Combat Sambo Training

A sport that grew out of military practice in Russia, combat sambo resembles mixed martial arts with its mixture of grappling and striking. Some of Russia's most popular mixed martial artists are combat sambo practicioners, such as Fedor Emelianenko and Andrei Arlovski. Combat sambo differs from sport sambo in that striking and choke holds are allowed.

  1. History

    • Combat sambo began after the Bolshevik Revolution and eventually became the official martial art of the Soviet Union. There are three men credited with its development. In the 1930s, Viktor Spiridonov and Vasili Oschepkov studied the martial arts of different cultures. After Oschepkov was killed by the Soviet Union in 1937, one of Oschepkov's students, Anatoly Kharlampiev, combined the different martial arts and created sambo. One year later in 1938, it was adopted as the country's official combat sport.

    Ranking and Uniform

    • Like most other martial arts, combat sambo has a uniform and ranking system. The uniform is a modified judo jacket that is held shut by a belt. Recently, the color of the belt has come to signify ranking. Shoes, shorts and padded gloves similar to the ones used in MMA bouts complete the combat sambo uniform.

    Famous Sambo Students

    • Thanks to the growth of mixed martial arts, most of the known combat sambo practitioners are MMA fighters. Most notable is Fedor Emelianenko, the heavyweight champion of the now defunct Pride and Affliction organizations and the man most experts believe is the best heavyweight MMA fighter in the world. His martial arts career began in combat sambo as he went on to win the Russian National Championships and World Championships in 2002. Fedor's younger brother Alexander is another famous combat sambo competitor. Former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski is also an experienced sambo combatant.

    Geography

    • With its birth in the Soviet Union, combat sambo remains most popular in Russia. The spread of mixed martial arts has helped to increase its popularity around other parts of the world, most notably the United States. While Russians have always dominated the Sambo World Championships, other Eastern European countries have begun to take medals, such as Belarus, Bulgaria and the Ukraine. Not surprisingly, these other countries were once under Soviet control.

    Techniques

    • Combat sambo combines the throws of judo and the take-downs of wrestling with submissions that are similar to those of jujitsu. A popular throw in combat sambo is the hip toss, a technique from judo. To execute this throw, secure the arm of an opponent by the sleeve and shoot your arm underneath the armpit as you turn in. Your hips should be underneath the opponent's hips. Bending at the knees, drive up and toss the opponent over your shoulder. Once the opponent is on the ground, submissions similar to jujitsu come into play. A popular combat sambo submission is the knee bar.