History UsefulNotes / Sambo

* '''Samboud''' (acronym for an expression translated as "unarmed self-defense... by strikes"): another weird but very obscure style developed in 1970s, first at the Dzerzhinsky Military Academy (which currently goes by the Peter the Great Military Academy of the Strategic Missile Forces) and later at the Moscow University of the MVD as '''UPO''' (acronym for a term meaning "Shock Disarming Techniques") and was also said to have been taught to the Belarusian military. It was described as combat sambo with a heavy emphasis on striking instead of grappling, which was very limited as only strikes were used to finish off opponents and believed to be ineffective when dealing with multiple opponents, which made it vaguely similar to karate and taekwondo even more than ARB, especially in its competition form as it resembled Bōgutsuki Karate (full contact with all-round protective gear). Aside from training manuals published by its creators, there is very little information about the style as it never received official recognition by the Soviet army (which probably just classified it as either combat sambo or ARB) and some believe it was actually just a form of karate due to the USSR's 8 year ban on karate in the 1980s, during which several so-called "hand-to-hand fighting" styles popped up, which were actually karate groups that tried to get away with practicing karate under acronyms like NAPIZA ("attack and defense"), ZAINAPA ("defense and attack"), NAZABO ("unarmed attack and defense"), etc. Furthermore, many former practitioners later became karate and taekwondo practitioners, with one of the most notable being Georgiy Mikhaylovich Astaf'yev, the guy who brought Kyokushin to Siberia and Novosibirsk and was also a former "absolute" champion in Samboud among officers and cadets of the KGB of Novosibirsk in 1977 and 1978. Currently there are no official schools for this style and is mostly known as a curiosity among people interested in Russian martial arts, self-defense and hand-to-hand fighting, but if it is still taught, it would most likely be as a form of combat sambo or some kind of modified ARB.

As it happened with UsefulNotes/CatchWrestling, sambo became surprisingly popular in Japan, where it was introduced mostly by Russian-Japanese master Victor Koga. He taught its techniques to legendary pro wrestler Wrestling/SatoruSayama, who introduced them in the style of Japanese pro wrestling named "shoot-style" and contributed to shape it as a fighting style full of leglocks and spectacular wrestling. Another shoot-stylist, Wrestling/AkiraMaeda, traveled to Russia and recruited a bunch of sambo champions for his RINGS promotion, a pro wrestling circuit that evolved over time into mixed martial arts, also creating the first Russian MMA camp in the process. Therefore, just like shoot-style used to be the usual background of Japanese fighters, sambo is nowadays the background and main fighting style of most MMA fighters from the former Soviet Republics, as opposed to the UsefulNotes/BrazilianJiuJitsu that dominates the sports everywhere else. Fedor Emelianenko and Khabib Nurmagomedov are good examples.

* Vyacheslav Vasilevsky, the most prolific FIAS Combat Sambo competitor as a 6-time world champion.

*** 3. '''Freestyle''': the style's version of sport sambo, though it also allows standing submissions and chokes. It possibly based on Vasili Oshchepkov's original ruleset for sport sambo.

** It also has another competitive format in the form of a '''Pentathlon'''; the first event is a 3km cross country run. The second is firing an air pistol from three different positions (standing, kneeling or sitting, and lying down). The third is a 100 or 110m obstacle course which features 10 obstacles that include logs, rope, fence, snake, ladder, burrow, window, wire, ditch and wall, and can be completed in any order with only 4 attempts are allowed, at all 10 obstacles, if the competitor makes a mistake for the fourth time, he is removed from the stage and doesn't score any points. The fourth is knife throwing which features throwing three knives in a row from stationary targets at 3, 5, and 7 meters away with the thrower having 10 seconds to hit the chest area. The fifth and final event is a 2 minute no holds barred fight. Fighters start standing opposite each other at a distance of 3m, with a wooden club in the middle of that distance that can be used as a weapon against each other. Fighters wearing helmets, MMA gloves, shin guards, shoes and groin cups. Almost all fighting techniques like punching, kicking, headbutts, elbows, knees, throws, sweeps, and submissions are allowed except targeting the spine, low blows with the club, biting, small joint manipulations, throwing the opponent on their head and twisting submissions. Winning is done by submission, knockdown, kicking a grounded opponent in the head, or striking with the club to the head of a grounded opponent, striking 3 blows with the club on the opponent's head in the standing position, hitting 3 kicks to the opponent's head in the standing position, throwing or knocking down the opponent to the ground while remaining on his feet 3 times, based on points or judge's decision.

