But most of the time it's Sport Sambo and_then_there's the good stuff.
If you were to compare Sport Sambo competitions to combat sambo, combat sambo isn't as big as the sport variation.
It's more likely you'll be skilled doing Sport Sambo first, where you get to put the things you know in a safe environment.
For example, in my judo classes, we weren't allowed to do Combat Judo i.e. leg locks, neck/spine manipulations until much much later. I don't expect any place that teaches combat judo to allow "freestyle"/"NHB"/"all-out" until much much later.
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I got two fists.. Don't make me use my head as well!