline which exposes the neck, and holding a static grip without working an attack.

How can a fighter defend against a collar tie?

Defenses include pummeling for an underhook to break the grip, posting a forearm across the attacker's neck or chest to create distance, driving a forearm across the attacker's face for a cross-face, rotating hips away from the attacker, or stepping off-line.

Collar Tie

A clinch grip where one hand is on the back of the opponent's neck. Used to control posture and set up knees, dirty boxing, or takedowns.

3 min readUpdated May 17, 2026

In Short

The collar tie is a fundamental clinch grip where the hand is placed on the back of the opponent's neck or upper traps, serving as the entry point for techniques like Thai plum, dirty boxing, and takedowns. It requires specific mechanics including elbow pinching and head positioning to control posture and set up attacks.

On this page (8)

The fundamental clinch grip
Mechanics
What the collar tie is for
Common errors
Defense
Variations
Exemplified by
Drills

The fundamental clinch grip

The collar tie is a clinch grip where the attacker's hand is on the back of the opponent's neck or upper traps. It's the most fundamental upper-body clinch position and the entry point for almost every other clinch technique in MMA — Thai plum, dirty boxing, snap-downs, ankle picks, knee strikes, and takedown entries all start from or pass through some form of collar tie.

The collar tie can be unilateral (one hand only — "single collar tie") or bilateral (both hands behind the head — the Thai plum / double collar tie).

Mechanics

From striking range, entering a single collar tie:

Hand position: lead hand on the back of the opponent's neck, gripping the neck or upper traps. The fingers grip; the palm provides leverage.
Elbow position: lead elbow pinched against the opponent's collarbone or upper chest. The pinch creates a frame that controls posture.
Head position: head into the opponent's shoulder, never aligned with their centerline (which exposes the neck to guillotine).
Hip position: hips engaged with the opponent's hips, weight distributed forward.
Off-side hand: typically gripping the opponent's wrist, bicep, or fighting for an underhook.

What the collar tie is for

Posture control: a deep collar tie with a tight elbow pinch breaks the opponent's posture, forcing them to defend the head pull rather than attack offensively.
Setup for Thai plum: the single collar tie converts to the double collar tie when the off-side hand also reaches behind the head.
Setup for snap-down: the collar tie enables the posture-breaking snap-down technique.
Setup for ankle pick: the collar tie pulls the opponent forward; the ankle pick exploits the forward weight commitment.
Setup for dirty boxing: the collar tie controls the opponent's head while the off-side hand fires short hooks and uppercuts.
Setup for knee strikes: the collar tie pulls the opponent's head down; the knee strikes the body or face.

Common errors

Grip on the neck only: gripping just the neck (rather than the upper traps and back of the skull) gives the opponent leverage to posture up.
Elbow flared wide: a wide elbow lets the opponent pummel inside for an underhook.
Head outside the shoulder: aligning the head with the opponent's centerline exposes the neck.
Static collar tie: holding the grip without working an attack gives the referee reason to break for inactivity.

Defense

Underhook: pummeling for the underhook on the side of the collar tie to break the grip.
Frame: posting a forearm across the attacker's neck or chest to create distance.
Cross-face: driving a forearm across the attacker's face to disrupt their head position.
Hip out: rotating the hips away from the attacker's centerline.
Step off-line: angling out from the attacker's lead foot.

Variations

Single collar tie: one hand only, with the off-side hand fighting for grips.
Double collar tie: both hands behind the head (Thai plum).
Reach collar tie: the lead hand reaching across the opponent's neck rather than around the back.
Underhook collar tie: a hybrid where the lead hand is on the back of the neck while the off-side hand is underhooking.

Exemplified by

Anderson Silva: collar-tie-into-Thai-plum entries that produced the Rich Franklin knee KOs.
Randy Couture: dirty-boxing from single-collar-tie positions against Vitor Belfort and Chuck Liddell.
Khabib Nurmagomedov: collar tie as the entry to chain-wrestling takedowns.
Aljamain Sterling: collar-tie-and-snap-down setups for back-takes.

Drills

Pummel drill: cooperative pummeling work where both partners alternate getting and breaking the collar tie.
Collar tie posture work: defender resists posture pull; attacker drills the technique.
Collar-tie to attack chain: from the collar tie, drill the Thai plum entry, the snap-down, the ankle pick, and the underhook conversion.
Live clinch sparring: 3 × 3 min rounds starting with a collar tie position.

Fighters Who Exemplify This Technique

Jon Jones

"Bones"

Heavyweight (formerly Light Heavyweight) · UFC

More clinch techniques

Dirty Boxing

Close-range punching from a single-collar-tie or under-overhook clinch. Randy Co

Knee Strike

A knee thrown from clinch range — to the body, thigh, or (when the opponent isn'

Over-Under

A neutral clinch position where each fighter has one underhook and one overhook.

Thai Plum (Double Collar Tie)

A dominant clinch position where both hands lock behind the opponent's head, con

Underhook

A clinch grip where one arm is under the opponent's armpit, with the hand on the

Frequently Asked

What is the collar tie in MMA?: The collar tie is a clinch grip where the attacker's hand is on the back of the opponent's neck or upper traps. It is considered the most fundamental upper-body clinch position and the entry point for almost every other clinch technique in MMA.
What are the key mechanics of a single collar tie?: Mechanics include placing the lead hand on the back of the neck with fingers gripping and palm providing leverage, pinching the lead elbow against the opponent's collarbone or upper chest, and keeping the head into the opponent's shoulder rather than aligned with their centerline.
What techniques can be set up from a collar tie?: The collar tie serves as a setup for Thai plum, snap-downs, ankle picks, dirty boxing, and knee strikes. It allows the attacker to break the opponent's posture and control their head to execute these attacks.
What are common errors when using a collar tie?: Common errors include gripping only the neck instead of the upper traps, flaring the elbow wide which allows the opponent to pummel inside, aligning the head with the opponent's centerline which exposes the neck, and holding a static grip without working an attack.
How can a fighter defend against a collar tie?: Defenses include pummeling for an underhook to break the grip, posting a forearm across the attacker's neck or chest to create distance, driving a forearm across the attacker's face for a cross-face, rotating hips away from the attacker, or stepping off-line.