* UnnecessaryCombatRoll: It popularised the use of rolling in takedowns, since in sport sambo, submissions can only be done on a grounded opponent.

*** 3. '''Freestyle''': the style's version of sport sambo, though it also allows standing submissions and chokes.

** It also has another competitive format in the form of a '''Pentathlon'''; the first event is a 3km cross country run. The second is firing an air pistol from three different positions (standing, kneeling or sitting, and lying down). the third is a 100 or 110m obstacle course which features 10 obstacles including logs, rope, fence, snake, ladder, burrow, window, wire, ditch and wall and can be completed in any order (only 4 attempts are allowed, at all 10 obstacles, if the competitor makes a mistake for the fourth time, he is removed from the stage and doesn't score any points). The fourth is knife throwing which features throwing three knives in a row from stationary targets at 3, 5, and 7 meters away with the thrower having 10 seconds to hit the chest area. The fifth and final event is a 2 minute no holds barred fight. Fighters start standing opposite each other at a distance of 3m, with a wooden club in the middle of that distance that can be used as a weapon against each other. Fighters wearing helmets, MMA gloves, shin guards, shoes and groin cups. Almost all fighting techniques like punching, kicking, headbutts, elbows, knees, throws, sweeps, and submissions are allowed except targeting the spine, low blows with the club, biting, small joint manipulations, throwing the opponent on their head and twisting submissions. Winning is done by submission, knockdown, kicking a grounded opponent in the head, or striking with the club to the head of a grounded opponent, striking 3 blows with the club on the opponent's head in the standing position, hitting 3 kicks to the opponent's head in the standing position, throwing or knocking down the opponent to the ground while remaining on his feet 3 times, based on points or judge's decision.

** 1) '''Baronet Fighting'''
** 2) '''Stick Fighting''': is actually fought more like saber fencing as the "stick" has a hilt and guard like a sword.
** 3) '''Knife Fighting'''
** 4) '''Wrestling''': divided into three types;

*** 3. '''Freestyle''': the style's version of sport sambo.
** 5) '''Kick Fighting''': instead of just using the legs to kick and block, it interestingly allows clinching, kneeing, leg catches, even soccer kicks and stomps.
** 6) '''Fisticuffs''': based on traditional Russian bare-knuckle boxing that allows all sorts of punches (above the waist of course) like backfists (spinning or otherwise), hammerfists, rabbit punches (punches to back of the head), fibbing (grabbing the headgear, the jacket's collar, or the back of the neck of the opponent, then pummelling them with the other hand) and even ground-n-pound.
** 7) '''Hand-to-Hand Fighting''': the style's version of ARB.
** 8) '''Storm Fighting''': the style's version of combat sambo.

** It also has another competitive format in the form of a pentathlon; the first event is a 3km cross country run. The second is firing an air pistol from three different positions (standing, kneeling or sitting, and lying down). the third is a 100 or 110m obstacle course which features 10 obstacles including logs, rope, fence, snake, ladder, burrow, window, wire, ditch and wall and can be completed in any order (only 4 attempts are allowed, at all 10 obstacles, if the competitor makes a mistake for the fourth time, he is removed from the stage and doesn't score any points). The fourth is knife throwing which features throwing three knives in a row from stationary targets at 3, 5, and 7 meters away with the thrower having 10 seconds to hit the chest area. The fifth and final event is a 2 minute no holds barred fight. Fighters start standing opposite each other at a distance of 3m, with a wooden club in the middle of that distance that can be used as a weapon against each other. Fighters wearing helmets, MMA gloves, shin guards, shoes and groin cups. Almost all fighting techniques like punching, kicking, headbutts, elbows, knees, throws, sweeps, and submissions are allowed except targeting the spine, low blows with the club, biting, small joint manipulations, throwing the opponent on their head and twisting submissions. Winning is done by submission, knockdown, kicking a grounded opponent in the head, or striking with the club to the head of a grounded opponent, striking 3 blows with the club on the opponent's head in the standing position, hitting 3 kicks to the opponent's head in the standing position, throwing or knocking down the opponent to the ground while remaining on his feet 3 times, based on points or judge's decision.

