How to Get Out of Double Underhooks

Escaping the double underhook position in grappling or fighting requires strategic movement, posture control, and leverage. It's a dominant position for an opponent looking to control posture, initiate takedowns, or apply pressure. Successfully getting out involves defending your posture, creating space, and utilizing various techniques to neutralize their control.

Here's a breakdown of how to get out of double underhooks, incorporating insights into reacting when the grip is particularly strong.

Understanding the Double Underhooks Position

In double underhooks, your opponent has their arms underneath yours, controlling your torso and potentially linking their hands behind your back or gripping your waist. This gives them immense power to lift, drive, and dictate your movement. Your primary goals are to prevent them from collapsing your posture, establishing a strong base, and finding opportunities to break their control or transition to a more favorable position.

Key Principles for Escape

Several fundamental principles apply when attempting to escape double underhooks:

• Maintain Posture: Avoid letting your back round and head drop. Keep your spine straight and head up to resist being driven backward or lifted.
• Widen Your Base: Spread your feet to increase stability and make it harder for your opponent to sweep or lift you.
• Head Position: Drive your head into your opponent's chin or chest to create discomfort and posture control.
• Hand Fighting: Actively fight for hand and arm position to create space or set up your escape.
• Hip Movement: Use your hips to shift weight, create angles, and off-balance your opponent.

Common Escape Techniques

Here are several common methods used to escape double underhooks:

1. Pummeling

Pummeling involves using your arms to fight for inside control.

• Technique: Work one of your arms inside your opponent's underhook, turning it into an overhook. Simultaneously, try to gain an underhook on the other side. This "inside tie" position is much more neutral.
• Execution: This often involves shrugging your shoulders and using short, powerful movements to insert your arm past their control.

2. Creating Space & Striking

In fighting or self-defense contexts, creating space can allow for strikes.

• Technique: Push down on your opponent's arms or shoulders while simultaneously pushing off them and stepping back to create distance.
• Execution: This requires explosive movement and is often combined with striking to deter them from immediately re-engaging.

3. Utilizing Pockets to Enter (When Grip is Tight)

Based on the provided reference, a strategy when the opponent is holding the double underhook grip drastically and you're unable to break it conventionally is to "utilize these Pockets to just enter."

• Interpretation: This suggests looking for small openings or areas of less pressure ("Pockets") created by the opponent's tight grip and body position. Instead of solely focusing on breaking the grip force-on-force, you look for opportunities to transition ("enter") into a different situation using these openings.
• Practical Insight: "Entering" could mean initiating a specific counter-takedown (like a hip throw if space is created), transitioning to a different clinch position, or perhaps using the momentum of their drive against them. The specific "Pockets" and how to "enter" would depend on the opponent's exact grip and body mechanics, but the principle is to look for subtle opportunities rather than just brute-force grip breaking.

4. Head Control and Hip Pressure

Using your head and hips together can help break posture and create imbalances.

• Technique: Drive your head into your opponent's face or chest, while simultaneously using hip pressure to create an angle or step to the side.
• Execution: This breaks their alignment and makes their underhook control less effective.

5. Sit Out or Turn Away

If the opponent is driving forward, you can sometimes use their momentum.

• Technique: Drop your hips and turn your back slightly away from the driving force, aiming to spin out of the underhooks.
• Execution: This is risky as it exposes your back, but can be effective if timed correctly with their forward movement.

Summary Table: Double Underhook Escape Strategies

Successfully escaping double underhooks requires constant awareness, strong posture, and the ability to transition between defensive and offensive movements. Practice these techniques to react effectively based on your opponent's actions.