Sambo
Sambo also called Sombo, is an acronym for SAMozashchita Bez Oruzhiya which means "defense without weapons", in Russian, is a martial art and combat sport. It is considered relatively modern since its development began in 1923 by the Soviet Red Army to improve their hand to hand combat systems. Intended to be a merger of the most effective techniques of other martial arts, Sambo has roots in Japanese judo and Karate plus traditional folk styles of wrestling such as: Armenian Kokh, Georgian Chidaoba, Romanian Trîntǎ, Tatar Köräş, Uzbek Kurash, Mongolian Khapsagay and Azerbaijani Gulesh.The founders of Sambo were Viktor Spiridonov and Vasili Oshchepkov. Oshchepkov was executed under the orders of Stalin during the political purges of 1937 after accusations of being a Japanese spy. Oshchepkov spent much of his life living in Japan and training judo under its founder Kano Jigoro. The two men independently developed two different styles, which eventually cross-polinated and became what is known as Sambo. Compared to Oshchepkov's judo based system, then called "Freestyle Wrestling", Spiridonov's style was softer and less strength dependent. This was in large part due to Spiridonov's injuries sustained during World War I.
Anatoly Kharlampiev, a student of Victor Spiridonov, is often officially considered the founder of Sport Sambo. In 1938, it was recognized as an official sport by the USSR All-Union Sports Committee.
Styles
There are multiple competitive sport variations of sambo (though sambo techniques and principles can be applied to many other combat sports). Below are the main formats that are recognized by FIAS.
Freestyle Sambo
This type of Sambo was introduced by the American Sambo Association in 2004. Its purpose was to encourage non-Sambo practitioners such as Judo and Jiu-Jitsu to participate in Sambo. Freestyle Sambo allows the use of chokeholds and other submission techniques that are not used in Sambo wrestling.
Self Defense Sambo
This kind of Sambo is about defending yourself. In it, practitioners are taught to guard against weapons. Most of the moves that are taught include using the attacker's aggression against them, which is similar to what is done in both Jiu-Jitsu and Aikido. Spiridonov's influence is strong in this style of Sambo.
Concrete Sambo
This type of Sambo was made for the Argentinian Army during the military dictatorship. It is similar to special sambo in terms of origin and uses.
Special Sambo
This type of Sambo was made for Army Special Forces and other rapid response forces. It is only designed for the particular group that uses it. In that sense, it's similar to sambo combat, which is also designed for a specific purpose.
Beach Sambo
Sambo beach, as the name suggests, is held on soft beaches or strips of sand.
FCF-MMA
Was developed in 2003 as a form of Sambo without competing in the traditional uniform of Kurtka (jacket), shorts and boots. Competitors just wear fight shorts and gloves. One competitor wears blue and the other red, the same as traditional Sambo. Matches are held on a traditional wrestling mat, not a cage or ring like normal MMA fights. Techniques from all martial arts are used to defeat an opponent by knock out, submission or point victory.
Sport Sambo
Also known as
Sambo Wrestling
Focus
Grappling, Wrestling
Hardness
Full-contact
Country of origin
Russia
Famous practitioners
Olympic sport
No, but IOC recognized
Sport sambo or Sambo wrestling is stylistically similar to old-time judo, and in a lot of ways influenced by it, but with some differences in rules, protocol, and uniform. Sambo allows various types of leg locks like old Judo before the ban of the Ashi Garami techniques, while not allowing chokeholds. It also focuses on throwing, groundwork, and submissions, with very few restrictions on gripping and holds.[12] Sambo is an international style of amateur wrestling recognized by the FILA (now UWW) Congress in 1966.
Combat Sambo
Focus
Hybrid, Striking, Grappling, Self-Defense
Hardness
Full-contact
Country of origin
Russia
Famous practitioners
Olympic sport
No, but IOC recognized
Combat sambo (Russian: Боевое Самбо, romanized: Boyevoye Sambo). Utilized and developed for the military, combat sambo resembles modern mixed martial arts, including forms of striking and grappling. Combat sambo allows regular punches, kicks, elbows, and knees, as well as soccer kicks, headbutts and groin strikes, in addition to throws, holds, chokes and locks, except for a standing or flying wristbar. The chief distinction from Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ), apart from striking techniques, is that combat sambo rules and regulations do not permit a one-sided resort to ground fighting without throws or other combative maneuvers (i.e., by simply sitting down and continuing from the ground without touching his opponent that BJJ allows). In terms of aliveness, combat sambo surpasses ARB by design, though both were designed for combat situations only. Competitors wear jackets as in sport sambo, but also hand protection and sometimes shin protection and headgear. The first FIAS World Combat Sambo Championships were held in 2001. The World Combat Sambo Federation, based in Russia, also sanctions international combat sambo events. Combat sambo is designed to tackle certain tasks. The effectiveness of this martial art determined by its structure, namely by three components: boxing, sambo, and adapters. Adapters of combat sambo were developed by the academician G. S. Popov. The task of adapters is to ensure the safe transition from middle distance to close one, as well as the consistent usage of sambo and boxing techniques. The given configuration provides the fusion of two martial arts into a single system.
