Like Gregg Humphreys said: "The three people who have done the most for Sambo are Steve, Steve and Steve" a reference to the man they call the Reaper "Sambo" Steve Koepfer. Steve was very open and thorough in his responses, they are detailed and show the depth of knowledge and history that this man has with the sport. A true martial artist, "Sambo" Steve not only talks the talk, he walks the walk, having a rich competition background and having trained many world class athletes across all facets of the Grappling and MMA universe. I hope you find his interview as enlightening as I did. We talk about his his gym and his American Sambo Association, his background, the state of Sambo and Combat sports and the future outlook for Sambo. I will hopfully be spending some time with Steve this weekend at the Reality Fighting show and hope to have a few follow-ups for you guys next week. Enjoy-Greg
SOTG: Steve can you tell us about your background: when did you start Sambo, what was your first impression of it and when did you know this is what you wanted to do?
Sambo Steve: I have studied martial arts most of my life (I am 45 years old); starting at age 7. Prior to Sambo I trained Shotokan, Tae Kwon Do, Grappling, and San Shou. During that time I competed in many different martial arts such as Grappling, Tae Kwon Do, San Shou and Shooto. In 1997 I was a Bronze medalist at the United World San Shou Championships. In 1998 I competed in what could be first ever international submission grappling tournament; the Gene LeBell World Grappler’s Challenge in Toronto, Canada.
I did not win that tournament but that is where I met UFC champ Oleg Taktarov and first experienced Sambo. That planted a seed in my head. It was quite a historic weekend and really changed the direction of my martial arts life. That event was a first of its kind (Grappler’s Quest founder Brian Cimins was also competing there; this event was actually the inspiration for Grappler’s Quest). Gene LeBell, Carlos Newton, Gokor Chivichyan, Mark Tripp, Rick McCoy, Dave Womack, Gary Goodrich, Lloyd Irvin, Mark Bocek, and Harute Terzyan were all in the house. Many of those guys went on to be noted people in the MMA & grappling community. Serge Gerlach (one of our ASA Vice Presidents) and Chris Herzog (of 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu) also got their start at that event. It was a real evolutionary moment in North American martial arts. Looking back, I am so glad I was there.
Photo by Yvette Lincoln
By the following year I had found my Sambo coach, who was living in New York at the time; His name is Alexander Barakov. Alexander now lives and teaches in St. Petersburg, where I have also trained with him. After one training with Alexander I was addicted to Sambo. I fell in love with it. I have not stopped training Sambo since that time. I have also been training bi-annually with Igor Kurinnoy since 2007. I have trained with him and his team at Borec (Russian for “Warrior” –his academy) and the prestigious Sambo 70 in Moscow as well as Spartak Olympic Development Center in Ukraine.
SOTG: You run one of the largest (if not the largest) Sambo schools in the country- and just recently moved, tell me about the new space, what does it mean to your students to have a new space?
Sambo Steve: I don’t think we are the biggest US Sambo club at all. But, we are pretty well known! I started my club in April, 2003 when Alexander Barakov left New York and moved home to St. Petersburg. For the first five years I rented from other gyms until we had enough students to get our own space. The last five years I've had my own gym. This month, we actually moved into a larger space which is real exciting for the students and me. It is a new chapter for the club.
During the last 10 years, we have become known for training Sambo, grappling and MMA. We are located in midtown Manhattan, which is a perfect spot for accessibility, but, it is also a very competitive location with many other clubs in the area. So, if you do not offer the solid services, you will not succeed. We have had many amateur and professionals fighters and grapplers during the past 10 years. Our club has become quite popular because of this. We have many people who come to train with us from across the United States as well as internationally. Students have visited from Japan, Russia, Sweden, France, Germany, Canada and Brazil (as well as a few others). The past 10 years have been a blessing to me - a dream come true. I love my club and my students. Not too many people can say they earn a living doing what they love every day. I feel very fortunate.
In the end, our club would not be what it is without the team of coaches behind it. Currently, our coaching staff includes Tyga Maclin, Alexius Phoenix, Anthony Pipola and Bradley Desir. Until he moved to Louisiana, Reilly Bodycomb also was a resident coach. Their cumulative experience is literally world class. I am proud to have all these guys as friends, students, and now coaches at my club.
