Pradal Serey
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| Also known as | Kun Khmer, Cambodian kickboxing |
|---|---|
| Focus | clinch fighting, strike (attack) |
| Hardness | full-contact |
| Country of origin |
 Cambodia
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| Famous practitioners | The Ouk family |
| Parenthood | Yuthakun Khom, Kawmyot Khmer/ Cambodian Ancient Martial Arts |
| Olympic sport | no |
Pradal Serey (Khmer: ប្រដាល់សេរី) or Kun Khmer (pronounced as guen khmer) (Khmer: គុណខ្មែរ) is an unarmed martial art and combat sport from Cambodia. In Khmer, pradal means fighting or boxing and serey means free. Thus, pradal serey may be translated as "free fighting". The sport consists of stand up striking and clinch fighting where the objective is to knock an opponent out, force a technical knockout, or win a match by points.
Pradal Serey is most well known for its kicking technique, which generates power from hip rotation rather than snapping the leg, Pradal Serey consists of four types of strikes: punches, kicks, elbows and knee strikes. The clinch is used to wear down the opponent. In the clinch, opponents battle for dominant position for short range strikes by way of elbows and knees. Scholars believe that all South East Asian Indochinese kickboxing styles originate from what is thought to be the Indianized kingdom of Funan just prior to the creation of the Khmer Empire; consequentially Kun Khmer, Muay Thai, Muay Lao, Lethwei and Tomoi all share similar stances and techniques. Cambodian fighters tend to utilize more elbow strikes than that of other martial arts in the region. In pradal serey, more victories come by way of an elbow technique than any other strikes.
Fighting has been a constant part of Southeast Asia since ancient times and eventually led to organized combat systems. In the Angkor era, both armed and unarmed martial arts were practiced by the Khmers. Evidence shows that a style resembling pradal serey existed in the 9th century, which may be one of the reasons why the Khmer empire was such a dominant force in Southeast Asia. The kingdom of Angkor used an early form of pradal serey, named Yuthakun Khom, along with various weapons and war elephants to wage war against their main enemy, the Vietnam-based kingdom of Champa, and later, Siam. Re-enactments of elephant battles are still recreated at the Surin Elephant Round-up.
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