When two high school or elementary school boys disagree, the pair sometimes agree to meet behind the school and fight. There are usually a few failing punches to the nose before someone gets hit at a glancing angle and it’s all over. Not so in Tajikistan.
A former republic in the Soviet Union, and since 1991 an independent sovereign nation bordered by China, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan is tough. When two guys agree to fight, they know what’s what.
Based on the style of play, the gentleman in the orange shorts appears to be a Judoka, and the one in red a Sambist. The pair start with punches, and then the judoka executes what appears to be Ushiro-Goshi. Then the sambist executes an amazing belly to belly souplesse, with more to follow. The fight continues with knees, strikes, headbutts, chokes, and a leg lock attempt.
In all seriousness, kids, don’t try this at home.
What is Sambo?
Sambo is a new martial art, created in the early twentieth century by the Soviet government, in order to create a unique combat system for the entire nation. For this purpose, the Russian government began an intense search to find techniques in martial arts that already existed in its territory and in foreign martial arts as well. The name sambo is an "acronym for “SAMozashchita Bez Oruzhiya” or “Self-defense without weapons”.
There are some clear similarities between Sambo and Judo. The main influence from judo was through Vasili Oshchepkov, one of the first foreigners accepted by Jigoro Kano to train at the Kodokan (the first school of judo) in Japan. Anatoly Kharlampiev, one of his students, brought together the unpublished material of Oshchepkov and decided to publish it, with a few changes. The book was published in 1940 with the title of “Freestyle Wrestling” and was considered the first official book of sambo in Russia.
In 1968, the International Federation of Associated Wrestling (FILA) accepted Sambo as an international style of fighting, along with the Greco-Roman Wrestling and Freestyle Wrestling.
[h/t: Judo for self-defense]
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