Sambo (martial art)
Sambo is a combat sport, and is essentially a mixed martial art, as it utilizes techniques and methods from other classical martial arts such as boxing, judo, jujutsu, Muay Thai, Greco-Roman wrestling, and freestyle wrestling. Sambo is a recognized style of amateur wrestling governed by the UWW in the World Wrestling Championships along with Greco-Roman wrestling and freestyle wrestling. Practiced worldwide, sambo is a martial art with Soviet and Russian origins.
Etymology
It originated in the Russian SFSR of the Soviet Union during the 1920s. The word sambo is an acronym of , which literally translates to 'self-defence without weapons'.Sambo is a martial art and combat sport developed and used by the Soviet Red Army in the early 1920s to improve their hand-to-hand combat abilities. The sport incorporates various styles of wrestling and other self-defence systems such as kick-boxing and fencing.
Soviet martial arts expert Vasili Oshchepkov is credited as one of the founding fathers. Viktor Spiridonov, a military officer with background in several different styles of wrestling spanning across the Soviet Union, is also considered an important founding member of sambo.
Spiridonov and Oshchepkov independently developed two different styles, which eventually cross-pollinated and became what is known as sambo.
Origins
Sambo is relatively modern since its development began in the early 1920s by the Red Army and other forces to improve hand-to-hand combat abilities of their servicemen. It was intended to merge the most effective techniques of other martial arts.The pioneers of sambo were Viktor Spiridonov and Vasili Oshchepkov. Both were trained military men with access to frequent state-sponsored travel opportunities where they were able to experience various local wrestling styles and add new techniques to their arsenal. Oshchepkov even spent several years living in Japan and training in judo under its founder Kano Jigoro. Oshchepkov died in prison as a result of the Great Purge after being accused of being a Japanese spy, and judo was banned in the USSR for decades until the 1964 Olympics, where sambists won four bronze medals.
Both men were trained military officers with backgrounds in several styles of combat wrestling that were prevalent in different regions of the Russian Empire and abroad. Combining these styles together, the popular international style of catch-as-catch can wrestling and Japanese judo wrestling, their respective styles gradually morphed into a new style of wrestling that was more suitable for the Soviet military's hand-to-hand combat needs.
Compared to Oshchepkov's system of "free wrestling" in Russia, Spiridonov's style was softer, less brutal, and less strength-dependent, which was in large part was due to the injuries Spiridonov sustained during World War I.
Anatoly Kharlampiev, a student of Vasili Oshchepkov, is also considered a founder of sambo. On 16th of November 1938, it was recognized as an official sport when the USSR All-Union Sports Committee issued resolution no. 633.
Styles
There are multiple competitive sport variations of sambo. Below are the main formats that are recognized by FIAS.Sport sambo
Sport sambo or Sambo wrestling is stylistically similar to pre-World War I catch wrestling and judo; and in a lot of ways influenced by them in rules and protocols. The competition uniforms mimic clothing that was used in wrestling tournaments popular amongst the peasantry of the Caucasus region in the Soviet Union, with a few added elements from judo wrestling outfits prevalent at the time. The competition colors, shoes and circular ring have direct lineages from the internationally-popular style of catch wrestling. Sambo also allows various types of leg locks while not allowing chokeholds, akin to rulesets that were widely used in pre-World War I catch wrestling tournaments. Similarly to its parent styles, it also places emphasis on throwing, ground control, riding, pinning and escapes as well as submissions, with very few restrictions on gripping and holds.Sambo is an international style of amateur wrestling recognized by the FILA Congress in 1966.
Combat sambo
Combat sambo is used and was developed for the military, resembling modern mixed martial arts, including forms of striking and wrestling. 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 sambo wrestling is that striking techniques are fully allowed. 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 is 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.
Women participated in combat sambo for the first time in an official tournament in the Paris Grand Prix 2015. The first recognized instance of women competing in an international combat Sambo tournament was in the 2022 Asian and Oceania Sambo Championships. In 2022, Australia and New Zealand competed for the first time in the Asian sambo championship.
