Hand fighting is the negotiation that decides who gets to attack. Every tie trades something: a collar tie gives you head control but exposes your elbow, an underhook buys the shoulder but invites a whizzer, and a two-on-one removes an arm at the cost of your own posture. The wrestler who keeps their hands inside, their elbows tight, and their feet moving usually dictates when contact turns into an attack, and from which angle.
Key points
- Inside position decides most exchanges: hands inside the opponent's arms control the shoulders and the direction their hips can travel.
- A collar tie grips the back of the head or the trapezius and pulls down and across, breaking posture rather than the neck.
- Two-on-one control captures a wrist and an elbow on the same arm, removing half the opponent's defense before you attack.
- An underhook lifts the far shoulder and turns it; keep your head tight to theirs so the whizzer has nothing to grab.
- Break grips at the thumb side while stepping your hips away, rather than pulling straight back against the strength of the whole arm.
Common mistakes
- Hanging on a collar tie without moving your feet, which lets the opponent post on the elbow and attack under your extended arm.
- Fighting hands with tension instead of motion, which drains your forearms and still leaves you standing in the same neutral position.
- Letting both hands drift to the outside, which surrenders the inside line and lets the opponent turn a corner toward your back.
Put it into practice
Inside position rounds
- Pummel for inside position with a partner for two minutes, no attacks allowed, restarting from a neutral tie each time.
- Add a rule that whenever you win inside control you must break contact and reset, so the objective stays position.
- Spend one minute in each specific tie — collar, two-on-one, underhook — practicing only the grip break.
- Finish with two minutes in which whoever establishes an underhook may step to the back and stop there.
tieshand controlinside positionpummeling