Featuring seven bokator matches, the second Neak Leng Kun event will be held at Olympic National Stadium in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on December 16, 2023. It will be headlined by professional mixed martial artists Chan Rothana, 37, of Cambodia and John McLeary Ornido, 20, of the Philippines.
Also called Kun Lbokator and Kun Bokator, bokator was inscribed on the representative list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2022. From May 4-8, 2023, the bokator competition at the 2023 Southeast Asia (SEA) Games was held at the Changvar Convention Centre in Phnom Penh.
Cambodia, Spain, Vietnam and Uzbekistan were represented in the inaugural Neak Leng Kun event in Cambodia from September 2-3, 2023. In the second tournament, five countries will be represented, namely Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, the Philippines and Vietnam.
“These fights will all be professional Kun Bokator,” Ornido’s coach Jerry Legaspi of the Philippine national sambo team told CONAN Daily. Unlike in the SEA Games, there will be no body armor, headgear, shin pads and elbow pads, the coach said.
Bokator is a Cambodian martial arts developed thousands of years ago and designed for battle, Legaspi pointed out. The Khmer people developed a very sophisticated martial arts that can be found engraved on their temples, he added.
“Bokator has plenty of standup striking and lots of knees and elbows, which makes it very exciting to watch,” Legaspi explained. “You are also allowed to do takedowns and sweeps. You can also try to submit each other on the ground for a certain time.”
While Ornido is relatively new to bokator, his coach is confident that he can beat Rothana, an expert in the ancient Cambodian battlefield martial art. According to Legaspi, Ornido regularly trains with members of the Philippine national sambo team including former Ultimate Fighting Championship and ONE Championship fighter Mark Striegl, who won gold in sambo at the 2019 SEA Games.
To prepare for the Neak Leng Kun fight against Rothana, Ornido is training at Valiant MMA and Fitness Gym in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines, at Tiger City Boxing Gym in Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila and at Brawlers’ Lab in Valenzuela City, Metro Manila. On November 25, 2023, he defeated Jesse Bucog via technical knockout at “TNT Kickboxing 2” at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City, Metro Manila.
“We do lots of ground and submissions at Valiant,” Legaspi said. “He does his boxing at Tiger City Boxing in Mandaluyong, he does strength and conditioning and kickboxing at Brawlers’ Lab and he spars with Hitman MMA team fighters a lot. He just came from a win in TNT Kickboxing via KO and we are confident of his skills, determination and conditioning. He got this.”
“He is young and powerful,” Legaspi said of Ornido. “He has the blood of a lion running through his veins and is hungry for this win.”
CONAN Daily 