Pro-Wrestling-Inspired MMA Move of The Day: Cambodian Fight Ends Via Boston Crab

Because every country needs to have its own MMA promotion these days, Cambodia’s Khmer Warrior Championship put on an event in Phnom Penh on Sunday, headlined by Soung Sovantha (never heard of him) vs. Bun Heang (never heard of him). You can check out the fights on the khmersexystars YouTube channel…or just watch our favorite one above, which pits Von Savy against Bun Mang. Yep, two dudes named Bun were on the same card. It is what it is.

The fight itself is pretty uneventful, up until the finish. The two fighters appear to have Muay Thai backgrounds from their stances, but neither Savy (red trunks) nor Mang (blue trunks) engaged much for the first couple of minutes. There is a lot of feeling out, a tiny bit of clinch work and two effective leg kicks from Savy.

Then, it happens.

Mang throws a left leg kick to the body that is caught by Savy, who sweeps his opponent off of his feet, grabs both of Mang’s feet by the ankles and locks on a freaking Boston Crab.

Anyone who has first-hand experience with high school locker room wrestling matches knows that the Boston Crab hold, popularized by Professional Wrestling, hurts a whole lot if you’re bad enough to let your opponent apply it.

Because every country needs to have its own MMA promotion these days, Cambodia’s Khmer Warrior Championship put on an event in Phnom Penh on Sunday, headlined by Soung Sovantha (never heard of him) vs. Bun Heang (never heard of him). You can check out all the fights on the khmersexystars YouTube channel…or just watch our favorite one above, which pits Von Savy against Bun Mang. Yep, two dudes named Bun were on the same card. It is what it is.

The fight itself is pretty uneventful, up until the finish. The two fighters appear to have Muay Thai backgrounds from their stances, but neither Savy (red trunks) nor Mang (blue trunks) engaged much for the first couple of minutes. There is a lot of feeling out, a tiny bit of clinch work and two effective leg kicks from Savy.

Then, it happens.

Mang throws a left leg kick to the body that is caught by Savy, who sweeps his opponent off of his feet, grabs both of Mang’s feet by the ankles and locks on a freaking Boston Crab.

Anyone who has first-hand experience with high school locker room wrestling matches knows that the Boston Crab hold, popularized by Professional Wrestling, hurts a whole lot if you’re bad enough to let your opponent apply it.

There is no reason a Boston Crab should happen in professional MMA match. I mean, some catch wrestler types like Dan “The Wolfman” Theodore pretend that variations of it can happen in fights but that guy’s a nut-job and so are most catch wrestlers, so we were totally caught by surprise here.

For it to work, the guy on the bottom has to be much worse/weaker on the ground than his opponent, and the guy on top has to be equal parts clueless and bad ass for even thinking he can get away with it.

In this Cambodian MMA bout, Savy was indeed bad ass enough and earned a tap-out via Boston Crab. Not to get too technical here but if we had to guess, we’d say that this modified Crab was probably putting more pressure on the ankles and knee than the back of the eventual loser, given the angle.

But really, who cares. Because, BOSTON CRAB IN MMA.

Now watch the above video, then find your buddies and do some stupid stuff.

– Elias Cepeda

Previously: What a Rush! The 14 Greatest (and 3 Worst) Pro-Wrestling Moves Used in MMA