History UsefulNotes / Sambo

* '''RBM''' (acronym for a term meaning '''Russian All-Round Fighting''', which is what it is known as in English): another weird style that mixes the modern combat sport approach and military fighting techniques of sambo with those of historic Russian folk styles of combat. Developed by Maksim Shatunov since 2003, it comprises of various styles of unarmed fighting, grappling, stick, bayonet and knife fighting, all of which are put to the test under full contact sparring. It features an "octathlon" of competitive fighting rules; 1) Baronet Fighting, 2) Stick Fighting, 3) Knife Fighting, 4) Wrestling (divided into three types 1. Belt (both hands always on opponent's belt, victory comes from putting opponent under oneself either on their back or side), 2. One-Handed (one hand is always on the collar of the jacket, but allows for the other hand to be used to complete a throw, victory comes from putting opponent under oneself either on their back, side, or knees), 3. Freestyle (the style's version of sport sambo)), 4) Kick Fighting (interestingly it allows clinching, kneeing, leg catches, soccer kicks and stomps), 5) Fisticuffs (boxing that seems to allow all sorts of punches like backfists, 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, all based on traditional Russian bare-knuckle boxing), 6) Hand-to-Hand Fighting (the style's version of ARB) 7) Storm Fighting (the style's version of combat sambo).

* '''RBM''' (acronym for a term meaning '''Russian All-Round Fighting''', which is what it is known as in English): another weird style that mixes the modern combat sport approach and military fighting techniques of sambo with those of historic Russian folk styles of combat. Developed by Maksim Shatunov since 2003, it comprises of various styles of unarmed fighting, grappling, stick, bayonet and knife fighting, all of which are put to the test under full contact sparring. It features an "octathlon" of competitive fighting rules; 1) Baronet Fighting, 2) Stick Fighting, 3) Knife Fighting, 4) Wrestling (divided into three types 1. Belt (both hands always on opponent's belt, victory comes from putting opponent under oneself either on their back or side), 2. One-Handed (one hand is always on the collar of the jacket, but allows for the other hand to be used to complete a throw, victory comes from putting opponent under oneself either on their back, side, or knees), 3. Freestyle (the style's version of sport sambo)), 4) Kick Fighting (interestingly it allows clinching, kneeing, leg catches, soccer kicks and stomps), 5) Fisticuffs (boxing that seems to allow all sorts of punches like backfists, hammerfists, rabbit punches (punches to back of the head), fibbing (grabbing the headgear or back of the neck of the opponent, then pummelling them with fists) and even ground-n-pound, all based on traditional Russian bare-knuckle boxing), 6) Hand-to-Hand Fighting (the style's version of ARB) 7) Storm Fighting (the style's version of combat sambo).

* '''Freestyle sambo''': an American ruleset created in 2004. It could be described as sport sambo with less grappling restrictions, allowing all the three submissions described above.

The bouts are held only in the standing position. Victory is awarded after a throw, when the opponent falls on the sand on any part of the body other than the feet.

Practitioners of the sports are sometimes called sambists, but it is not usual because that is also how practitioners of samba are called. Equipment in sambo consists of shorts, a loose jacket named ''kurtka'' and wrestling shoes, as well as a number of protective gear pieces depending on the kind and level of competition.

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 out about wrecking 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.

As 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.

* '''Sport sambo''' or '''sambo wrestling''': it is fought with little to no protections. It is primarily a submission wrestling competition where most throws, takedowns and locks are allowed, with the notable exception of chokeholds, neck cranks and heel hooks. 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). Closing guard is considered a form of stalling and thus more or less forbidden. It is fought over a circular wrestling mat.
* '''Combat sambo''' (popularly known as '''commando sambo''' in Japan): essentially vale tudo with armors and quick-draw rules. Its competitors fight with gloves, helmets and shin protections, which comes in handy for a ruleset that effectively allows throws, submissions and strikes. Unusually for a combat sport, combat sambo is perfectly fine with headbutts, soccer kicks and even low blows; the only real techniques it forbids are pulling guard and sitting on the mat, as it is usually done in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, as well as wrist locks.

* '''ARB''': a weird style invented in the 1970s by the Soviet Airborne Troops. While some of its practitioners will deny any relation to sambo, it is very clearly an offshoot of combat sambo, with the main differences being a tatami instead of a wrestling mat, judogis instead of the usual attire, and grappling being limited beyond throwing. Instead, its rules favor striking, making it vaguely similar to UsefulNotes/{{Karate}} and UsefulNotes/{{Taekwondo}}.

