Sambo....does it work ?

[JustOnce]

I think another Sambo practitioner many forget is Arlovski, as he mostly likes to strike.
Arlovski went 17 (!!) years as a pro MMA fighter,and almost 40 fights without being submitted. At 38 years old he was submitted by Barnett..

I dont have newer stats, but in 2011, after fighting 25 mma fights, Andrei Arlovski had a 89.5% takedown defence. The second best in all of MMA at the time.

Isn't he like junior sambo silver medalist or something?
Exactly my point. Arlovski doesn't look like he has much of a ground game really, off his back, strong in clinch tho

 

[thelittleman]

So, here's the thing. This has been debated before, but with the rise of Khabib and other russian fighters, the opinion of the competition of this combat sports has become a lot more favourable. Yet when Fedor was at the top of combat sambo, we even were hearing people just dropping out just to not compete against him, you know, that just doesn't happen in major sports..

Now, Ben Askren and Sonnen has been quoted saying Khabib is more of a wrestler than a sambo fighter. Khabib would obviously disagree with it, but if you really look at other succesful sambo fighters, who are really there who achieved a level of success that Fedor or Khabib has?

I am really genuniely curious about really the competition level of Sambo, but unfortunately, on this forum no one really seems to really know about it, but perhaps things has changed. And Sonnen speaks a lot of times a pure garbage out of his mouth, but I must say that what he said about sambo not being very good has been the popular sentiment around here in the past, like I said, before the rise of Khabib and other russian dudes. And it was sometimes hard to argue that, cuz if you look at Alex or baby Fedor, honestly these guys didn't look all that great on the ground, you see.

One thing I wanna point out though, a couple years back I just 'research'ed by the means of wikipedia, no one in sports sambo, which in the past around here has been proclaimed to have a higher level of competition and has been around longer, and in combat sambo, appeared to have achieved more in Judo than Fedor has, when it comes to Russian competitiors.

It looks like there have been world class judokas entering Sports sambo, not really Combat sambo, world medalists in other countries, like Mongolia for one, but not from Russia. I personally found it very interesting because Sambo is Russian martial arts, and Russia is a powerhouse in heavyweight Judo and perhaps in Judo overall. This may have been due to the limitations of the information available on wikipedia however.

Obviously there are more wrestlers/BJJ/Judoka's in MMA, but how many SAMBO schools are in the US? How many SAMBO schools are there in Brazil? SAMBO is obviously an amalgamation of various grappling techniques, but it is unique in that it also incorporates striking(Combat SAMBO). Look at the gloves that they are wearing, where else do you see people wearing those gloves??? Hitting and being hit, is part of their training. BJJ provides better pure grappling, and wrestlers have had great success in MMA, but Combat SAMBO appears to be the closest martial art to real fighting.

 

[bully4me]

I am hoping like to maybe find someone on sherdog who actually know about Sambo..with all due respect for everyone's 'opinion's, would like more 'expertise', here

I'm absolutely no expert on the subject but do have a long time friend who started Samba in Russia when he was a kid and competed until he was 17. Was involves in an auto collision and unfortunately was not able to compete after.

From what I've been told and understand Samba is a Russian pride. Students who show potential are scouted. If they win they are sent to better schools (boarding schools) which are based on education and SAMBO. It's a hard go with the best of coaches and fitness. The competiton to stay and work you way to the top is brutal.

As stated above the sport is a combination of Judo, wrestling, submission grappling and other techniques. They are taught each discipline on its own as it applies to SAMBO and all together as one.

Wrestling is definitely a core practise to SAMBO.

It is also a functional art for fighting , unlike pure wrestling. SAMBO is even part of military combat training in Russia.

Not surprising Askren and Sonnen talk the way they do. They are very wrestling bias, to them it's the best base of any MMA, which of course they will say. They've spent their entire lives wrestling. To admit another could be better isn't going to happen.

