A very common place to end up in during a mixed-martial arts fight is the clinch. As well as a place that is very much untrained compared to being on the ground and striking. Here are 3 areas you should be thinking about when in the clinch in your MMA fight.
Knees.
Your hands are often times tied up, but you still have some great ways to damage opponents from in the clinch. Throw a few powerful knees to the abdomen or chest, take away your opponent's breath, and put them away. If you can knee them in the head, even better.
Throw knee after knee into your opponent's thigh area. This will take their punching power away throughout the match and sometimes leave them even in a standstill.
Elbows.
If you can unexpectedly release your arms you have another opportunity to raise havoc on your opponent. Utilize an elbow in this situation to dice up or contuse your opponent's face.
You are usually in close enough range to throw a solid elbow. Although you must have practiced this because the speed in which this needs to occur is very important.
Dirty Boxing.
Release one arm and start ploughing everything you got in close proximity to your opponent. Dirty boxing is exactly what its name implies, but can be incredibly effective.
Watch Shane Carwin and Frank Mir's battle for a good taste of dirty boxing. Also some old Dan Henderson or Randy Couture footage would display some good dirty boxing.
The clinch is a very important area to practice in mixed-martial arts. A good MMA strength and conditioning program will help you become stronger in many areas including the clinch.