From Russia With Blood, Beauty, and Beasts

[Bill Mattocks]

Click the link to read the story - I enjoyed it - don't know much about Sambo.

http://www.slate.com/id/2211882/entry/2212223/

The Russian Way of Fighting
By Matthew Polly
Posted Thursday, Feb. 26, 2009, at 6:47 AM ET
...
He faked a punch to my groin. I doubled over and raised my left knee to block. He immediately reached down and pinched my inner thigh hard enough that I twirled in a circle and extended my left arm. Switching attacks, he pressed his right hand under my left elbow to straighten, raise, and extend it, while at the same time grabbing two of my fingers with his left and bending them back to the point of breaking. Then he walked me, on my tippy-toes, toward the door, saying in a mock official voice to the class, "Step aside, step aside, this man has had too much to drink."

I am half Alex's age and almost twice his size, and he got me to the door like he was teaching a toddler to walk.

"This," Alex whispered to me, "is how the Soviet police used to arrest political suspects."

 

[Brian King]

"I remember most is something I'd never encountered before. "You don't have to hit an opponent to defeat him," Alex said. "You can fake it and get him to do what you want. You must remember that the attack must be constant. Motion is life; stillness is death." emphasis mine

Very nice!

Thanks for posting the link

Regards
Brian King

 

[Flea]

Would someone elaborate for me on the difference between Systema and Sambo? Thanks in advance ...

 

[arnisador]

They're quite different. Sambo is a judo/wrestling mix that is usually practiced as a grappling sport but there are also "Combat Sambo" training groups. Systema is a much softer are that is associated with ex-Soviet special forces officers.

 

[The Puppet Master]

Heard of Sambo, sounds great but never got a time to read about it thankyou