SAMBO is a great foundation of MMA. It can dictate where the fight goes and can cause damage and finishes all on its own .

 

[blaseblah]

Now, Ben Askren and Sonnen has been quoted saying Khabib is more of a wrestler than a sambo fighter. Khabib would obviously disagree with it, but if you really look at other succesful sambo fighters, who are really there who achieved a level of success that Fedor or Khabib has?

The other most notable mma practioners who specialized in Sambo are Arlovski, Vitaly Minakov, Sergei Kharitonov, Aleksander Emelianenko, Alexey Oleinik, Megumi Fujii, Rustam Khabilov,Blagoi Ivanov, Dennis Siver and Satoko Shinashi

 

[MadDogMahoney]

Yes. Unless you are using it to fight fires or some shit.

 

[thobra]

Isn't he like junior sambo silver medalist or something?
Exactly my point. Arlovski doesn't look like he has much of a ground game really, off his back, strong in clinch tho

I would think he doesn't go to the ground much, since he is such a solid boxer, but I can not remember many of his ground fights in his best years.

I think he is a pretty good example, as his stats show some impressive skills that we rarely think of. However, Arlovskis headmovement, and chin is what makes him weaker than many others, both on the bottom and on the feet. That has nothing to do with Sambo or Wrestling.

 

[JustOnce]

I'm absolutely no expert on the subject but do have a long time friend who started Samba in Russia when he was a kid and competed until he was 17. Was involves in an auto collision and unfortunately was not able to compete after.

From what I've been told and understand Samba is a Russian pride. Students who show potential are scouted. If they win they are sent to better schools (boarding schools) which are based on education and SAMBO. It's a hard go with the best of coaches and fitness. The competiton to stay and work you way to the top is brutal.

As stated above the sport is a combination of Judo, wrestling, submission grappling and other techniques. They are taught each discipline on its own as it applies to SAMBO and all together as one.

Wrestling is definitely a core practise to SAMBO.

It is also a functional art for fighting , unlike pure wrestling. SAMBO is even part of military combat training in Russia.

Not surprising Askren and Sonnen talk the way they do. They are very wrestling bias, to them it's the best base of any MMA, which of course they will say. They've spent their entire lives wrestling. To admit another could be better isn't going to happen.

SAMBO is a great foundation of MMA. It can dictate where the fight goes and can cause damage and finishes all on its own .

Very interesting. Did he ever talk about Fedor?

 

[JustOnce]

The other most notable mma practioners who specialized in Sambo are Arlovski, Vitaly Minakov, Sergei Kharitonov, Aleksander Emelianenko, Alexey Oleinik, Megumi Fujii, Rustam Khabilov,Blagoi Ivanov, Dennis Siver and Satoko Shinashi

Yeah but not on the level of success those two enjoyed or enjoy

 

[Stevanchez]

And it was sometimes hard to argue that, cuz if you look at Alex or baby Fedor, honestly these guys didn't look all that great on the ground, you see.

Are you talking about actual Fedor or "Baby Fedor" Sidelnikov?

Cause this is a ridiculous sentence if you are talking about Fedor. He is often credited with having the greatest GnP in MMA history, is easily in the top 5 of all-time HW submission artists, and had one of the best all around grappling game in the sport.

 

[MMonk]

Arguablly more to do with Judo than Sambo, though Fedor might say otherwise

SAmbo is more varied and powerfull than judo.

Askren and Sonnen talk more about wrestling, cause they see what they know
and don't see what they don't.

Khabib use a lot of throws and trips from Sambo if you pay attention.
Successfull sambist in MMA:

Fedor
Alex
Arlovski - UFC Champ!
Kharitonov
Taktarov - UFC Champ!
Minakov - champ
Volk Khan - MMA pioneer
Khabib
Rustam
Islam
Magomed

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambo_(martial_art)

 

[bully4me]

Very interesting. Did he ever talk about Fedor?

We're both much older than Fedor, he wasn't on the scene yet in any way.

