SAMBO(aka Sombo or Cambo)
is an abbreviation of “Samozashchita Bez Oruzhiya” meaning “self-defence without weapons”

A Russian Military art developed in the early 20th Century from judo, jujitsu, native Russian & European wrestling & grappling, known for its devastating throws, sweeps, pick-ups, submissions & painful leg-locks.

SAMBO, was developed from native Russian and other regional styles of grappling and combat wrestling amalgamated with the most useful and adaptable concepts and techniques from the rest of the world; Kuresh, Georgian chidaoba, Catch-as Catch-Can wrestling, Savate, Jujitsu, Judo, Greco-Roman wrestling to name a few. SAMBO even derived lunging and parrying techniques from fencing

Each technique for SAMBO 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. When the techniques were perfected, they were woven into SAMBO applications for personal self-defense, police, crowd control, border guards, secret police, dignitary protection, psychiatric hospital staff, military, and commandos.

Ironically, the military applications developed defensive techniques against weapons that quickly became offensive techniques with the same weapons when they were stripped away from their attackers. A partial inventory of this weapon training includes bayonet fencing, clubs, knives, handguns, and unconventional weapons such as entrenching tools, hats, jackets, and chairs.

SAMBO, as its name implies, was a combat system that developed a sport version to condition the troops and allow them to practice combat techniques in a relatively safe environment.

Sport SAMBO in Russian is Bor’ba CAMBO and is often translated as SAMBO wrestling. Although the military used the term SAMBO in the 1930s, the sport originally was called free style wrestling (not to be confused with the Olympic sport of today) and did not take on the name of SAMBO officially until 1946.

SAMBO practitioners fight in SAMBO boots (sambofki), jacket (kurtka) and shorts so that the bout referees can judge the severity and risk of injury from the potentially crippling leg locks.

SAMBO’s birth date is listed officially as November 16, 1938 when the All-Union Committee of Physical Culture and Sport recognized sport SAMBO. However, it was only recently, during the 1960s, that the Russians revolutionised modern-day judo with their unorthodox techniques derived from SAMBO wrestling, thus opening up a whole new range of ideas for modern judoka.

SAMBists supplemented their techniques and tactics with psychological conditioning, aerobic conditioning, and weight resistance training. In sport, it might be enough to be a technical fighter, but in actual combat, it was better to be a tough, technical fighter.

Judo rules and strategy centered on securing the throw. SAMBO fighters worked to a much larger extent for the submission. The Soviets often used the throw or take down specifically to set up the submission.

“…Everyone saw the similarities between sambo and judo, but no-one was prepared for the effect that the Soviets were going to have on the evolution of judo over the next twenty-five years. To say that they were unorthodox is an understatement, and it was particularly their numerous variations on armlocks which took everyone by surprise. Up until this time a flying juji-gatame had never been seen in competition, but it was apparent that they were very well-rehearsed moves from a very highly-trained team.”
Neil Adams “Judo Masterclass Techniques, Armlocks”

“It was the arrival of the Russians in the Essen European Championships in 1962 and then the Tokyo Olympics in 1964 which changed many of the traditional attitudes [of Judo], at least outside of Japan. Here were fighters who had a very different training method and who were accustomed to picking up opponents at any and every opportunity…Furthermore they were trained for this both physically and technically”
Robert Van De Walle “Judo Masterclass Techniques, Pick-Ups”

there are four generally recognized versions of Sambo:

• Sport Sambo (Bor’ba Sambo) is stylistically similar to amateur wrestling or Judo. The competition is similar to Judo, but with some differences in rules, protocol, and uniform. For example, in contrast with Judo, Sambo allows all types of leg locks, while not allowing chokeholds.

• Self-defense Sambo which is similar to Aikijitsu, jujitsu or Aikido, and is based on self-defense application, such as defending against attacks by both armed and unarmed attackers.

• Combat Sambo which was developed for the military. This is arguably the root of Sambo as it is now known, and includes practice with weapons and disarming techniques. Competition in Combat Sambo resembles older forms of judo and modern Mixed Martial Arts, including extensive forms of striking and grappling.

• Special Sambo - developed for Army Special Forces and Rapid Reaction Police (Militsija) teams and other law enforcement formations. The "Special Sambo" version differ from team to team due to different tasks and aims, however the base of any special system developed in that field is of course Sambo.