SAMBO was created in the 1930's. Official recognition of new art was in 1938.
At first it was named "free-style wrestling", then "free wrestling," and in 1946
was renamed "SAMBO." This system is compilation of techniques from a number of
martial arts including Japanese and Chinese martial arts; national martial arts
of USSR area natives (Georgians, Armenians, Mongols, Russians etc.); French wrestling
and other arts. At the time of the 2nd world war the system was widely "tested"
by the Soviet army. "Special" techniques were added at the time, for example fighting
in cells, quick-and-quiet sentry killing, and so on. Because of the number of
criminals in the Soviet army at that time (during WWII each prisoner was "invited"
to the front with each year at the front worth two or so years of their sentence)
SAMBO experts acquired many lessons on criminal street fighting, and a number
of these techniques were included in SAMBO. SAMBO continues to accept new techniques
and modify old ones.
Today, SAMBO is built from 3 parts:
- the sportive part (Olympic sport)
- the self-defense part
- and the special or combat part.
The sportive part is similar to Judo but with some differences in allowed techniques.
SAMBO allows leg locks were Judo does not, but Judo allows choking but SAMBO does
not. There are somewhat more techniques in SAMBO than in Judo.
The self-defense part of SAMBO is similar in form to Aikijujutsu because it
is intended to be entirely defensive. The founder of SAMBO said this about the
self-defense part:
"We give defensive weapons to citizens. Some people say that this kind of
martial art may be learned by criminals or hooligans and used against citizens.
Don't worry! This art does not include even one attacking technique! If a hooligan
will learn, he will be able to apply it only against another hooligan who will
attack him, but never against a citizen."
There are many specific techniques for defending specific attacks, including
escaping from grips and chokes, defenses against punches and kicks, defenses against
weapons (knife, stick etc.), and floor-fighting. The self-defense part of SAMBO
is based on body movements and locks with a few punches and kicks. The object
is to allow defense but not to injure the opponent more than necessary because
this part was created for citizens. In the former Soviet Union the law was that
if you injure your opponent more than needed in a self-defense situation you could
receive a 5 year prison term. Some of the self-defense techniques are based on
sportive SAMBO.
The third part - combat SAMBO - was created for the army and police. It is
a very severe, and dangerous system. If the idea of sportive SAMBO is "Take points
and win," and the idea of the self-defense part is "Don't allow to attacker injure
you," the idea of combat SAMBO is "Survive, and if someone hinders you - injure
or kill him." Combat SAMBO includes sportive and self-defense techniques, but
uses them in different ways. For example, sportive SAMBO uses the traditional
shoulder throw of Judo and Jujutsu. In combative SAMBO the throw is done with
the opponents arm rotated up and locked at the elbow, and can be done to throw
the opponent on his head. If the opponent attempts to counter by lowering his
center of gravity and pulling backwards (as is taught in sportive SAMBO) the arm
will be broken. Combative SAMBO teaches shoulder throw counters that might be
able to deal with a locked arm like kicking out the opponents knee and pulling
back by the hair or eye sockets.
In addition to modified sportive and self-defense techniques, combat SAMBO
includes kicks, punches, "dangerous throwing" (throws that can't be include into
sportive part because they cause injury), locks on the spine, things that are
prohibited in sportive wrestling (biting, for example), many "sadistic dirty things,"
working against weapons (with or without a weapon of your own), tricks like putting
your coat on your opponents head (works nicely), floor fighting (very strong),
fighting in closed space (small room, pit, stairs), quick-and-quiet sentry killing,
and so forth. Students also learn strategy and tactics of fighting alone or in
groups against single or multiple opponents. SAMBO is less popular today in Russia
because the influx of oriental martial arts in recent years. But, the development
of SAMBO has continued and elements of it are incorporated into other modern combat
systems.
A - C