Inside Sambo: An Interview with Silviu Vulc

In this interview, we delve into the expertise of Silviu Vulc, a distinguished Sambo and MMA coach at London Fight Factory. With a rich background in various combat sports including boxing, Combat Sambo, and MMA, Silviu has excelled as both a competitor and a coach. This post explores his journey through the world of martial arts, the unique advantages of Sambo, and his perspective on training for fitness and self-defense.

Bio:

Silviu Vulc is a Romanian Sambo and MMA coach at London Fight Factory. Initially a boxer in Romania, he later moved to Russia to train at the Red Devil Sport Club alongside notable fighters such as Fedor and Alexander Emelianenko. Vulc spent two years there, training and competing in MMA, achieving a record of eight wins and three losses in eleven fights, with his early matches in the semi-professional league before advancing to the professional circuit. His brief professional stint included a notable victory against Rodrigo Mendes at the Desert Combat Challenge in Israel, though he retired in 2008 after competing in M-1 Global. Since then, Vulc has dedicated his career to coaching, sharing his expertise in boxing and MMA across various countries, including Russia, Romania, and England.

Silviu (2nd from left) now coaches and teaches lessons at one of the UK’s best combat sports gyms London Fight Factory.

Interview

How did you get into Martial Arts Training?

I started training my hometown Bucharest (Romania’s capital). At the time many people in Romania were quite poor. So there was a lot of young men with no money or opportunities, a lot of energy and nothing to do with that time or energy but fight. If you wanted to be better fighter then you better have skills and know how to fight properly. So this was the attraction of this kind of training (martial arts). I trained firstly in boxing, but then moving onto Judo and Sambo. I competed in amateur boxing for a while with some success. However, MMA at the time was gaining more popularity and I decided to try my hand at that. I decided to bring my training to the next level and went to train in St Petersburg in Russia. I had a contract there for three years with them. I competed mostly in combat sambo. I did a few MMA fights as well.

In Russia you trained at the Red Devil Sports Club in St Petersburg. How would you describe your training there?

One of my first trainers was a Sambo/Judo trainer so basically in Romania (and most of Eastern Europe) they do Sambo and Judo training also. It is readily available and very popular.

The training was very hands on and very tough as you would expect. If you are afraid of getting hit, this isn’t for you. Back home in Romania we had very tough training also which prepared me for this, although Russia was next level tough.

You were teammates with one of MMA’s greatest fighters ‘The Last Emperor’ Fedor Emelianenko and his equally tough brother Alexander. Did you train much with them personally?

Yes he (Fedor) was the superstar back then. He was my idol, in combat sports there was no-one near his level.

Training with them? Of course, we were 15 guys in the gym, sometimes more, sometimes less. We were a team, so we always trained together and mixed it up. It was quite an experience. Fedor is one of the greatest for sure.

I trained with his brother Alexander also and many other big names in both MMA and Sambo at that time. These were fighters who would compete in Japan and PRIDE who were the big organisations before UFC and other MMA organisations. Back in the day Japan and PRIDE were the big boys, the place to be. We had high level fighters and felt on top of the world.

Silviu in Russia during his Red Devil sports club days. Here he was teammates with one of MMA’s and Sambo’s greatest fighters Fedor Emelianenko.

With regards to your training in Sambo, Can you touch on the key benefits of training in that system, both in terms of fitness and self-defence, and why you think it stands out compared to other martial arts?

Yeah, this is the most complete system. It brings together striking elements (boxing, kickboxing) and blends it together with the wrestling and the Judo style grappling parts. It’s basically amateur MMA with different things but also headbutts and just a bit more rough. The fight is on the mat and not in the cage and the actual fights are just five minutes. You will generally fight a few guys on the same day, one after the other. So not just one guy (but in tournament format like karate or judo).

You will need endurance, pain tolerance and a strong mindset for that. Of course, if you don’t have it, forget it. It’s not a good place for you to be.

As a form of self-defence do you think Sambo is effective as a street fighting system?

For the same reasons as above, Sambo is a complete system that combines all elements of fighting. The full contact brings the reality of a fight to participants so they are not afraid of being hit. There are different types of Sambo for people to train in. Sports, Combat, even Military, depending on your needs. Sports sambo for competition, Combat Sambo for competition also but also self defence, Military Sambo has been designed to be more lethal for special forces and the military, training with weapons etc.

Entering a martial arts environment can be pretty intimidating when you are a new starter. What can a newcomer at the Fight Factory expect in their first couple of classes with yourself?

We don’t have beginner classes in Sambo at LFF. You should ideally already have experience or be advanced in MMA. It’s better to have a bit of a background in wrestling, Judo or BJJ (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu), something grappling orientated before starting Sambo, otherwise you will struggle.

So you should be functional in the basics of MMA or wrestling and know how to shoot for a single or double leg takedown, how to sprawl, how to breakfall. Basic stuff you should be well versed and able in. Just to be able to train and progress in Sambo (this is something Eastern Europe has major advantages and headstart in).

Silviu stresses that fighters who attend his Sambo classes should know the basics of grappling/wrestling. How to shoot, sprawl and breakfall.

Fighters without these basic skills/not at that level, I redirect them to beginner classes. They might come from an advanced striking background but without basic wrestling skills they will definitely struggle. When they come back more advanced in these areas we can work with them. Learn to walk before you can run. Otherwise it doesn’t work and you can get injured. The aim is to make it and not to break it.

You had numerous fights in Russia and several worldwide. What advice would you give for newcomers to combat sports who are interested in MMA. Would you advise them to train in a foundation style first (such as boxing, Sambo or BJJ) or progress straight to MMA? Maybe to avoid developing bad habits.

