Paul Vunak's HKE
It's certainly possible that someone other than Paul Vunak came up with the combination attack from the high tie up or "Thai Clinch" below, but he's well known for this combination, and I first learned it from him myself...so here it is, an excellent self defense combination from the high tie up:
From the high tie up, shove your thumbs into your opponent's eyes, driving his head up and back. (This may require swimming or pummeling for position.)
Immediately after "thumbing the eyes", grab the back of your opponent's head and neck, and jerk him forward into a headbutt.
Immediately after the headbutt, yank your opponent into a knee to his groin. As your leg comes down from the knee, hit him in the head with an elbow and repeat as necessary.
I first heard the acronym HKE when learning this combination from Vunak...headbutts, knees, and elbows. The series above can be done with other variations, going from the eye gouge straight to knees for example, skipping the headbutt, throwing multiple knees or elbows, etc. In any case, the thumbs in the eyes is a great way to create the space to launch the rest of your attack! Additionally, HKE can be used from the low tie up, or no tie up at all. A client of mine once used the first two movements of the sequence above when a man twice his size attempted to choke him. The attacker was on the ground before he could even get to the knee!
Clinch > HKE
