What is sambo?
Sambo is the grappling art developed in the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 30s — its name an acronym for SAMozashchita Bez Oruzhiya, "self-defence without weapons" — built by blending judo, traditional wrestling styles from across the USSR and military close-combat training. It is contested in two forms: sport sambo, throws and submissions with leglocks permitted but chokes forbidden, and combat sambo, which adds striking.[1] [2]
IOC recognition — the 2021 milestone
After decades of campaigning, the International Sambo Federation obtained full IOC recognition at the Session in Tokyo in July 2021, upgraded from the provisional status granted in 2018. Recognition is not Olympic inclusion, but it is the prerequisite — and it opens access to Olympic Solidarity funding and multi-sport games.[3] [4]
Sambo and MMA
The connection is direct and important: combat sambo's ruleset — striking plus takedowns plus submissions — makes it the closest traditional art to MMA, and the Russian and Dagestani pipeline that produced Fedor Emelianenko, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev runs through sambo halls. Many fighters hold combat sambo world titles alongside their MMA records.[2] [5]
How is sambo awarded?
Who has won the most in sambo?
The international federation publishes no all-time medal table — its results portal begins in 2021 — so what follows is a single championship, the 2025 world championships at Bishkek, tallied from the federation's own day-by-day reports across all 31 weight categories. It is worth having for one reason beyond the medals: Bishkek was the last world championship at which Russian and Belarusian athletes competed under the neutral designations FIAS 1 and FIAS 2, which the federation retired with effect from 1 January 2026. Those designations appear as their own rows, never folded into Russia or Belarus. Sport sambo, combat sambo and sambo for the blind are separate disciplines and are shown separately. One silver was not awarded at Bishkek, so the championship produced 31 golds but 30 silvers.
Medal table at the 2025 World Sambo Championships — one edition, Bishkek
| Rank | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FIAS 1 | 21 | 2 | 5 | 28 |
| 2 | Kazakhstan | 2 | 2 | 8 | 12 |
| 3 | FIAS 2 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 11 |
| 4 | Uzbekistan | 0 | 8 | 2 | 10 |
| 5= | Ukraine | 2 | 0 | 6 | 8 |
| 5= | Mongolia | 2 | 0 | 6 | 8 |
| 7 | Turkmenistan | 0 | 5 | 3 | 8 |
| 8 | Georgia | 0 | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| 9 | Kyrgyzstan | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 10 | Bulgaria | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
Gold medals by country and discipline at the 2025 World Sambo Championships — one edition
| Rank | Country | Sport sambo | Combat sambo | Sambo for the blind | Titles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FIAS 1 | 12 | 9 | 0 | 21 |
| 2= | Kazakhstan | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2= | Ukraine | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2= | Kyrgyzstan | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 2= | Mongolia | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 6= | Iran | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 6= | Moldova | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Medal lists rank on total medals, then gold, then silver; title lists rank on titles. Equal totals are separated by golds, then silvers, and every table states the period it covers — several of these federations publish no all-time record, so some tables are a single championship and say so. Verified September 2026.[6] [7] [8] [9]
References
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Sambo. Accessed August 2026.
- FIAS — official site. Accessed August 2026.
- FIAS — International Sambo Federation obtained full IOC recognition. Accessed August 2026.
- FIAS — IOC Executive Board recommends FIAS for full recognition. Accessed August 2026.
- FIAS — sambo history. Accessed August 2026.
- FIAS — 2025 world championships, day one results. Accessed September 2026.
- FIAS — 2025 world championships, day two results. Accessed September 2026.
- FIAS — 2025 world championships, day three results. Accessed September 2026.
- FIAS — official statement retiring the neutral designations from 1 January 2026. Accessed September 2026.