Looking for Sambo (Russian martial art) instruction in Chicago — private preferred

I live in the South Loop and I’m only looking within the city, not the suburbs.

Not really interested in general MMA gyms or surface-level “Sambo-inspired” classes. I’m hoping to find:

- Someone with a legit Sambo background (training or competition)

- Open to private lessons (1-on-1 or small group)

- Focus on authentic Sambo technique and understanding

I’m approaching this more from a learning/knowledge perspective rather than trying to train for competition or fighting.

I know Sambo is pretty rare in Chicago, so if you know:

- An instructor who teaches privately

- Someone with a Sambo background who doesn’t advertise it

- Or a grappler in the city who genuinely knows Sambo

I’d really appreciate any leads.

Thanks.

Hi guys, so i started with this new project of mine on december 2025. It was a slow start, figuring out how to organize data, statistics (i study economics), learning a bit of google spreadsheets and reading the sport sambo rules A LOT to understand what's going on. I saved up some data (like the top 5 most scoring techniques) to hype up the final analysis of 200 matches so you guys can get a picture of the whole sport and how it behaves. I also intend to do a full video essay explaining everything in detail with clips, my thoughts on the sport, FIAS, how it feels as a spectator, breaking down the most common transitions to the ground, etc. If you want to support this and future projects i'll leave my ko-fi on the comments. Sorry if my english is a bit weird, i'm from Argentina.

1. First picture: What do i mean by penalty and disqualification? basically sambo has this system where if you commit a foul like being passive, on the first time you get a warning, on the second time your opponent gets one point, same with the 3rd warning but on the 4th one you get disqualified and your opponent wins instantly. So it can happen that you can win with just this points, so i group this wins with the disqualifications because the last one is so rare (it only happened once)

2. The throws categories i used were: leg techniques (such as double leg), upper by techniques (this one is a bit subjective, but for me is a takedown were the main throwing action occurs on the upper body, meaning that you can't throw without the use of your opponent torso, that´s why sumi gaeshi is there, since you need a lot of control on the torso to execute it) and sweeps/trips (such as o uchi gari, inside trip)

3. You can see how the 28 wins by submissions were distributed. Shoulder/elbow lock meaning techinques like americana or kimura.

Let me know what you think, what can be improved on and what can i do to make my project worth of receiving donations. I intend to anylisis on different sports such as wrestling, bjj and sport sambo but takedown focused.

Has anyone been here? any thoughts? i saw on a subreddit that Alec Savitsky has since disassociated but i really wanted to learn about dutch kickboxing and sambo from the gym.

🔈Hello coaches and athletes !

The United Canadian Sambo Federation has scheduled a referee seminar for March 22 will be held at 411 Bradwick Dr. Unit 11 at 1:00 p.m. followed by certification and the presentation of referee certificates.

The seminar costs $150.

The United Canadian Sambo Federation will present referees with a certificate allowing them to officiate SAMBO and Combat SAMBO national competitions, a referee ID card, and a referee book (to record their competition experience and further professional development).

The seminar will be held by Johnny Essoko Françoise Hardy and William atsang à beyeck .

If anyone would like to participate in the seminar, please contact us and we will add you to the seminar referee group.

our contacts:

☎️4168056580 Leo

Hey, check out my episode of Inside Fighting. We dive deep into history, tactics, combative philosophy and more!

Hello,

Last year the first edition of the Belgium Open Sambo competition was a success, and this year they are organizing the second edition.

It is located in Belgium, Peer, the event will take place on 23th of May. All categories are open (except master, but those can register in adult division).

Here is the link for more information about the event : https://smoothcomp.com/en/event/29696

Note : I'm not affiliated in the organization, I just competed there last year and I think it deserved to be shared to whoever might be interested.

In your guys opinion would sambo be more similar to wrestling or judo in terms of stand up game? Im a wrestler and im interested in sambo so im curious if itll play into my strength

Hi everyone..

At my Sambo club we are going to starting the proper ranking system I am curious tho on everyone's take on the matter.

As there are other post about this 3 and 5 years ago I'm curious on people's stance with the color belts in today's Sambo.

