Sambo is a martial art with Soviet origins, an internationally practiced combat sport, and a recognized style of amateur wrestling included by UWW in the World Wrestling Championships along with Greco-Roman wrestling and freestyle wrestling.
Sambo's was an American restaurant chain, started in 1957 by Sam Battistone Sr. and Newell Bohnett in Santa Barbara, California. Though the name was taken from portions of the names of its founders, the chain soon found itself associated with The Story of Little Black Sambo. Battistone and Bohnett capitalized on this connection by decorating the walls of the restaurants with scenes from the book, including a dark-skinned boy, tigers, and a pale, magical unicycle-riding man called "The Treefriend". By the early 1960s, the illustrations depicted a light-skinned boy wearing a jeweled Indian-style turban with the tigers. A kids club, Sambo's Tiger Tamers, promoted the chain's family image. The chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 1981. All locations except for the first in Santa Barbara either closed outright, or were renamed after being purchased, effectively ending the chain's existence.
James "Chico" Hernandez is an accomplished athlete in the sport of Sambo. He is the first Sambo champion to be featured on a box of Wheaties Energy Crunch and the first Sambo wrestler to appear in CNN/SI "Faces In the Crowd".
Sergej Grecicho, or in Lithuanian Sergejus Grečicho, is a Lithuanian Combat Sambo practitioner, and mixed martial artist who has won six medals, three of them gold, in Combat Sambo divisions at the Sambo World Championships. He also was World Pankration Champion and was a runner-up at the European BJJ championships. He was honored at a ceremony by the mayor of Vilnius for his combat sambo world championships.
The 2011 World Sambo Championships were held in Vilnius, Lithuania on November 11 to 13 for men's and women's sport Sambo and the Combat Sambo championships was held in Siemens Arena.
Alexander Mikhailovich Pushnitsa was the most competitively successful sambist in history of sambo, Merited Master of Sports of the USSR (1980), nine-time champion of the USSR, two-time European champion and three-time world champion. He was a permanent captain of the Soviet Union Sambo team for 15 years. In 1997, in Paris he won the European Championship for sambo veterans. He was a graduate of the Omsk State Institute of Physical Culture (1987). Honorary Citizen of the city of Omsk, Deputy Chairman of Sambo Federation of the Omsk region, and head of the sports school Sambo 2000. An annual sambo tournament has been held in Omsk since 2000 in his honour.
The World Sambo Championships are the main championships in Sambo and Combat Sambo, organized by the Fédération Internationale de Sambo (FIAS).
The European Sambo Championships is the main sambo championships in Europe, organized by European Sambo Federation. The first championship was held in 1972 in Riga. Ukraine plans to boycott the 2022 European Sambo Championships because Russian and Belarusian athletes will be allowed to compete with neutral status. Unlike most international federations, the International Sambo Federation (FIAS) has not banned Russian and Belarusians in response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The 1979 World Sambo Championships were held in Madrid, Spain on December 11 to 14 1979. Championships were organized by FILA.
The 1985 World Sambo Championships were held in San Sebastian, Spain on September 1985. Championships were organized for first time by FIAS.
The 1990 World Sambo Championships were sambo competitions held in Moscow, Soviet Union, in 1990. The championships were organized by FIAS.
The 1991 World Sambo Championships were held in two places because of international politics. In 1991 some countries left the long standing FIAS World Sambo Championships to create their own World Championship FMS / IFS. The 1991 Soviet Union sambo team would be the last Soviet athletic team to compete as one country before the Soviet break up. The 1991 Soviet team became the last to ever win the World Sambo Championships as a country. The FIAS World Sambo Championships were held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and the new FMS World Sambo Championships were held in Chambéry, France in December. Following the 1991 World Championships FIAS continued its control of International Sambo and remains the governing body for the World Sambo Championships.
Abubakar Magomedovich Nurmagomedov is a Russian mixed martial artist, who is currently competing in the Welterweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He is a three-time Combat Sambo World Championship bronze medalist and Russian national combat sambo champion.
In 1993 the world governing body for Sambo(FIAS) split into two organizations, both of which used the same name and logo. The two groups were often referred to as FIAS “East”, under Russian control, and FIAS “West”, under United States and Western European control. This division for control of Sambo created two world championships. The 1994 World Sambo Championships East were held in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia and the 1994 World Sambo Championships West were held in Montreal, Canada.
Yaroslav Amosov is a Ukrainian mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Welterweight division of Bellator MMA, where he is the current Bellator Welterweight Champion. As of February 28, 2023, he is #3 in the Bellator men's pound-for-pound rankings.
The Pan American Wrestling Championships is the continental wrestling championships for nations from North America, Central America, South America and the Caribbean. Three wrestling styles, recognized internationally by UWW, have been contested annually since the inception, namely: Greco-Roman, freestyle and Sambo wrestling. Since 1997 women's freestyle is also contested along with the mentioned styles.
Tagir Radzhabovich Ulanbekov is a Russian mixed martial artist who competes in the Flyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He is also the former Fight Nights Global Flyweight Champion. He is one-time World champion, one-time Eurasian champion and one-time European cup winner in combat sambo, for his team SC Bazarganova. As of January 24, 2023, he is #14 in the UFC flyweight rankings.
Eagle Fighting Championship (EFC), commonly referred to as Eagle FC, is a Russian mixed martial arts promotion company established in 2020 by former UFC Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. It was renamed to Eagle Fighting Championship (EFC) after Nurmagomedov bought Gorilla Fighting Championship (GFC) for $1 million.
The 2021 World Sambo Championships is an edition of the World Sambo Championships, organised by the International Sambo Federation. It was held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from 12 to 14 November 2021.
African Sambo Championships are the main championships in Sambo and Combat Sambo, organized by the African Sambo Confederation.
Andrey Khodyrev (URS)RUS
Dunkhüügiin Tegshee (MGL)
Nishi (JPN)
Georgi Yusev (BUL)
Ochoa (VEN)
José Campo (ESP)
Henk Numan (NED)