Sambo.

Sambo is the official combat sport and tactical system of the Russian special forces. It was developed by the Soviet Red Army to better their hand-to-hand as well as CQB fighting skills. The techniques have their roots in Judo, Greco Roman and Catch wrestling styles, but also have been improved to better suit the then needs of the Russian army. It evolved into a unique style of fighting, and is a martial art in it’s own right. Apart from the Tactical system there are two styles of Sambo with regards to Combat Sports that are practiced presently Sport Sambo and Combat Sambo.

Sport Sambo is very similar to Judo, with a few minor differences. Sambo allows leg locks, which are illegal in Judo; but bans the use of chokes. Combat Sambo allows punches, kicks, takedowns and submissions. There are world championships held, and its part of the Asian Games as a combat sport.

Sambo & MMA.

Combat Sambo fighters compete in a sport where athletes need to be armed with the ability to strike, grapple in the clinch, take opponents down, and submit them. It’s a homegrown Russian version of Mixed Martial Arts.

– Fighters place a lot of emphasis on grappling, and it’s practitioners tend to have a large toolbox when it comes to takedowns.

– The style promotes aggressive submissions, and a lot of fighters are known to have a wide variety of leg locks under their belt.

– Sambists are not just good in joint locks, but are great at getting submissions in transitions. Many submissions in a fight take place in the scuffle after a takedown, which makes them effective ground fighters.

– Since striking is also allowed, sambists are trained to protect their upper as well as their lower bodies. They find it easy to transition to full contact fights with MMA rules.

The sport has produced championship level fighters in [MMA], the most famous of them being Fedor Emelianenko. Fedor has won multiple world championships as a Sambist, and remained undefeated in his MMA career for nearly a decade, in which he defeated five former UFC champions and five K-1 champions.

Bellator and UFC have both started signing a lot of Russian Sambo practitioners, and are slowly making a mark in the professional MMA circuit. It’s overall a solid base to train in for any fighter dreaming to make it big in the professional circuit of mixed martial arts. The latest Sambist to make waves across the world of combat sports is khabib Nurmagomedov

Interested in a free trial?

[caldera_form id=”CF583997d919e26″]

Call Now