The traditional wrestling of Cambodia, Bok Cham Bab, has a history stretching back to the days when the Khmer Empire was the undisputed lord and master of the Southeast Asian mainland. At the height of the empire’s power, wrestling contests held a sufficiently meaningful role in their society that they chose to enshrine it in stone at the site of their greatest lasting achievement – the temples of Angkor. This episode takes a closer look at some of those engravings and, inspired by the presence of some distinctly modern-looking submission holds among them, asks the question: have we really already invented every grappling technique that ever will be?

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The Hero with a Thousand Holds – The Kimura Traps of Angkor



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