* '''Universal Fight''' or '''Unifight''' for short: another weird style that came about in the middle of the 1990s, originally called '''Russian Fight'''. It was originally a Soviet military training regime that somehow got turned into a combat sport by Novikov Sergey, then got international attention when he started to promote this sport in a Russian television show program. It consists of two consecutive stages of physical challenge; the first requires the completion of an obstacle course that includes firing an airsoft or paintball gun and throwing a knife at a fixed target with the two fighters starting at the same time on parallel paths, the one who comes first gets one point though one automatically wins the match if the opponent cannot clear the course within a large enough margin, while the second stage is a one-on-one full contact fight in the ring or tatami mat in kurtkas and special cut long pants to match with headgear, gloves and footwear can consists of either special made shoes, foot guards or they can just go barefoot, the fight commences one minute after the first stage is completed with 3 to 5 rounds of 2 minutes, whoever knocks out or submits their opponent automatically wins the match. Techniques allowed in the second stage are actually quite similar to the DRM above, though it bans soccer kicks. If the fight ends in the time limit victory is awarded to the fighter who scored more points in the biathlon. Tournaments are usually ten person elimination style with rest periods of at least 2 hours between two matches a day. It is broken down into three different divisions.
** '''Classic''': basically the division that uses the rules mentioned above.
** '''Light''': this division changes the fighting stage to basically jacket wrestling, with only throws being allowed and a clean throw wins outright.
** '''Pro''': this division is kind of an anomaly as it is removes the obstacle course entirely and only includes fighting. Fighters wear short sleeved kurtkas and either long pants or shorts with gloves but without headgear. It allows striking on the ground, but only clean strikes are scored.
** '''Child''': a version made for children from 10-13 years old in both Classic and Light divisions. It makes modifications to the obstacle course such as replacing the knife throwing with throwing tennis balls at a target instead. It also adds extra protection like chest protectors in the fighting stage and are fought in 2 rounds of 1 minute with the finals being 2 rounds of 1 minute and 30 seconds.

The whole thing was the brainchild of two military hand-to-hand experts: Vasili Oshchepkov, an apprentice to Jigoro Kano and judo teacher for the Red Army, and Viktor Spiridonov, an expert in many forms of traditional wrestling who developed an interest in Japanese concepts due to a crippling war wound. Independently from each other, they started elaborating their own versions of a grappling style that would contain all what they knew and could find about how to wreck people. Added to the efforts of avid sportsman Anatoly Kharlampiyev, a disciple to Oshchepkov who had the political connections to get it done, what is known today as sambo took a recognizable form in 1938, becoming the official fighting style of all of Russia and its native badasses. Ironically, and because this was USSR, Oshchepkov ended up accused of being a Japanese spy and executed after being arrested by a squad of his own trainees; he was posthumously declared innocent many years later, but by then it's not like he cared anymore.

* OneHitKill[=/=]InstantWinCondition: Has its own version of Judo's Ippon throws, which is translated into English is known as "Total Victory", the main difference from judo's version is that the thrower must remain standing.
* RivalDojos: Sort of, before its official creation, contrary to popular belief, the co-founders of sambo Viktor Spiridonov and Vasili Oshchepkov never actually developed the fighting system together or even met. In fact Spiridonov opposed Oshchepkov's methods and objected to the police and militia being taught this version of self-defense and even tried to have Oschepkov's instruction program shut down, with some speculating that he may have been the one that got Oshchepkov arrested. It was also reported that a few students of Oshchepkov beat a few of Spiridonov's in sparring and when Spiridonov heard of this, he forbid his students from further interactions with Oshchepkov's.

** Chris Dolman was a Dutch judoka and student of the great Jon Bluming himself, who never even heard of sambo before his first tournament. He processed to win it and then went on to win the World Championships twice, the first non-Russian to do so.

* MirroringFactions: In 1993, the FIAS split into two organizations, both of which used the same name and logo, and the two groups were often referred to as FIAS "East" (under Russian control) and FIAS "West" (under US and Western European control). This split mirrored the last days of Cold War politics of the time as well as the recent break-up of the Soviet Union. In 2005, FILA reached an agreement with FIAS "West" and re-assumed sanctioning over sport sambo (but not combat sambo). However, in 2008, FILA again discontinued sanctioning sambo and with FIAS "East" gaining full control of its Western branches.