 

[MMonk]

I am hoping like to maybe find someone on sherdog who actually know about Sambo..with all due respect for everyone's 'opinion's, would like more 'expertise', here

Trainded Combat Sambo for 6 years

 

[Phi-]

Maybe it would help if people could point out the techniques, unique to sambo, used in high level mordern mma fights effectively.

The techniques don't have to be unique to Sambo. They only have to be used in Sambo too.

Otherwise you could say boxing is worthless because Muay Thai uses punches as well (or the other way around, whatever).

@topic: Of course Sambo has its uses. So does Judo and Karate. But you won't win an MMA fight with only Sambo.

 

[PEDS Help me Post]

Arguablly more to do with Judo than Sambo, though Fedor might say otherwise

Sambo is a mixture of judo and various forms of wrestling... you can't really say that was due to specifically his judo.

 

[JustOnce]

Sambo is a mixture of judo and various forms of wrestling... you can't really say that was due to specifically his judo.

You can if u watch him grapple and he was a world class judoka
fairly sure better than most 'judo' based fighters

 

[JustOnce]

Trainded Combat Sambo for 6 years

Interesting

 

[Koro]

Ben Askren and Sonnen has been quoted saying Khabib is more of a wrestler than a sambo fighter

They don't know what they're saying.

 

[trolldum]

I think Fedor once became world champion after winning only one fight.

But can't be sure about it because not even list of fights is available anywhere.

 

[KillerIsBack V2]

I think another Sambo practitioner many forget is Arlovski, as he mostly likes to strike.
Arlovski went 17 (!!) years as a pro MMA fighter,and almost 40 fights without being submitted. At 38 years old he was submitted by Barnett..

I dont have newer stats, but in 2011, after fighting 25 mma fights, Andrei Arlovski had a 89.5% takedown defence. The second best in all of MMA at the time.

Underrated legend

 

[gono btw]

So, here's the thing. This has been debated before, but with the rise of Khabib and other russian fighters, the opinion of the competition of this combat sports has become a lot more favourable. Yet when Fedor was at the top of combat sambo, we even were hearing people just dropping out just to not compete against him, you know, that just doesn't happen in major sports..

Now, Ben Askren and Sonnen has been quoted saying Khabib is more of a wrestler than a sambo fighter. Khabib would obviously disagree with it, but if you really look at other succesful sambo fighters, who are really there who achieved a level of success that Fedor or Khabib has?

I am really genuniely curious about really the competition level of Sambo, but unfortunately, on this forum no one really seems to really know about it, but perhaps things has changed. And Sonnen speaks a lot of times a pure garbage out of his mouth, but I must say that what he said about sambo not being very good has been the popular sentiment around here in the past, like I said, before the rise of Khabib and other russian dudes. And it was sometimes hard to argue that, cuz if you look at Alex or baby Fedor, honestly these guys didn't look all that great on the ground, you see.

One thing I wanna point out though, a couple years back I just 'research'ed by the means of wikipedia, no one in sports sambo, which in the past around here has been proclaimed to have a higher level of competition and has been around longer, and in combat sambo, appeared to have achieved more in Judo than Fedor has, when it comes to Russian competitiors.

It looks like there have been world class judokas entering Sports sambo, not really Combat sambo, world medalists in other countries, like Mongolia for one, but not from Russia. I personally found it very interesting because Sambo is Russian martial arts, and Russia is a powerhouse in heavyweight Judo and perhaps in Judo overall. This may have been due to the limitations of the information available on wikipedia however.

Back in the days, especially in rising Jap. Org., where sambo players had more access (and indeed it´s all about access), you had very talented guys like Kopylov and Han, and others, who unfortunately were already too old when the whole thing started.

About your : " honestly these guys didn't look all that great on the ground, you see."

I suggest u watch ol´ broken Kopylov schooling Leonardo Castello Branco (who was considered BJJ Next Level back then) in 1999, on the ground...