How closely related are Sambo and Judo

[maxskills369]

I am not knowledgeable at all when it comes to grappling, and I was just wondering how similar Sambo and Judo are. When I see Fedor performing throws in that Shinya Aoki exhibition, or on Mousasi in training, it always reminds me of what I think of as Judo. He is also always using smooth transitions into armlocks and whatnot. I guess my question is what are the similarities and differences between Sambo and Judo in MMA.

 

[wiseguy$$]

Well the reason is Fedor knowes both Judo and Sambo!

And depending on what style you do "judo" the both go hand in hand.
My school does both and we call it Judo some people call it " Russisian Judo" at are school . Leg locks is the major diffrence, and in America they realy don't have tourneys and as far as I know they only do Combat Sambo in USSR!

 

[bigdelicious]

Complete and utter Rubish Classical example of someone who doesnt know jot about what there speaking about. People mostly compete in Sambo in Russia not Combat Sambo when you look at the amount of people who participate in just Sambo theres far more than combat Sambo.

Also Sambo is mostly judo and so is Combat Sambo but its sambo for a reason the same way judo is judo for a reason they both bring different things to the table. Judo focuses more in throws sambo more on varying aspects. Most sambo players do judo as well as Sambo.

 

[Born_To_Die]

Sambo was derived mostly from Judo, folk wrestling from Russia, and various styles of combat from bordering countries. I have heard that referring to Sambo as Russian Judo is somewhat of an insult (although it does make a bit of sense).

 

[wiseguy$$]

I think, that you are to quick to make judgments!
You read my post out of context, I was saying " Combat Sambo is only done in USSR" to my knoledge!

Second I'm well aware that Combate Sambo and Sambo are diffent things and are similare but not the same. You are right in that most people who do Judo also do Sambo like both because they go well .

And I'm sure you know that Judo varies depending on where you are at " moves , grips and styles"! So don't be a dick head!

 

[HDJ1982]

In my gym, we do both...our instructors each have their respective specialties, but my head instructor is an expert in quite a few arts...We learn the techniques of each art on their own to get a good handle on the basics. Then, onc the level of the student is sufficient in the techniques, we marry the arts..I woudl say that good sambo and judo together is my favorite combo(very in your face). You need to remember one thing, lots of different arts are similar in some ways, so to someone who has not trained in a particular art may not be able to identify it

 

[Throatpoker]

sambosteve needed inmensely in this thread, by the way, the USSR collapse decades ago, wtf?

 

[Gabicho]

Judo is Judo. Sambo is not "russian judo".
You could say sambo is one of the first structured Mixed Martial Arts.
And Sport sambo is one of the competitive variants that originated from military/self-defense sambo - the other one being Combat sambo.

Sambo mixes various different wrestling/grappling and striking styles from Eurasia. Judo, jujutsu, grecoroman wrestling, freestyle wrestling, various forms of folk wrestling - mongolian, georgian, and in an old diagram, i even remember seeing swiss wrestling included (and i didn't even know that it existed)-, karate, aikido, box, etcetera.

Of course, it shares techniques with many other styles, even if it was not one of the styles it took from to form it's bases. There's only so many ways you can break someone's leg and arm, and there's only so many ways you can hip-throw someone or choke someone out. So no surprise, sambo may look like wrestling, judo, box, karate, jujitsu or whatever to the untrained eye.

I'll see if i can take a photo of the diagram of the structure of Sambo that is posted at the gym i train at, because it's very complete and understandable.


And, Combat Sambo is done in many other places other than the former USSR.
Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Germany, Japan, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Mongolia, Venezuela, USA, Mexico, etc.

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

" Combat Sambo is only done in USSR" to my knoledge!

QUOTE]

No, that's not true. I know a place where they train it in New France.

I also heard they teach it in Prussia, where I currently live.

 

[Thalion]

Judo is Judo. Sambo is not "russian judo".
There's only so many ways you can break someone's leg and arm, and there's only so many ways you can hip-throw someone or choke someone out. So no surprise, sambo may look like wrestling, judo, box, karate, jujitsu or whatever to the untrained eye.

It's not about trained or untrained eye.

The man that created Sambo was a student of Jigoro Kano and a kodokan judo blackbelt. Was even imprisoned cause he didn't denied his studying period in japan (Russian during communism want cancel every aspects of other culture).

Judo is the Father of Sambo , and Sambo developed in his own way until 1960. Then with samboka entering judo competition and judoka entering sambo's one they mix each other again and Judo took everything good that sambo developed (like some armbar turnover, pickups and so on).

 

[Yozigi]

I just wrote a pretty detailed, 4-paragraph post and then I accidentally closed the window, f--- me. I'm too tired to write it all over again but here's something:

Sambo and judo have pretty much the same scoring, share most of the techniques and and the tempo in the matches is pretty much the same. Competetive judo adapted to sambo some 40-30 years ago and both sports have looked the same for a long time. Basically if I put up footage from a local judo competition on here and somehow got the competitors to wear wrestling shoes and a kurtka I'd get gazillion responses on how cool the vid, sambo-takedowns and matwork are, that's how close they are. The fact that sambo is practised in Olympic training centre in Russia should also be somewhat of a testimonial of the two sports' relation.

