There are some schools of thought that believe twirling a stick in Escrima Stickfighting is useless and a waste of movement – it serves more for flash and no function: Where a direct powerful strike through the target – a person – is a more effective attack rather than wasting time with a fancy twirl.

We all know the object: To maim, destroy, or kill. Versus trick, mesmerize, or just to be a fancy flashy escrimador.  Systems that incorporate a stick twirl within their combos will disagree. Some practitioners may also say an Abanico strike is a useless strike. So you see, there are many theories to stickfighting.

Here’s my ‘take’:

Learn everything you need to learn in stick fighting. What some may say is the least effective strike (or combo) may be the absolute most effective strike in a particular situation.

So, the question is: Why Twirl your stick in Escrima Stickfighting?

Paraphrasing Newton’s law of motion:  “An object at rest stays in rest and an object in motion stay in motion…”

Attacking with a strike from a very static position (where the stick is not moving) creates a jerky, tense motion. If there is a lag (which is common when attacking with a weapon from a static position), the attack can be predictable and a strike may be telegraphed.  Twirling a stick is like a trigger of action that we’ll call the “Attack Trigger” – where the stick is constantly moving and as Newton’s law suggests, “An object in motion stays in motion.”

The momentum of the twirl (even if its slow) helps release the power and speed of an attack in a smoother, less jerky, way.  This Attack Trigger helps create a fluid rhythm of speed, as well as motion of flow where techniques can be combined together with another spin.

A lumber jack swings his axe back than forward in order to generate speed and power. A baseball player picks up his foot as he transitions into his swing motion even if he isn’t going to swing at a pitch. It prepares his Attack Trigger for a faster swing speed. A professional golfer waggles before his backswing in order to stay loose instead of staying at a very static position and a hurky-jerky swing.

Keeping your hands, and sticks, moving, as well as your feet, you are staying ‘in motion’ and your Attack Trigger is working at all times – ready for you to pull the trigger and strike with a smooth, and powerful motion. Swing speed creates power, and by twirling a stick as part of your rhythm prior to any counter or attack, can help create a powerful  attack that flows to another series of powerful techniques and attacks.

Thanks for reading!

Sensei Glenn Magas

To learn more about stickfighting and to schedule a class or private lessons, contact Sensei (Coach) Glenn Magas, an Armas de Mano MMA black belt, Okinawa-Te MMA Black Belt, creator of the “1-x System of Self Defense Techniques”, developer of the Hybrid Te Jitsu MMA System of Martial Arts, and head martial arts instructor at Old Town Fight Club in Monrovia, CA. email: HybridTeJitsuMMA@gmail.com

Purchase Hybrid Te Jitsu Logo Athletic wear here: “Train in Style“.

Follow our Stickfighting Tweets here: @WeaponOfTheHand

This is an unauthorized brief history of “Gordon Doversola’s Okinawa-Te”.

No matter where you look, you will not find a true history of “Gordon Doversola’s Okinawa-Te” system of Martial Arts. Yes, you will find some ‘history’ in books, and more likely you will read myth on the internet about one armed masters and a secret system handed down to one man: Gordon Doversola. The true genius about these stories and the art of Okinawa-Te karate comes from only one man: The genius himself: Gordon Doversola (1934-2011).

There are many conflicting facts on where and what Master Gordon Doversola studied as a Martial Arts. At the core, he studied Danzan Ryu from Seishiro “Henry” Okazaki (1890–1951) and Kajukembo from Adriano Emperado (1926-2009), both in Hawaii. Later, on the mainland: around the mid-late 1950s, Doversola studied Shotokan Karate from Tsutomu Ohshima in Los Angeles.

Danzan Ryu Belt Level: Unknown
Kajukembo Belt Level: Purple
Shotokan Karate Belt Level: Brown

Of course he was a Martial Artist and when he saw something he thought was effective from other arts, either on his own or from other students, he would make it Okinawa-Te and it would eventually be part of the system. Whether it was a Chinese based, Japanese based, or just plain old dirty boxing based art.

Master Doversola, or Shihan, as his students call him, was a fighter from head to toe. His formal training in Hawaii, along with the rough streets where he grew up, became the base of his creation: a very aggressive street fighting martial arts system. Other influences along the way, from fellow Martial Artists, to high level students, helped evolve the system to what it is today. He was also an artist – able to create a free flowing style of fighting that was beautiful yet fierce!

Gordon Doversola was part of the ‘mix’ of martial artists in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, who popularized the Martial Arts and really brought Karate to the forefront.  His many influences outside of formal training have come from Bruce Lee, Dan Inosantos, Ed Parker and so much more to name. He was a choreographer for movies like the original Manchurian Candidate, as well as a personal karate instructor to many stars and prominent fighters: Joe Lewis, Jim Kelly, etc.