** Chris Dolman was a Dutch judoka and student of the great Jon Bluming himself, who never even heard of sambo before his first tournament. He processed to win it and went on to win the World Championships twice, the first non-Russian to do so.

* MirroringFactions: In 1993, the FIAS split into two organizations, both of which used the same name and logo, and the two groups were often referred to as FIAS "East" (under Russian control) and FIAS "West" (under US and Western European control). This split mirrored the last days of Cold War politics of the time as well as the recent break-up of the Soviet Union. In 2005, FILA reached an agreement with FIAS "West" and re-assumed sanctioning over sport sambo (but not combat sambo). However, in 2008, FILA again discontinued sanctioning sambo and with FIAS "East" gaining full control of its Western branches.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/TheCloneWars'', the clones' hand-to-hand fighting style was patterned after sambo, including the signature Victor Koga Roll entry.

* '''Sport Sambo''', '''Sambo Wrestling''', '''Traditional Sambo''', '''Classic Sambo''', or '''International Sambo''': the most well known ruleset with very few changes over the years, with competitions now under the authority of the International Sambo Federation (FIAS). It is fought with little to no protections and over a circular wrestling mat. It is primarily a submission wrestling competition where most throws, takedowns and locks are allowed, with the notable exception of chokeholds, neck cranks, wristlocks, hammerlocks, toeholds, heel hooks and all standing submissions as they can only be applied when the opponent is grounded (the attacker can remain standing, but the grounded opponent cannot apply submissions on a standing opponent in turn). Closing guard is considered a form of stalling and thus more or less forbidden too, and deliberately pushing the opponent out the mat is weirdly discouraged as it is also considered a form of stalling unlike most wrestling styles. It also bans using the knees and elbows to push down on any part of the body of a grounded opponent (meaning no knee-on-belly). Sambists can win by submitting the opponent or by scoring points, which are earned through throws and pins (the cleaner a throw is, the more points you will receive, and a picture perfect throw leads to total victory).

Sambo (acronym for an expression translated as "unarmed self-defense") is a Russian martial art and combat sport. It is a direct offshoot of UsefulNotes/{{Judo}} mixed with several Eurasian wrestling styles, and as such, it is based around throwing the opponent to the ground and/or lock him with wicked joint locks and chokes, combined with minor striking. It was originally created as a military hand-to-hand style in the vein of UsefulNotes/KravMaga, but very unlike the latter, it has adapted very successfully to sports competition, being a semi-popular fixture of ProfessionalWrestling and UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts. It also had the WorkingTitle of “freestyle wrestling” but decided a name change was necessary so as to not confuse it with the English wrestling style with the same name.

* '''Sport Sambo''', '''Sambo Wrestling''', '''Traditional Sambo''', '''Classic Sambo''', or '''International Sambo''': the oldest and most well known ruleset with very few changes over the years, with competitions now under the authority of the International Sambo Federation (FIAS). It is fought with little to no protections and over a circular wrestling mat. It is primarily a submission wrestling competition where most throws, takedowns and locks are allowed, with the notable exception of chokeholds, neck cranks, wristlocks, hammerlocks, toeholds, heel hooks and all standing submissions as they can only be applied when the opponent is grounded (the attacker can remain standing, but the grounded opponent cannot apply submissions on a standing opponent in turn). Closing guard is considered a form of stalling and thus more or less forbidden too, and deliberately pushing the opponent out the mat is weirdly discouraged as it is also considered a form of stalling unlike most wrestling styles. It also bans using the knees and elbows to push down on any part of the body of a grounded opponent (meaning no knee-on-belly). Sambists can win by submitting the opponent or by scoring points, which are earned through throws and pins (the cleaner a throw is, the more points you will receive, and a picture perfect throw leads to total victory).

** '''Sambo for the Blind and Visually Impaired''' or just '''Blind Sambo''': a ruleset that is the sambo equivalent of Paralympic (Para or Blind) judo created in 2017. Since the competitors are blind/visually impaired, they hold each other by the sleeve and lapel of the kurtka at the start of the match and have to wear custom combat sambo helmets that also cover their eyes. Other than that, it mostly keeps to the rules of sport sambo.

