Underhook

The dominant clinch grip

The underhook is the most dominant single-arm clinch position. The attacker's arm runs under the opponent's armpit, with the hand on the upper back. The position creates leverage to control the opponent's posture, prevent them from striking with that arm, and set up takedowns and back-takes.

A single underhook gives the attacker positional advantage; double underhooks (both arms under) is one of the strongest clinch positions in MMA.

Mechanics

From an over-under clinch position (where each fighter has one underhook):

• Arm position: arm goes under the opponent's arm (between their bicep and chest), with the hand on the upper back at shoulder-blade level.
• Elbow position: elbow high and tight, pinching the opponent's arm against their body.
• Head position: head into the opponent's chest or shoulder, never aligned with the centerline.
• Hip position: hips engaged with the opponent's hips, weight forward.

What the underhook is for

• Posture control: a high underhook lifts the opponent's arm and prevents them from striking with it.
• Setup for back-take: a deep underhook combined with a step behind the opponent leads directly to back control.
• Setup for takedowns: dropping levels through an underhook produces high-percentage single-leg and double-leg entries.
• Defensive grip: the underhook prevents the opponent from establishing dominant clinch positions like double underhooks or the Thai plum.
• Wall pressure: against the cage, the underhook gives the attacker leverage to walk the opponent along the wall.

Common errors

• Hand low on the back: gripping at rib-cage level rather than at shoulder-blade level reduces leverage.
• Elbow low: a low elbow lets the opponent pummel inside.
• Loss of head position: the head needs to stay into the opponent's chest or shoulder.
• Static underhook: holding the position without attacking gives the referee reason to break.

Defense

• Counter-underhook: pummeling for the underhook on the opposite side.
• Whizzer: overhooking the attacker's arm with the same-side arm.
• Frame and circle: posting hands on the attacker's biceps and circling out.
• Cross-face: driving a forearm across the attacker's face.

Variations

• Single underhook: one arm only.
• Double underhooks: both arms under. The most dominant standing clinch position.
• Deep underhook: the underhook arm extends past the opponent's shoulder, gripping the back of the opposite shoulder.
• Whizzer-and-underhook scramble: when both fighters have one underhook and one overhook (the over-under position).

Exemplified by

• Cain Velasquez: underhook-and-fence-pressure heavyweight wrestling.
• Khabib Nurmagomedov: underhook-into-takedown entries that defined his chain wrestling.
• Daniel Cormier: double underhooks pressure-and-takedown game.
• Kamaru Usman: underhook-and-back-take welterweight title-defense work.

Drills

• Pummel drill: constant pummeling work where both partners alternate getting and losing the underhook.
• Underhook to takedown chain: from the underhook, drill the single-leg, double-leg, and body-lock takedown options.
• Underhook to back-take: drill the chain from underhook → step-behind → back control.
• Live clinch sparring: 3 × 3 min rounds where both partners fight for the underhook.