Okinawa-Te was all his: his creation, his art, his style, his history. And everything about it: the beauty, the fighting style, and the aggressive reputation is the essence of Gordon Doversola, and Gordon Doversola is the essence of “Gordon Doversola’s Okinawa-Te”.  At the young age (approximately) of 25 or 26, “Gordon Doversola’s Okinawa-Te” dojo was opened and the legacy began.

Putting it into perspective: “Gordon Doversola’s Okinawa-Te”, originally, is a Hybrid (or mix) of:

Danzan Ryu: Okinawan Karate, Chinese Kung-Fu, Hawaiian Lua, Filipino Martial Arts (Knife fighting / Eskrima), Boxing, Wrestling

Kajukembo: Streetfighting concepts combining effective techniques from: Karate, Judo (Jujutsu), Kempo, Boxing (Chinese)

and finally (BUT NOT LIMITED TO)

Shotokan Karate

This was the start of “Gordon Doversola’s Okinawa-Te” (circa 1960 – Today) and it continues to ‘evolve’ by different practitioners and black belts of Gordon Doversola.

It is said that “Shihan’s Okinawa-Te” was created with 36 forms. There could be many more as he created forms ‘on the whim’ and passed them along to different students.  The true essence of “Gordon Doversola’s Okinawa-Te” is its aggressive form of self-defense and street fighting tactics. It is known more as a ‘self-offense’ vs a ‘self-defense’ and said to be 2/3 Offense and 1/3 Defense.

By looking back at just the limited history and influence of many martial arts, “Gordon Doversola’s Okinawa-Te” is one of the first forerunners to Mixed Martial Arts – following in the footsteps of Shihan’s forefather’s systems of self-defense.

“Okinawa-Te MMA” (or Okinawa-Te Magas/Mixed Martial Arts) also follows in these same footsteps. To find effective and aggressive street fighting tactics while maintaining the ‘core’ or heart of “Gordon Doversola’s Okinawa-Te” and it’s beautiful kata and hard core fighting techniques.

You will learn 12 plus short forms, long forms like The Sword & Hammer, Falling Leaf, Bear, Ywarra, all with and without weapons. “Gordon Doversola’s Okinawa-Te” Wazas, Grab Tactics and most importantly: the attitude needed to be an Okinawa-Te MMA Fighter will also be learned from an Okinawa-Te MMA instructor. Shihan had pride in his fighters: Those students were and always will be his favorite.

The “MMA” part is coming from the many years of study by Glenn Magas (“M”) and other influences of martial arts (“MA”) system which include but not limited to: Filipino Martial Arts: Eskrima/Arnis/Kali, Boxing, Tae Kwon Do, Karate, Hapkido, Jujutsu, Muay Thai, Shoot Fighting, & Brazilian JiuJitsu.

Hybrid Te-Jitsu is a blend of martial arts with “Gordon Doversola’s Okinawa-Te” and Armas de Mano as its base.  The fighting concepts of Hybrid Te-Jitsu are meant to be aggressive and fluid for street fighting and self-defense. There should only be one person standing after the fight: that person has to be an Okinawa-Te MMA Warrior/Armas de Mano Eskrimador or a Hybrid Te-Jitsu Artist/Practitioner. That could be you!

Related:
“Bruce Lee – Father of MMA?”

To train in Okinawa-Te MMA visit: “Old Town Fight Club – Monrovia, CA”

Follow our Okinawa-Te MMA tweets here: @OkinawaTeMMA

Armas de Mano MMA? Eskrima? Arnis? Kali? What’s the diff?

Often times each is used interchangeably to represent the Filipino Art of Stick Fighting. Each, generally, refers to the same thing. But it’s not to be confused with a name for ‘only’ stick fighting.

Escrima, Arnis, and Kali represent the Martial Art of the Phillipines. They include, but are not limited to, sticks fighting, bladed weapons, and empty hand-to-hand combat.

Paraphrasing from Wikipedia:

Eskrima, with a ‘k’, is a “Filipinization” of the Spanish word, “Fencing” (esgrima) – a term for hand-to-hand combat with bladed weapons.

Arnis comes from arnes, Old Spanish for armor.

Kali, believe it or not, is most often used in the United States and Europe and “the preference for the term kali by foreigners is due its lack of a definitive foreign origin and an attempt to preserve authenticity of a name that has otherwise been lost to history.”

A more often unknown fact are these: “Practitioners of the arts are called Eskrimador for those who call their art Eskrima, Arnisador for those who call theirs Arnis and Kalista or Mangangali for those who practice Kali.”

And after decades of lobbying and overdue recognition, Arnis/Eskrima/Kali was proclaimed as the official National Martial Art and Sport of the Philippines in January 2010.

End Wikipedia

There are many systems and styles of Filipino Martial Arts, more specifically, many systems and styles of Eskrima, Arnis, or Kali. Armas de Mano MMA is one of them.