* '''Samoz''' or '''Sam''' (acronym for an expression translated as "self-defense"): a style that was used before sambo was officially created and was a major part of its development. Created by Viktor Spiridonov who as listed above was a co-creator of sambo, his style was described as vaguely resembling UsefulNotes/{{Aikido}} due to its focus on stand-up grappling with emphasis on wrist and elbow locks above throws, sweeps and trips, though it did contain striking from arts like boxing and savate, as well as leglocks, head and body scissors and even spinal locks should the fight go to the ground and unlike modern aikido, had randori-like training as he believed competition is the highest degree of training and the last stage of a fighter’s improvement and held the first competitions in 1929 at the now famous Dynamo Sports Club (of which he was among the founders), with them being described as mostly being a form of jacket wrestling. While the style in its original form no longer exists, aside from sambo and its derivatives listed here, it also formed the foundation of what is now famously known as "Systema" and all its own variations.

* '''Samoz''' or '''Sam''' (acronym for an expression translated as "self-defense"): a style that was used before sambo was officially created and was a major part of its development. Created by Viktor Spiridonov who as listed above was a co-creator of sambo, his style was described as vaguely resembling UsefulNotes/{{Aikido}} due to its focus on stand-up grappling with emphasis on wrist and elbow locks above throws, sweeps and trips, though it did contain striking from arts like boxing and savate, as well as leglocks, head and body scissors and even spinal locks should the fight go to the ground and unlike modern aikido, he believed competition is the highest degree of training and the last stage of a fighter’s improvement and even held the first competitions in 1929 at the now famous Dynamo Sports Club (of which he was among the founders), with them being described as mostly being a form of jacket wrestling. While the style in its original form no longer exists, aside from sambo and its derivatives listed here, it also formed the foundation of what is now famously known as "Systema" and all its own variations.

* '''Sport Sambo''', '''Sambo Wrestling''', '''Traditional Sambo''', '''Classic Sambo''', or '''International Sambo''': the oldest and most well known ruleset with very few changes over the years, with competitions now under the International Sambo Federation (FIAS). It is fought with little to no protections and over a circular wrestling mat. It is primarily a submission wrestling competition where most throws, takedowns and locks are allowed, with the notable exception of chokeholds, neck cranks, wristlocks, hammerlocks, toeholds, heel hooks and all standing submissions as they can only be applied when the opponent is grounded (the attacker can remain standing, but the grounded opponent cannot apply submissions on a standing opponent in turn). Closing guard is considered a form of stalling and thus more or less forbidden too, and deliberately pushing the opponent out the mat is weirdly discouraged as it is also considered a form of stalling unlike most wrestling styles. It also bans using the knees and elbows to push down on any part of the body of a grounded opponent (meaning no knee-on-belly). Sambists can win by submitting the opponent or by scoring points, which are earned through throws and pins (the cleaner a throw is, the more points you will receive, and a picture perfect throw leads to total victory).

* '''Sport Sambo''', '''Sambo Wrestling''', '''Traditional Sambo''', '''Classic Sambo''', or '''International Sambo''': the oldest and most well known ruleset with very few changes over the years. It is fought with little to no protections and over a circular wrestling mat. It is primarily a submission wrestling competition where most throws, takedowns and locks are allowed, with the notable exception of chokeholds, neck cranks, wristlocks, hammerlocks, toeholds, heel hooks and all standing submissions as they can only be applied when the opponent is grounded (the attacker can remain standing, but the grounded opponent cannot apply submissions on a standing opponent in turn). Closing guard is considered a form of stalling and thus more or less forbidden too, and deliberately pushing the opponent out the mat is weirdly discouraged as it is also considered a form of stalling unlike most wrestling styles. It also bans using the knees and elbows to push down on any part of the body of a grounded opponent (meaning no knee-on-belly). Sambists can win by submitting the opponent or by scoring points, which are earned through throws and pins (the cleaner a throw is, the more points you will receive, and a picture perfect throw leads to total victory).