What comes to Fedor, I'm somewhat annoyed how his judo is always put down and his sambo credentials are hyped through the roof. He was a member of the Russian national team in judo and even medaled in couple of A-level tournaments (including Moscow's World Cup if I remember correctly, a very big comp). Getting to the Russian national team in judo is skill-wise equal to getting into US's Track&Field -team or Canada's ice-hockey -team.

Judo doesn't allow leglocks and sambo doesn't allow chokes - but MMA is MMA and in the ring/octagon you can see sambists slapping on RNC's and triangles and judo Olympians destroying knees with heelhooks.

 

[Immortal-BJJ**]

everyone seems to have very detailed explanations contradicting eachother of what Sambo is. I always saw it as a mixture of Judo and Wrestling (especially since they wear wrestling tights and shoes, and a Judo gi top). Why can't it just be that simple?

 

[zheka]

well put Yozigi

 

[wiseguy$$]

Where in USA is there Combate Sambo tourneys going on? Judo is judo and Sambo is Sambo! People call they style of judo " for what ever reason" Russian judo! At my gym I feel that it is because a lot of the grips and moves are a Eastern European influenced, and it is taught with a lot of Sambo type moves.

I call it Judo.

 

[PhenomKidd]

It's not about trained or untrained eye.

The man that created Sambo was a student of Jigoro Kano and a kodokan judo blackbelt. Was even imprisoned cause he didn't denied his studying period in japan (Russian during communism want cancel every aspects of other culture).

Judo is the Father of Sambo , and Sambo developed in his own way until 1960. Then with samboka entering judo competition and judoka entering sambo's one they mix each other again and Judo took everything good that sambo developed (like some armbar turnover, pickups and so on).

I think this a good way to look at it's base. Judo is the father of Sambo, so at it's core it's a art derived from a man who was training in Judo. While this was the beginning it has since evolved as have most other martial arts to incorporate other techniques, adapt, etc.

**I am no Sambo/Judo expert, do not take my word as someone claiming to be one

 

[YeahBee]

I just wrote a pretty detailed, 4-paragraph post and then I accidentally closed the window, f--- me. I'm too tired to write it all over again but here's something:

Sambo and judo have pretty much the same scoring, share most of the techniques and and the tempo in the matches is pretty much the same. Competetive judo adapted to sambo some 40-30 years ago and both sports have looked the same for a long time. Basically if I put up footage from a local judo competition on here and somehow got the competitors to wear wrestling shoes and a kurtka I'd get gazillion responses on how cool the vid, sambo-takedowns and matwork are, that's how close they are. The fact that sambo is practised in Olympic training centre in Russia should also be somewhat of a testimonial of the two sports' relation.

What comes to Fedor, I'm somewhat annoyed how his judo is always put down and his sambo credentials are hyped through the roof. He was a member of the Russian national team in judo and even medaled in couple of A-level tournaments (including Moscow's World Cup if I remember correctly, a very big comp). Getting to the Russian national team in judo is skill-wise equal to getting into US's Track&Field -team or Canada's ice-hockey -team.

Judo doesn't allow leglocks and sambo doesn't allow chokes - but MMA is MMA and in the ring/octagon you can see sambists slapping on RNC's and triangles and judo Olympians destroying knees with heelhooks.

Good post wanted top add my thought about Fedor aswell

Too my knowledge he hasn't really shown any "sambo" in his MMA career, he doesn't have a more wrestling based stance or influence takedowns, doesn't go for leglocks and so on

He does often use a very open guard thou, an sambo influence you could say

 

[Jaxx]

The difference between Sambo and Judo.....

If we compare strict sport Sambo and Judo then they have much more in common than most martial arts. Sambo tends to have a more 'wrestling' feel to it than say Japanese traditional Judo but this, as other posters have already stated, has changed as the Russians entered Judo tournaments. This started cross training between the two so that now European/Russian Judo closely resembles Sambo.

Of course Sambo has leg locks whereas Judo doesnt. Many people correctly stated that strict Sport Sambo banned chokes but thats only in competition...they are taught and practised in sparring in Sambo clubs all the time. Heel hooks and toe holds are also banned in Sport Sambo comps, take it Sambo guys dont know them either?? Never met a Judoka who had any idea of leglocks without looking outside of his dojo. This leads me to...

Sambo has Combat Sambo while there is no Combat Judo. Sambo clubs, unless they are strict Sport Sambo, can teach striking and 'self defence'. The main difference between the two is this, the openess of Sambo to incorparate striking, nogi (or no kurtka work) and enter sub grappling/MMA separates it from Judo.

Judo is Judo, a massive sport with a huge talent pool that has the Olympics has the highest level of competition.

Sambo has Sport and Combat Sambo and a greater willingness to enter various grappling competitions and indeed Mixed Martial Arts. It is in this respect that it is closer to BJJ.

 

[maxskills369]

Thanks for all the informative posts.

 

[PuffyShirt]

" Combat Sambo is only done in USSR" to my knoledge!

QUOTE]

No, that's not true. I know a place where they train it in New France.

I also heard they teach it in Prussia, where I currently live.

lol, I hope this doesn't go unnoticed.

 

[judogido]

Very similar. Closely related. Like BJJ and judo. The same... but different.

To the untrained eye, I am imagine an outsider struggling to tell the difference between the 3 styles (provided they wear the same clothing). Hey - it's not that far-fetched, I told someone I teach judo and they got it confused with taekwondo.... I was deeply offended..