Sambo in MMA

Despite being almost invisible outside of the MMA and martial arts world Sambo is an extremely logical choice for anyone who wants to get a great "base" for MMA. That's in quotes to indicate that a whole lot of martial arts serve as a foundation for which other techniques are built on in MMA. Some, like Wrestling,BJJ or Muay Thai are pretty obvious choices, while others, like Shotokan Karate are less intuitive. Ask any MMA fan what they think of Sambo and they will likely just sort of face palm, look disgusted, and point to Fedor Emilianenko, the most dominant MMA fighter in history. Their are of course, a long line of fighters who had Sambo as a base but a little known fact is that Sambo has been a dominant martial art for a long time. One of the main reasons is that any fighter who comes from Europe or any of their Eastern European states that are Russian-influenced (Blearuss, Ukraine etc...) have been exposed to Sambo the same way a high level Brazilian Kickboxer will likely have some knowledge of Jiu Jitsu. Fighters like Igor Vovchanchin, Andrei Arloski, Sergei Kharatinov among others have used Sambo as their base even if they were known for other skills, as Vovchanchin was with his ferocity and power. One of the UFC's earliest stars, Oleg Taktarov, was an excellent Sambo fighter who marked the UFC by being one of the first successful ground fighters who was neither a Jiu Jitsu player or a Wrestler. Which brings me to a sort of roundabout point. Despite being its own martial art, despite having three levels of practicioner, in self defense/military Sambo, Combat Sambo and Sport Sambo; Sambo is essentially Judo and leglocks married together in a martial art that threw in a few other things for posterity. A short while ago, if someone had mentioned that two of the world's most successful MMA fighters would have been a Kyokushinkai practicioner and a Shotokan exponent (George St Pierre and Lyoto Machida) they would have probably looked at you incredulously. Surprising, because Sambo's stand up game is essentially a less diluted form of Judo. If you take two Judo practicioners and eliminate any rules bout how long you can grip the jacket before initiating your attack or grabbing the belt etc..... you would be left with Sambo. In a sense, one of the most classical martial arts of all has been present in MMA since the beginning. It's surprising that fewer people have noticed this but Judo has been a force in MMA for years. Sanae Kikuta (who actually won Abu Dhabi at one point) Kikuta, Hidehiko Yoshida, Karo Parysian, RamonThierry Sodoujko, Igor Vovchanchin, Sergei Kharatyinov and others have been showing off Judo's grand range of throws and techniques in using their Sambo and/or Judo in the ring and cage. Its surprising that most MMA schools don't teach much Judo or Sambo, considering how long it has been a dominant force in the cage. With more and more MMA fighters coming from a wider and more eclectic group of martial arts, can it be long before one of the most successful ones, which can count MMA's most dominant fighter as a practicioner, becomes a commercial force as well????? Time will tell, but it would add a huge dimension to an already thrilling sport