Why are some of the best mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters also Sambo practitioners?
Well, Mikey Musumeci believes that it doesn’t all have to do with Sambo itself.
He shared why in a recent Reddit Ask Me Anything thread:
I think the best “Sambo” people aren’t actually just Sambo people.
The Dagestani team where Khabib and Islam are from, they are actually extremely high level collegiate wrestlers.
So with their extremely high wrestling level, plus learning any grappling submissions, it makes them extremely dominant.
But why aren’t Sambo athletes more successful in ONE Championship submission grappling matches?
Mikey gave his opinion on that as well:
I think the ruleset in sports Sambo is limiting (cannot choke someone from back more judo based rules it seems).
And combat Sambo is great for MMA, but for the Jiu-Jitsu grappling ruleset I think it has shown a lack of skills, which overtime these Sambo people can for sure develop, but for now they are limited.
Aside from this one, Mikey answered many other interesting questions – so make sure to visit the Reddit thread!
For example, he was asked what’s the combat sport he enjoys watching most, other than Jiu-Jitsu:
Definitely the Muay Thai in ONE is my favorite thing to watch outside of Jiu-Jitsu.
The technique is so beautiful in it!
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