SOTG: Steve you also run the American Sambo Association: can you talk to us about your associations goals and growth?
Sambo Steve: The American Sambo Association was founded in 2003 by me and Alexander Barakov. Since that time the Association has been committed to becoming the premier association dedicated to the advancement of Sambo in the United States. Through tournaments, training camps, seminars, demonstrations, coach and team development, marketing, and cross-discipline affiliations, the American Sambo Association strives to introduce and educate the American public to the benefits of Sambo. Through memberships for schools and individuals, the American Sambo Association strives to monitor and make available Sambo training of the highest quality. The American Sambo Association supports and promotes bridge-building across martial art disciplines. The American Sambo Association does not promote any particular ranking system. Recognizing the moral responsibilities of all martial arts, the American Sambo Association also offer its services to local and global community building and human service efforts. Most importantly, like Sambo itself, the American Sambo Association promises to grow and evolve with the needs of its members and students.
Since our founding we have grown to have an incredible Executive Board including many noted international members of the martial arts and Sambo community. We now have clubs in 27 states as well as many other individual members. We are the largest US Sambo organization as well as the oldest organization currently in operation.
SOTG: That is very impressive! You were also recently featured on the Budovideos.com produced show “Rolled Up”. Can you discuss that experience and its impact on Sambo here in the US? (For those that don’t know “Rolled Up” is an extremely popular and well respected show dedicated mainly to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) Sambo
Steve: I had a blast with Budo Jake on Rolled up! He has been extremely supportive of the ASA and Sambo in general over the years. He offers a tremendous service to our grappling community. I don’t think his contributions can be overstated. We all owe him. He has certainly helped me, as well as Sambo in general, get on the radar of the non-Sambo grappling community in ways we could not have done on our own. He opened doors for us.
SOTG: Steve, last one so we’ll make it count: considering your contributions, where do you see Sambo in the next 5 to 10 years here in the US, where does it fit into the Jiu-Jitsu/grappling /MMA scene in your opinion and do you have any current in the works we might not know about?
Sambo Steve: The United States has seen a great growth of interest in Sambo in the past few years. 2014 will be an exciting year as some of the sports unfortunate political divisions have been put to rest and many Sambo oriented fighters are competing in the UFC and Bellator such as: Adlan Amagov, Khabib Nuragomedov, Rustam Khabilov, Mikhail Zayats, Blagoi Ivanov, Magomedrasul “Frodo” Khasbulaev and more. These men are following the footsteps of Oleg Taktarov and Fedor Emilianenko. They are making waves and bringing Sambo into the mainstream. But, the United States does have a rich history in Sambo dating back to the first word championships in 1973. Politics really suppressed Sambo in the 1990’s, but we are coming back strong!
Combat Sambo fighters also have an easier transition to MMA because they are used to fighting in all ranges in a match: striking, throwing, wrestling, and grappling. I also believe the training methodology used in Sambo is very beneficial for MMA. I personally prefer it to a more traditional approach like BJJ. (I feel) Sambo training is more scientific, practical and utilitarian. But, in the end, what makes a fighter great is how well he can use what he knows: There are very good BJJ fighters and very good Sambo fighters but the best fighters will train everything they can. Isn’t that how Sambo was created? Take what works from any style and use it. This is the real key to success in MMA. The critical word in MMA is “Mixed.”
The same goes for the grappling scene. Sambo is making itself known there as well and it is great to see. But, it is a two way street; BJJ and other styles like Catch Wrestling are also influencing Sambo. For example: this year Kyrgyzstan sent a team to the NAGA worlds for the first time. They trained at our gym while in the US. Though they were mainly wrestlers and Sambists, it is clear that they have been working their guard game as well as other aspects unique to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu scene. Similarly, Sambo 70, perhaps the best known Russian Sambo training center, now has a fully integrated MMA division. Everyone is evolving; which makes all of us better at what we do. As Reilly Bodycomb recently said “Training BJJ makes my Sambo better. Training Sambo makes my BJJ better.” This is what it is all about.
Regarding current projects, now that the documentary I produced (New York MMA on Hulu) is distributed and settled, I am just in the beginning stages of a new TV project, but I can't say much about it yet. Keep a lookout though, it will be cool!
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