The arm drag from the clinch is one of those techniques that punishes your opponent for doing something smart. He's blocking your knees -- sticking a forearm down to put a barrier in front of them. Good defense. But it creates a HUGE opening.
Here's the setup. You've got your clinch, you're firing knees, and your opponent drops one or both arms to block. That arm going down is your trigger.
Sullivan teaches you to reach your opposite hand in, grab that elbow like you're holding a football, and pull it across. Stay tight -- don't leave a gap between you and your opponent. The pull goes directly into the seat belt grip on his back. One smooth motion.
The detail that makes this work in a real fight: keep your head tight against him during the drag. If you leave space, he can turn into you and reset. Head tight, pull, seat belt grip. That's the sequence.
And here's the payoff -- once you've got the seat belt, you stomp the back of his knee, ride him down, and lock up the rear naked choke. The whole thing chains together. Knees, block, arm drag, seat belt, choke. Done.
Actually, the beauty of this technique is that your opponent creates the opening himself. Every time he reaches down to stop your knees, he's giving you his arm. The more he defends the knees, the easier the arm drag gets.
For more clinch fighting and self-defense choke setups, check out our dirty boxing clinch techniques guide. Get the full course in the How To Win A Street Fight bundle.