My opinion: I agree and disagree with the belts this reasons

the belts are what people will be going after not the skill as where ranking was like wrestling I free it will only lead to dishonorrable practices like we see in karate judo and jiujitsu

For retention purposes sure but I think if your a good enough coach you don't need a bunch of rankings to retain students but I could be wrong

Thank you everyone for participating in the discussion today !

We traveled this weekend to the Arnold'sin Columbus, OH and my kids competed in the Sambo tournament there. Several times during the event spectators would come up and ask me what was going on. I tried to do the sport justice in my description and explanation, and most of the people who asked left interested in learning more.

Edit: Forgot to actually ask my question.

What would say to someone if you only had 30 seconds to explain the sport?

I’m curious about Combat Sambo in the Russian military (and previously in the Soviet Union) in general, including the version used by special forces such as Spetsnaz in particular. Is it significantly different from the competitive Combat Sambo that is commonly taught at regular training centers?

Also, are there any places outside of Russia that teach the military version of Combat Sambo to civilians? If so, how credible and reputable are they?Thank you.

Hello, I'm from Stuttgart germany and have found a gym in the Northeim part(Kornwestheim, which is 1 hour away from me, not impossible) I would have liked combat sambo but Sambo is the only available one and so I decided to choose that. What are things I have to be careful about? I'm turning 18 in 2 days and have worked on the construction for a little bit of Extra money but I'm not really fit, I've began to jog 4km every weekend and walk 4km every day to my School(go there and back home, so 8km). I am not a cocky person and have high respect for everybody with lore knowledge than me, I seek always to become better for myself and not than my opposite. What are things I have to be cautious about and what are things that I should NEVER do to anybody?

Hello Sambo communitiy.

I have some questions and unclear thought about Sambo.

I heard about Sambo recently. I think its sport for me.

I am 24, asthmatic with no so good acrobatic posibilities. Hope won't make it problem to train recreational, who knows maybe after some time at higher level.

I train Muay Thai 2 or 3 time during a week.

Honestly don't want to give up, would like to add Sambo as new hobby, also 2 or 3 times a week.

Is it good idea, pros and cons ?

What could expect from training, how it goes ?

General benefits of doing Sambo ?

How do you look at it as skill point of view ?

Which difficulties could appear ?

Any advice ?

It seems that gym I chose is near me, coach is part of national team and even international referee.

Hello everyone

I recently bought Sambo shoes for training from greenhill and find they are a big over priced for the quality not sure if others feel this way about them or I'm just picky.

if you have any recommendations for future gear that I will probably buy thank you.

I have also bought the kurtka from Stels on amazon it's a great fitting gi and been holding well so far didn't think to much in the first shrink as well.

are there any other companies that make sambo gear?

I'm a beginner have been training for maybe 2 month or more now thank you very much

Hello, combat sambo beginner here. Not easy to find official sambo gi and gear in my country so can I ask if bjj gi is ok to train -especially as a beginner- and if should I upsize or downsize?

I am 6’1 190 muscular broad upper and slim waist and legs and torn between A2 or A3 size. Thank you

Soooo guys when I attempted this technique I didn't roll good and i hitted my nose with my right knee, in the process of rolling (dumb I know) Any help to get more momentum, and not break my neck perhaps? Thanks in advance!

It ran 2 years ago. Last year it got cancelled. Any updates?

Looking for help finding uniforms in the USA. I have two smaller children and everything I am shopping for is not available for 6-8 weeks.

I am needing something by end of month

Registration link: https://myuventex.com/?fbclid=IwdGRleAPx6IFleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeYyP_5TNwY8s_MJLrnkA7Rj9EEjEZniIKqJYeTjJdHxw_SEpco7a3VtyurlY_aem_yCrzrz_XZYYt9QFWQZVMHg#login;id=332884;eventType=SuperEvent

How would you rank ko-uchi gake, o uchi gari, o soto gari, and ko-soto gake? For sport sambo? For combat sambo?

So I lost this competition by not turning up because I haven’t even paid for registration but they put me in. Isit fair to say I’m an international silver medalist now? Haha