People think ok I have a dream I want to train in MMA and be an MMA fighter. Much rides on where you train and how you build yourself up as an MMA fighter. If you do a little bit of everything you will be nearly good at everything and not good at anything. You won’t get too far and you will get broken at some point. In my experience it’s just not gonna happen, you are gonna quit. You will say I don’t like this and go play football.

The idea is to find a background, foundation style and then build around it. You can find and develop skills at any age, however you cannot develop athleticism, fight specific conditioning and muscle development for combat sports. This has to come over the years. The younger you train for this the better.

Every fighter has their favorite hold. Silviu is a massive fan of the kimura.

If you are young and willing to be an MMA fighter, you should start going through the classes slowly, slowly with the guidance of the coaches you will find out what is your strongpoint. Are you a natural grappler, wrestler or more of a striker? You will start building up in one of these directions and work the other areas as secondaries. Maybe you have the nerve and the chin to be a striker? So you will be preferring the boxing and Muay Thai sessions as primary training sessions. Then you can work on your wrestling, BJJ or grappling martial arts as a secondary.

In Sambo there is everything, technique, strategy and therefore the mindset is already treated and prepared for MMA. All the techniques in Sambo complement each other. The striking and the grappling, the judo, the set ups, lead to ground and pound on the floor, the ground and pound in turn open up for submissions and so on. So we already have that and are prepared for that if we advance to MMA later. Combat sambo is where you are able to bring striking and grappling skills together.

So you should find your niche, then level up in this area. After that try to bring everything else, all the secondary skills in around that to make you a stronger well rounded fighter.

Sambo is known for its takedowns and submission finishes. Do you have a Favourite hold or submission yourself?

I was very good at kimura (arm bar). I liked applying it after takedowns. Also arm triangles. Sometimes they worked out and helped me win matches, other times not so well.

We live in conflicted times, with much unrest out there, especially on the streets. Many martial arts (Sambo included) are rooted in traditions of respect, integrity and honour. Is this something you feel carries over into your classes and can training assist in making people more disciplined and respectful?

Definitely training helps create awareness, makes you think about boundaries. Training helps people be more chilled, get rid of that negative energy. People, especially young people get into fights for many reasons, they are anxious and insecure and all these things can affect how you act around others. You get clever when you start to train in martial arts. You think about the consequences of a fight so know when to fight and when not to. You appreciate boundaries, other people’s boundaries and you begin to appreciate what is important and what is not important. You get used to conflict management/resolution.

If someone throws a fizzy drink at you, you know not to overreact, you don’t have to vibe at the same level you know? Because you are secure, you are more confident and prepared, you know you don’t have to escalate things. But if a physical fight happens you are also ready to go.

In Russia and some of the Eastern European countries combat sports like wrestling and sambo are taught in schools and colleges. In the US there is collegiate wrestling. I feel like both countries get off to a head start when it comes to combat sports. Do you think it would be good for more Western European states to take an interest in introducing combat sports as part of the curriculum?

It would be amazing. You have to look at the sports, especially these grappling martial arts (Judo, wrestling, Sambo, Catch wrestling) , which are sports for the masses. Everybody should do sport for many reasons. Kids who train in these kinds of sports are stronger, healthier and happier. It helps them get rid of negative energy. They learn how to work, put in effort, set boundaries and be humble. That is one thing that is important, learning how to lose, sports can teach them how to lose. They have to learn resistance, they live in reality. The mats, the ring, competing, winning and losing becomes their reality. It’s a good thing. You have a bad day, you go home and reset, admit your opponent was better than you today, look at what worked well and what went wrong and come back better. Today in the gym. My friend Mike kicked my arse, he was better than me today. Tomorrow I might go back, work hard and beat him.

It’s ok not to be number one, this training teaches you how to earn things. You are testing each other and gradually getting better together. That’s the benefit for the masses and so is also good for society in general. You train to have successful balance as human beings, by doing sports and after that you have a talent pool for the next level, from there people are gonna go out and perform and turn into athletes. This positive mindset spills over into the wider society.

Every fighter has their favorite hold. Silviu is a massive fan of the kimura.

To summarise, the only ‘gains’ are positive. People who train will be happier, healthier, more confident, successful human beings. In later years they may continue with sport just as a hobby or for self improvement.. This will benefit their lives also and increase things like their quality of life and life expectancy. You can go and train, compete even and who knows? Maybe become UFC champion one day. The sky’s the limit.

So this is the benefit of these places in Eastern Europe because the type of training is available and encouraged to people of all ages. The Americans do great with college wrestling, that’s why there are so many people who successfully transition to MMA when they come from that kind of background. They have a head start. Imagine out of 100 kids in the US, maybe 60/70% of them might undertake wrestling. They become tough, healthy kids.

Finally, Khabib Nurmagomedov once infamously wore a t-shirt stating “If Sambo was easy, it would be called Jiu Jitsu.” Where do you stand on that comment”? 😀

Ha ha, they are different sports. Don’t take that comment too seriously, take it with a pinch of salt. To look at them both, Sambo training is rough, BJJ is more gentle but can also be rough, you can certainly get injured in training. But if you look at BJJ, it generates so many world champions in MMA. It all started with BJJ, with the Gracies and Royce Gracie, they made MMA and UFC what they are today. Sambo and BJJ both contribute but bring different things to the table in terms of skill sets. It is always fun to see different styles clash however.

If you are interested in Sambo or MMA training in London, you will find Silviu teaching classes at the London Fight Factory throughout the week. You can also follow him on instagram.