Freestyle sambo
This type of sambo was introduced by the American Sambo Association in 2004. Its purpose was to encourage practitioners of non-sambo martial arts 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.FCF-MMA
This was developed in 2003 as a form of sambo without competing in the traditional uniform of kurtka, shorts and boots. Competitors wear only 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 in 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.Self-defence sambo
This kind of sambo is about defending oneself. 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 developed 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.History
Origins and influences
Vasili Oschepkov was one of the first foreigners to learn judo in Japan and had earned his Nidan from judo's founder, Kano Jigoro. Spiridonov's background involved indigenous martial arts from various Soviet regions as well as an interest in Japanese jujutsu. His reliance on movement over strength was in part because during World War I, he received a bayonet wound which left his left arm lame. Both Oschepkov and Spiridonov independently hoped that Soviet military hand-to-hand combat techniques could be improved with an infusion of the techniques distilled from other foreign martial arts. Contrary to common lore, Oschepkov and Spiridonov did not cooperate on the development of their hand-to-hand systems. Rather, their independent notions of hand-to-hand combat merged through cross-training between students and formulating efforts by their students and military staff. While Oschepkov and Spiridonov did have occasions to collaborate, their efforts were not completely united.Each technique was carefully dissected and considered for its merits, and if found acceptable in unarmed combat, refined to reach sambo's ultimate goal: to stop an armed or unarmed adversary in the least time possible. Thus, many techniques from jujutsu, judo, and other martial systems joined with the indigenous fighting styles to form the sambo repertoire. When the techniques were perfected, they were woven into sambo applications for personal self-defence, police, crowd control, border guards, secret police, dignitary protection, psychiatric hospital staff, military, and commandos.
Development
In 1918, Lenin created Vsevobuch under the leadership of N. I. Podvoyskiy to train the Red Army. The task of developing and organizing Red Army military hand-to-hand combat training fell to K. Voroshilov, who in turn, created the NKVD physical training centre, Dynamo.Spiridonov was a combat veteran of World War I and one of the first wrestling and self-defence instructors hired for Dynamo. His background included free wrestling, Graeco-Roman wrestling, many Turkic folk wrestling styles, and Japanese jujutsu. As a combative investigator for Dynamo, he travelled to Mongolia and China to observe their native fighting styles.
In 1923, Oschepkov and Spiridinov collaborated with a team of other experts on a grant from the Soviet government to improve the Red Army's hand-to-hand combat system. Spiridonov had envisioned integrating the most practical aspects of the world's fighting systems into one comprehensive style that could adapt to any threat. Oschepkov had observed Kano Jigoro's distillation of tenjin shin'yō-ryū, kitō-ryū and fusen-ryū jujutsu into judo, and he had developed the insight required to evaluate and integrate combative techniques into a new system. Their developments were supplemented by Anatoly Kharlampiyev and I. V. Vasiliev who also travelled the globe to study the native fighting arts of the world. Ten years in the making, their catalogue of techniques was instrumental in formulating the early framework of the art to be eventually referred to as sambo.
Kharlampiyev is often called the "father of sambo". This may be more legend than fact, since he only had the longevity and political connections to remain with the art while the new system was named "sambo". However, Kharlampiyev's political manoeuvring is single-handedly responsible for the USSR Committee of Sport's accepting sambo as the official combat sport of the Soviet Union in 1938 – decidedly the "birth" of sambo. So, more accurately, Kharlampiyev could be considered the father of "sport" sambo.
Spiridonov was the first to begin referring to the new system with a name similar to 'sambo'. He eventually developed a softer style called samoz that could be used by smaller, weaker practitioners or even wounded soldiers and secret agents. Spiridonov's inspiration to develop samoz stemmed from his World War I bayonet injury, which greatly restricted his left arm and thus his ability to practise wrestling. Refined versions of sambo are still used today or fused with specific sambo applications to meet the needs of Russian commandos.