** '''International''' or '''FIAS Rules''': a newer and slightly more restrictive version of combat sambo in competitions under the International Sambo Federation (FIAS). It originally only removed soccer kicks and punches to a grounded opponent when the attacker is standing (though it still allows the grounded opponent to strike the standing one), neck cranks, heel hooks and toeholds and surprisingly even open hand and palm strikes, both standing and grounded, though more recent rules changes have removed low blows and ground-and-pound to the head when using elbows and headbutts.

* '''Beach Sambo''': [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer Yes really]]. Compared to the others above, the rules are modified in that the combat lasts three minutes and are held only in the standing position, making it a throwing-only sport basically making it beach wrestling with kurtkas. Victory is awarded after a throw or when the opponent falls on the sand on any part of the body other than the feet. The kurtkas are also slightly modified and ankle wraps are used instead of shoes.

* '''Samoz''' or '''Sam''' (acronym for an expression translated as "self-defense"): a style that was used before sambo was officially created and was a major part of its development. Created by Viktor Spiridonov who as listed above was a co-creator of sambo, his style was described as vaguely resembling UsefulNotes/{{Aikido}} due to its focus on stand-up grappling with emphasis on wrist and elbow locks above throws, sweeps and trips, though it did contain striking from arts like boxing and savate, as well as leglocks, head and body scissors and even spinal locks should the fight go to the ground and unlike modern aikido, he believed competition is the highest degree of training and the last stage of a fighter’s improvement and even held the first competitions in 1929 at the now famous Dynamo Sports Club (of which he was among the founders), with it being described as a kind of jacket wrestling. While the style in its original form no longer exists, aside from sambo and its derivatives listed here, it also formed the foundation of what is now famously known as "Systema" and all its own variations.

* '''Samoz''' or '''Sam''' (acronym for an expression translated as "self-defense"): a style that was created before sambo was officially created and was major part of its development. Created by Viktor Spiridonov who as listed above was a co-creator of sambo, his style was described as vaguely resembling UsefulNotes/{{Aikido}} due to its focus on stand-up grappling with emphasis on wrist and elbow locks above throws, sweeps and trips, though it did contain striking from arts like boxing and savate, as well as leglocks, head and body scissors and even spinal locks should the fight go to the ground and unlike modern aikido, he believed competition is the highest degree of training and the last stage of a fighter’s improvement and even held the first competitions in 1929 at the now famous Dynamo Sports Club (of which he was among the founders), with it being described as a kind of jacket wrestling. While the style in its original form no longer exists, aside from sambo and its derivatives listed here, it also formed the foundation of what is now famously known as "Systema" and all its own variations.

* '''Samboud''' (acronym for an expression translated as "unarmed self-defense... by strikes"): another weird but very obscure style developed in 1970s, first at the Dzerzhinsky Military Academy (which currently goes by the Peter the Great Military Academy of the Strategic Missile Forces) and later at the Moscow University of the MVD as '''UPO''' (acronym for a term meaning "Shock Disarming Techniques") and was also said to have been taught to the soldiers of Belarusian military. It was described as combat sambo with a heavy emphasis on striking instead of grappling, which was very limited as only strikes were used to finish off opponents and believed to be ineffective when dealing with multiple opponents, which made it vaguely similar to karate and taekwondo even more than ARB, especially in its competition form as it resembled Bōgutsuki Karate (full contact with all-round protective gear). Aside from training manuals published by its creators, there is very little information about the style as it never received official recognition by the Soviet army (which probably just classified it as either combat sambo or ARB) and some believe it was actually just a form of karate due to the USSR's 8 year ban on karate in the 1980s, during which several so-called "hand-to-hand fighting" styles popped up, which were actually karate groups that tried to get away with practicing karate under acronyms like NAPIZA ("attack and defense"), ZAINAPA ("defense and attack"), NAZABO ("unarmed attack and defense"), etc. Furthermore, many former practitioners later became karate and taekwondo practitioners, with one of the most notable being Georgiy Mikhaylovich Astaf'yev, the guy who brought Kyokushin to Siberia and Novosibirsk and was also a former "absolute" champion in Samboud among officers and cadets of the KGB of Novosibirsk in 1977 and 1978. Currently there are no official schools for this style and is mostly known as a curiosity among people interested in Russian martial arts, self-defense and hand-to-hand fighting, but if it is still taught, it would most likely be as a form of combat sambo or some kind of modified ARB.