Unrelated to ''Literature/LittleBlackSambo''.

* '''ARB''': a weird style invented in the 1970s by the Soviet Airborne Troops. While some of its practitioners will deny any relation to sambo, it is very clearly an offshoot of combat sambo, with the main differences being a tatami instead of a wrestling mat, judogis instead of the usual attire, and grappling being limited beyond throwing. Instead, its rules favor striking, making it vaguely similar to Useful/{{Karate}} and UsefulNotes/{{Taekwondo}}.

* '''ARB''': a weird style invented in the 1970s by the Soviet Airborne Troops. While some of its practitioners will deny any relation to sambo, it is very clearly an offshoot of combat sambo, with the main differences being a tatami instead of a wrestling mat, judogis instead of the usual attire, and grappling being limited beyond throwing. Instead, its rules favor striking, making it vaguely similar to UsefulNotes/{{Taekwondo}}.

* The late Fumihiro "Sambo" Asako was a sambist turned wrestler in Wrestling/ProWrestlingNOAH.

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 out about wrecking 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 them it's not like he cared anymore.

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 adapted very successfully to sports competition, being a semi-popular fixture of ProfessionalWrestling and UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts.

* Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling mainstay Hiroshi Hase learned sambo in the USSR and used several of its moves.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sambo.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:From Russia with locks.]]

->''"If Sambo was easy, it would be called Jiu Jitsu."''

* Boris Alexiev, the old shooter gimmick of Wrestling/SantinoMarella, was billed as a sambo practitioner (among other styles).
* After he was moved to WWECW, Wrestling/VladimirKozlov started wearing red robes and gear reflecting his real life sambo background.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/TheCloneWars'', the clones' hand-to-hand fighting style was patterned after sambo, with a lot of leglocks entries from between the legs.

* ''[[Manga/KenganAshura Kengan Omega]]'' features Tokumichi Tokuno'o (or Nitoku), a BrilliantButLazy Japanese fighter who learned and mastered Sambo at 20 when he went to study literature in Russia. Despite being one of the best fighters in the world and could have a fortune by fighting in the Kengan tournaments, he is a StarvingArtist, as he only fights for the bare minimum money to continue writing and publishing his books (which were all flops).

* Jason Chambers and Bill Duff of ''Series/HumanWeapon'' traveled to Russia to train in various styles of Sambo, with their trip culminating in Bill going up against a fighter hand-picked by MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko.

* Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling mainstay Hiroshi Hase learned sambo in the USSR and used several of its moves.

* The incredibly grappling-rich ''Film/JohnWick'' series'' stars an eponymous character played by Creator/KeanuReeves whose main fighting style is sambo. Throughout the movies, he disposes of innumerable mooks with a combination of GunFu and grappling moves, and at one point in the first movie gets to take part in a full-fledged grapplefest with a DarkActionGirl. The third film reveals that he's a Belarusian sambist.

* In the ''Film/JohnWick'' series, the title character combines his Center Axis Relock shooting style with a lot of grappling moves, with the third film revealing he's a Belarusian sambist.

* The Japanese Wrestling/UniversalWrestlingFederation and its many derivates had many sambo fighters doing pro wrestling for them, starting with renowned Dutch champion Chris Dolman. Its outshoot Fighting Netork RINGS had entire teams of those, with names like Wrestling/VolkHan and Wrestling/AndreiKopylov standing out in its Russian branch.

* In the ''Film/JohnWick'' series, the title character uses a lot of grappling moves, with the third film revealing he's a Belarusian sambist.

* '''Combat sambo''': essentially vale tudo with armors and quick-draw rules. Its competitors fight with gloves, helmets and shin protections, which comes in handy for a ruleset that effectively allows throws, submissions and strikes. Unusually for a combat sport, combat sambo is perfectly fine with headbutts, soccer kicks and even low blows; the only real techniques it forbids are pulling guard and sitting on the mat, as it is usually done in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, as well as wrist locks.

* '''ARB''': a weird style invented in the 1970s by the Soviet Airborne Troops. While some of its practitioners will deny any relation to sambo, it is very clearly an offshoot of combat sambo, with the main differences being a tatami instead of a wrestling mat, judogis instead of the usual attire, and grappling being limited beyond throwing. Instead, its rules favor striking, making it vaguely similar to UsefulNotes/{{Taekwondo}}.

[[caption-width-right:300:From Russia with joint locks.]]