What is Armas de Mano MMA

A bisayan translation of Armas de Mano would be “Weapons of the Hand” (or Weapon of the Hand), a system of Filipino Martial Arts (FMA) with a ‘mix’ of other martial arts influence, hence “MMA”.

Armas de Mano MMA follows the Filipino Martial Arts aspect of a being a simple martial arts that is equally based in weapon skills and empty hand skills (such as kicking, punching, trapping, and grappling).  Simple only in the systemization and it is simple to learn, rather than the effectiveness of the art itself.

It is designed to be simple to learn including only the skills that are proven effective and could be easily taught and shared. The Armas de Mano MMA system itself could be a life-long process with an evolving curriculum for those who want to progress, learn, and grow. But the simplicity of Armas de Mano MMA encourages students to learn what works for him/or and to make it ‘their own’. The difference between a more experienced Armas de Mano MMA practitioner and a beginner is not the amount of techniques, but rather the skill in executing a smaller number of techniques that works for that practitioner.

Some of the basic principles of Armas de Mano MMA are:

Keep techniques simple and easy to teach and share
Use skills that are proven effective (less is more)
Weapons and Empty hand techniques should be easily interchangeable
An attack must be a continuous flow of techniques
Attack from all angles
Attack the center line
Evade, Intercept, Enter, Destroy
Expand and grow

Armas de Mano MMA keeps it simple: “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times” Bruce Lee

Does Armas de Mano MMA use a belt ranking system?

Yes.

Originally, Filipino Martial Arts did not use a belt ranking system like other martial arts. Now, belt rankings are becoming more common in many of the FMA styles. This keeps Armas De Mano MMA organized in lessons and training. Again, Armas de Mano MMA is about growth, as well as the preservation of the tradition of Filipino Martial Arts: while keeping things simple and effective in order to learn, expand and grow.

The basic Strikes for Armas de Mano use a numbering system for angles of attack:
1 & 2 (left and right strikes to the side of head)
3 & 4 (left and right strikes to the shoulder/upper arm)
5 & 6 (left and right stab to stomach)
7 & 8 (left and right strikes to legs)
9 & 10 (left and right stab to chest)
11 & 12 (left and right strike top of the head)

These basic strikes are called:
Krusada or ‘X-Strike’ (1-2)
Banda Banda or ‘side-to-side’ (3-4)
Sungkiti or Stabs (5-6 & 9-10)
Ocho Ocho or “Figure 8”  (7-8)

Other ‘special’ strikes
Doblada or Over-head circle strike
Rompida or a Vertical Up and Down
Abaniko or Fanning motion
Pilantik or Snap or Quick Strike
Dali-Dali or Under Snap
Puno or Butt End strike

Armas de Mano incorporates cooperative sparring through: Estokada (fencing/dual), Sinawali (Double weapon weaving), as well as form exercises called, Anyo or Kata (Japanese).  Disarms, Joint Locks, throws, and Grappling are also a part of the Armas de Mano MMA system but the emphasis is a Striking Art (or the art of striking) with and without weapons: using hands (and fingers), feet, elbows, knees, and the head.

The primary weapons of Armas de Mano training are one or two rattan sticks: 18-28 inches in length. Bladed weapons: Knives, Swords, etc., the Dulo Dulo, and more modern weapons: Kubatan, Tactical Flashlights, Pocket Sticks, and any daily item are and can be used: keys, pens, and even a rolled up magazine for instance.

Armas de Mano MMA is a combat art influenced by Filipino tradition – for modernization purposes – Armas de Mano MMA is an aggressive street fighting/self defense system that anyone can learn due to its simplicity and effectiveness.

To learn more about the rapid growth of Filipino Stick Fighting, and to join a Filipino Stick Fighting Club in Monrovia, CA, visit Old Town Fight Club in Monrovia, email WeaponOfTheHand@gmail.com or call (626) 239-1000. Also follow Armas De Mano MMA on Twitter: @WeaponOfTheHand

Related: “Filipino Stick Fighting Club, Monrovia, CA”

Hybrid Te Jitsu MMA Clothing

Due to the high cost of production, I had to use another source to put together a line of Hybrid Te Jitsu MMA clothing for anyone to wear. In order for me to create individual pieces with logos/branding, it would cost quite a bit of money. And until I can generate a wider market, this is the only way I can distribute the brand.

Most importantly, for training purposes: Kids should wear a black Hybrid Te Jitsu MMA tee shirt – especially during hot weather months. Other than that, a full karate gi will be worn (patches pending).

I appreciate the support and hope everyone will like the product.

Wear the logo with pride!

Follow this link to peruse the Hybrid Te Jitsu MMA clothing collection: “Hybrid Te Jitsu MMA clothing”

There is drinkware on sale as well showing off the HTJMMA logo!