Sambo martial arts means seld-defence without weapons in Russian. It has its origins in two Russians, both who trained martial arts extensively in Japan, Vasili Oschepkov and Viktor Spiridonov. These two never taught together for many years, and their combined teachings were brought together mainly by their students. They also had very different styles. Vasili had a hard style similar to Judo and modern MMA, while Viktor (at least partially due to a lame arm following a war injury), practised a very soft form similar in appearance to Aikido. Some people call the hard techniques Sport Sambo and the soft techniques Self-Defence Sambo.

More than anything, Sambo resembles a mix between Western Wrestling and Judo with a lot of ground technique. This has made good Sambo practitioners very successful in MMA. Sambo has also been used by the Russian Military and Police forces, and this Sambo is often called Special Sambo, because it is adapted to the needs of the intervention team.

Have a look also at the International Federation of Amateur Sambo, one of the official body of Sambo: www.sambo.com