Sambo is a dying sport.

And it's creation is an abomination anyway so...

Respect to the sambo guys for stepping up and taking part in this. The rules don't favour their strengths at all so those matches can't be really considered as sambo vs. jiu jitsu. Still interesting to watch but you can't be really proud after heelhooking a guy who trained all his life being only allowed to practice kneebars and straight ankle locks. You can't brag that the takedown specialist couldn't take you down when he trains in the gi/kurtka and the match was no gi. I'm not saying that Routolo or Musmeci behaved this way because they didn't and were respectful but about the whole situation in general. When it comes to sambo as an art we could learn a lot from them. Especially transitions from standup to the ground game in the gi. The value of judo set ups is limited fo bjj because of the rules diferences. You can't use the grip on the gi pants for takedowns in judo and you can't do leglocks at all. I would say that sambo takedown to leglock game is the strongest out of all the martial arts.

Harsh but fair...

Back in the day there was a tournament put together here in the US of Sambo VS BJJ. It was like 7 weight classes, one competitor from each discipline to face off. The Sambo guys all sent their top competitors. The BJJ guys were mostly everyday dudes. The rules were different to allow for the Sambo guys to get a better chance at scoring. Only 1 bracket was won by the Sambo team. I'm trying to find postings about this but it was mostly on the NHBGear forum which is no longer.

Now that’s going back in time.

Yeah, miss that forum. Don't miss helping Sam moderate it, though! We got many late night calls....

To me Sambo is inherently connected to ideological Soviet legacy. So as a former citizen under USSR boot I hope you forgive me my bitterness.

Especially given the current events in Ukraine.