<p>Adaptive combining-based hybrid free space optical (FSO)/radio frequency (RF) systems are employed to enhance system performance, particularly in scenarios where atmospheric turbulence severely impacts optical signal transmission over the FSO link. In this framework, the FSO link serves as the primary mode of data transmission, ensuring uninterrupted communication, while the RF link provides secondary backup connectivity, activated based on the reliability of the FSO link. At the receiver, maximal-ratio combining is used to combine signals from both the FSO and RF links. The FSO and RF links are modeled using Fisher-Snedecor (<InlineEquation ID="IEq1"> <EquationSource Format="TEX">\(\mathcal{F}\)</EquationSource> <EquationSource Format="MATHML"><math> <mi mathvariant="script">F</mi> </math></EquationSource> </InlineEquation>) and Nakagami-m distributions to analyze the performance of hybrid system with an adaptive combining scheme. The probability density function and cumulative distribution function of the instantaneous received signal-to-noise ratio are utilized to derive new analytical formulations for the outage probability (OP) and average symbol error rate. Further, asymptotic analysis for the OP provides deeper insights into system behavior. The analytical findings demonstrate that atmospheric turbulence considerably reduces the system’s performance. The results also revealed that small scale fading turbulence parameter can affect the diversity order by a factor of <InlineEquation ID="IEq2"> <EquationSource Format="TEX">\(a/2\)</EquationSource> <EquationSource Format="MATHML"><math> <mrow> <mi>a</mi> <mo stretchy="false">/</mo> <mn>2</mn> </mrow> </math></EquationSource> </InlineEquation>. Additionally, comparison between considered system and single FSO system is presented. Lastly, Monte-Carlo simulations are performed to verify the accuracy of the derived expressions.</p>