From what I've seen, BJJ is incredibly effective under BJJ rules and has proven itself in submission grappling. Sambo competitors, on the other hand, haven't generally had the same level of success at ADCC. But if you remove the sport-specific rules and allow strikes, kicks, and a broader ruleset, Combat Sambo becomes a very different challenge.
For self-defense, though, I think we often focus too much on winning a match instead of surviving a violent encounter. The goal isn't to submit someone—it's to get home safely. That means being able to strike effectively, deal with strikes coming back at you, stay on your feet when possible, and still have the grappling skills to control or escape if the fight hits the ground.
Personally, I think we would benefit from a more self-defense-oriented system that combines the best striking arts with high-level BJJ-style grappling and the practical, no-nonsense mindset of Combat Sambo. MMA is an outstanding sport, but a dedicated self-defense system should prioritize ending the encounter and escaping over winning rounds or looking for a submission.
One other thing that has always bothered me is when people compare an MMA fighter to a traditional martial artist and then conclude that the traditional art doesn't work. To me, that's not a fair comparison.
MMA fighters are professional or highly competitive athletes. They train for hours every day, pressure test everything they do, and compete against other elite athletes. Most people studying Karate, Aikido, Judo, or other traditional arts have jobs, families, and train a few nights a week. They're simply not training for the same purpose.
If you took a skilled Karate practitioner and had them train like an MMA fighter—adding takedown defense, ground escapes, conditioning, and full-contact pressure testing—they could absolutely become successful in the cage. We've already seen Karate-based fighters compete at the highest levels.
I think the same could be true of arts like Aikido. If practitioners trained against resisting opponents, learned to deal with modern wrestling and grappling, and pressure tested their techniques under realistic conditions, I think many of those techniques could become viable. The problem isn't necessarily the techniques themselves—it's that they're rarely trained against someone who's genuinely trying to stop you.
Too often people compare an elite athlete to a hobbyist and then claim they've proven one martial art superior to another. In reality, they've mostly demonstrated what years of athletic training, conditioning, and pressure testing can accomplish.
TheViciousOne
"Who the fook is that guy?!"