SAMBO tutorials at youtube show how they are similar to Judo as they work in standup - but it seems after getting on ground it lacks the holds to conveniently control a larger opponent
Please correct me if I am wrong - it seems basic wrestling does a better job ON GROUND but Sambo is better to GET ON GROUND from standup!
I have wrestled and trained about one and a half year of SAMBO on the side, under coaches from Russia and Uzbekistan.
In my opinion t's kind of difficult to compare the two, because rulesets make styles. I assume when you say "wrestling", you mean Folkstyle; in that case, I would have to agree to a point that the riding strategies employed there may have a better carry-over to an MMA ruleset compared to SAMBO. On the other hand, parterre work from Freestyle and Greco has extremely limited carry-over to MMA in itself, although you can turn it into an asset as well if you work on it (parterre in Greco has probably the highest strength component of every wrestling situation, Freestyle parterre work is great for scrambles, transition from standing to parterre in both sets you up for g&p etc). On the other hand, sit-outs, stand-ups etc. would be much more risky in the international rulesets, because people will attempt to suplex you the very moment you get up.
SAMBO, Freestyle and Greco have "fast groundwork" rulesets, unlike Folkstyle. So you get 30 seconds to pin or score respectively submit, then you get stood up again by the ref. So it's usually not an issue of the opponent wanting to get up, most of them will just try to wait out the 30 seconds. Hence, there is little need to develop elaborate strategies to keep them down, rather you just focus on scoring.
SAMBO stand-up is usually done in a moderately upright stance, somewhere between Judo and Freestyle, since you are covering both your lapels and your legs. This can be quite applicable to MMA, particularly if you have background in combat SAMBO. And Sambo has the advantage on Judo that the leg attacks are mostly done in Freestyle fashion, with some additional combination nastiness thrown in (ankle picks from a lapel grip etc.). Also, learning some throws is much easier with the Kurtka due to replicable grips. On the other hand, SAMBO only teaches you limited upper body tie-ups without the Kurtka/Gi.
So, in the end, it's a toss-up in my opinion, and will depend much more on individual styles than the sport people come from. You have people in all four mentioned subdisciplines who will be great at MMA because they are basically scrappers, and you have people in all four who will always stay behind the potential. If we are talking "street", it's the same imho, although in that case I'd say Greco guys may be the scariest overall, because of the strong upper-body control, the emphasis on high amplitude, hard throws, and because I don't think I have ever met a single Greco wrestler who wasn't a conditioning maching and a mean son of a bitch. My personal theory is that the more restrictive a ruleset is, the more people will learn how to break the rules without the ref noticing - at least, that's what I've seen in both Greco and boxing.
