There are two new and the most emerging fighting styles, Kickboxing and Sambo. Kickboxing is relatively a new technique, while Sambo is an old one as compared to Kickboxing. Both the fighting disciplines grew at their earliest and earned world-wide fame quickly. So our today’s question is: Is kickboxing better than Sambo?
The answer to this question is NO if comparing Kickboxing with Combat Sambo.
And the answer will be YES if we are comparing Kickboxing with Sport Sambo.
What is the difference between Combat Sambo and Sport Sambo?
Combat Sambo: It is the professional version of Sambo which can be said as the full version which is far better than the other variant of this sport.
Sports Sambo: This is an amateur variant of Sambo used for demonstrative and exhibition purposes. It is one of the most limited fighting styles in the world and is not much effective as the Combat version of Sambo.
In this article, I am going to discuss the full version of Sambo, which is Combat Sambo. So, when I will say Sambo, it will point towards the Combat Sambo because we are not going to discuss both disciplines at the professional level.
Let me tell you how Sambo is better than Kickboxing. For this, we will go through:
- The difference in fighting styles.
- The difference in strikes. And Differences in tricks that we do not see in Kickboxing but Sambo.
- The Brutality level in both sports.
- And then, I will share a formula with you so that you can easily compare two different fighting styles like Kickboxing and Sambo.
Let us go!
Fighting Style Differences between Kickboxing and Sambo
Both, Sambo and Kickboxing are full-contact fighting techniques. Kickboxing is derived from Boxing, Karate, and Muay Thai, which means it is a hybrid fighting style. Sambo is also a hybrid fighting style and is based upon Jujutsu, Catch-Wrestling, and Judo.
These are some paper-based facts. But the reality is, Kickboxing is a subsidiary of Muay Thai. If we talk about two other fighting systems – Boxing and Karate – they are already a part of Muay Thai or Thai Boxing.
So it makes Kickboxing a limited version of the national sport of Thailand, which uses eight limbs to fight – Knees, Elbows, Fists, and Kicks – and Kickboxing is about kicks and fists. So it makes Kickboxing an art of four limbs, which is a restricted version – No knees and Elbow landing – of Muay Thai.
On the other hand, Sambo is a hybrid fighting style that inherits the best strikes and shots from all three fighting disciplines and stands as one of the most advanced fighting systems.
The next difference is about the causes of the inauguration of Kickboxing and Sambo.
Kickboxing was developed as an answer to Muay Thai when the Japanese fighters and coaches came to know that Karate is a mismatch in front of Muay Thai or Thai Boxing. So Kickboxing is built upon the sports-based requirements.
Sambo was not a sport at all. It was developed for the Soviet Union army personnel to cope with the war scenarios, which means how to survive when a fighter is unarmed on the battleground.
Being a subsidiary of Muay Thai, Kickboxing is an effective martial art but having a relation with war doctrine, Sambo is one of the most effective – if not the most effective – fighting style in the world.
As the word Sambo shows itself, SAMozashchita Bez Oruzhiya, which means “self-defense without weapons”.
Grappling, clinching, ground-and-pound, and Strikes differences in Kickboxing and Sambo
Kickboxing is related to a very little grappling – say clinching -; that too in a standing position only. On the other hand, Sambo is about situations like standing, running, sitting, and/or ground-and-pound.
Kickboxers are trained to land and take the legal punches and strikes only, while Sambo fighters are trained to throw and land legal and illegal strikes as well.
For example, hitting on the groin is not allowed in any combat sport, but Combat Sambo legalize these type of shots because these are the situations a soldier can face. And we all know that there are no referees, judges, or the legal or illegal strike sanctioning during a street fight or on the battleground. And we know very well that in a war, the only purpose is to kill or get killed by any means.
Sambo allows landing a knee to the groin, a rabbit punch, or hitting below the belt. Furthermore, throwing elbows – does not matter downward elbow strikes or sideway elbow strikes – is also allowed in Sambo, which is not a part of Kickboxing at all.
Sambo fighters train for choking and locking to make their opponents unconscious or even kill them while choking and locking are not in the system of Kickboxing fighting style. Kickboxers just trade strikes and punches during a fight.
Brutality in Kickboxing and Sambo
A kickboxer is trained to win a contest- Amateur or Professional-, or stay healthy and fit along with the added feature of self-defense.
So the kickboxing training moves around these bases. If we dig into history, Kickboxing was meant to overcome the limitations in Karate against the Muay Thai Fighters. But Sambo is not only limited to the reasons any combat sport is learned for.
Sambo training is related to tackle with the opponent(s) when one is unarmed, and it is not to be mentioned as everyone knows that killing a soldier is something normal during a war. So built on these bases, Sambo learners grind hard to tackle a do or die situation. This basic difference describes it all that Sambo is far better than Kickboxing, whether it is about self-defense, a fighting contest, or health & fitness purposes.
Since the comparison is with Sambo, so we are seeing Kickboxing as less brutal, but it does not mean Kickboxing is not a dangerous fighting discipline at all.
The fact is, during an hour of kickboxing fight, there are around 2.5 injuries. Or at the bigger scale, during a collective 1000 minutes of the fight, the injury rates are around 40.
This shows that Kickboxing is a brutal sport, and fighters sustain many injuries during the training or in an actual fight. So there is no question about the effectiveness of Kickboxing. But as compared to Sambo, there are some limitations in Kickboxing.
The Final words: Sambo or Kickboxing.
Just keep the formula in the mind, the fighting styles which are developed for war purposes are the most brutal and the most effective in combat sports.
So whenever there is a need to compare two or more fighting disciplines, see their history, the one having roots with the battleground will be the superior one.
For example, Sambo, Muay Thai, or ARB all three can outsmart any fighting styles like Karate, Judo, kickboxing, boxing or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, etc.
The situation is different when comparing two combat sports where both are related to army or battle purposes. I can cover that in a different article. Let us come back to the main point.
“Is Kickboxing better than Sambo”?
I described Brutality, effectiveness in a street fight, legal and illegal strikes in both the fighting styles, so the answer is NO. Sambo is far better than Kickboxing.