The Blademasters of Filipino Martial Arts in the U.S.
By Jay de Leon

For those of you that have recently seen the blockbuster Bourne Supremacy, you have probably noticed and marveled at Matt Damon’s new-found martial arts prowess. What you probably do not know is that, for his action scenes in this movie and its prequel, The Bourne Identity, Matt Damon trained extensively in Filipino Martial Arts (FMA). Another major movie, the Hunted starring Tommie Lee Jones and Benecio del Toro, showcased knife-fighting skills and techniques based on FMA. Students of my friend Tuhon Chris Sayoc of Sayoc Kali can claim credit for choreographing the awesome knife-fighting scenes in that movie.

Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio Del Toro in the climactic knife fight in “The Hunted.”

It is no secret that FMA has one of the most effective knife-fighting techniques in martial arts, or in life-and-death combat, for that matter. So you’re probably wondering, who are the top guros currently teaching knife-fighting skills (sometimes called blademasters or edged weapons experts)?

Here then are the top FMA instructors currently teaching edged or bladed weapons skills in the US.

Tuhon Chris Sayoc

Chris Sayoc: Tuhon Chris Sayoc is the inheritor and current head of the family system, Sayoc Kali, based in Philadelphia. His father, Baltazar “Bo” Sayoc, was one of the pioneers of FMA in the US, and now currently lives in semi-retirement in Cavite, Philippines. The Sayoc system is a blade-oriented system, and is characterized by the deployment of multiple knives in an encounter, and the use of “templates” in their training system. Chris Sayoc conducts seminars, tournaments and training camps all over the U.S., and is one of the designated grandmasters teaching the Dog Brothers. His Sayoc instructor team is so deep and talented that his senior instructors rate mention as blademasters themselves, including Rafael Kayanan, Tom Kier, Felix Cortes and Jeff Chung.

Sonny Umpad and young protégé Chip Ellsworth

Sonny Umpad: Santiago “Sonny” Umpad is probably the most low profile (some describe him as elusive) bladed weapon expert in the group, but one of the most naturally gifted and fluid fighters in FMA. His lethal system is a Visayan style comprised of elements from Moro-Moro, Doce Pares, Villabrille Kali, Serrada, Balintawak and Wing Chun kung fu, which accounts for some of the low stances he sometimes uses. To date, he has shunned any commercial products showing his art, but teaches individualized instruction and participates in Masters training camps like Dieter Knuttel’s seminar in Europe. He also co-authored a well-received book on the use of the balisong.

Grandmaster Christopher Ricketts (right) in a demo segment with son Bruce Ricketts at the “Tipunan sa Disneyland” seminar in Anaheim, California.

Christopher Ricketts: Christopher “Topher” Ricketts is the founder and chief instructor for Bakbakan, a designated grandmaster for Antonio “Tatang” Ilustrisimo’s Kalis Ilustrisimo, and a grandmaster of Edgar Sulite’s Lameco Eskrima. He is also a law enforcement and military trainer, a fight choreographer and director in Filipino movies including his brother Ronnie Ricketts’s movies, and an author of several books and producer of instruction videos. He has recently relocated to San Diego, California, makes periodic trips to teach at the Bakbakan headquarters in Lodi, New Jersey, and has hit the seminar trail here in the US including the Bakbakan and Tipunan seminars.

Grandmaster Mat Marinas

Mat Marinas: Amante “Mat” P. Marinas is the founder of the arnis system called Pananandata (literally, the art of weaponry), and one of the most prolific writers on FMA around. He has either written about or produced tapes on a whole array of weapons including blowguns, throwing knives, ropes, nunchuks, bolo, the 14-inch diameter ring, horsewhips, tonfa, chain and, of course, the balisong (Filipino butterfly knife). He is a true master of Filipino weaponry, including bladed weapons, and has been teaching, conducting seminars and writing for several decades now.

Felix Valencia (right) demonstrates a technique at one of his edged weapons seminars.

Felix Valencia: Felix Valencia is a senior instructor for Lameco Eskrima who has fought numerous full-contact fights at the Dog Brothers’ Gathering using sticks. But his forte’ is bladed weapons, which has served him well in his early days of bar bouncing and private security work. He is now one of the premier edged weapons training specialists in the country. He has provided defensive tactics training to numerous law enforcement agencies like the Los Angeles Police Dept. and Arizona Highway Patrol, knife companies like Cold Steel Knives and Trident Knives, and firearm/weapons schools, like Front Sight, Halo, Close Quarters Battle and Gunsite. He has also worked as a fight choreographer for action movies, and produced DVD’s of his knife techniques. He was recently featured in the Feb. 2005 issue of Inside Kung-fu magazine along with senior students Allen Bridgeman and Jimmy Liu.

Master Ray Dionaldo

Ray Dionaldo: Ray Dionaldo is the founder of “Filipino Combat Systems” in Tampa, Florida. He has the rank of Tuhon in Sayoc Kali, as well as instructor rankings in Modern Arnis under Prof. Remy Presas, in Pekiti-Tirsia Kali under Grand Tuhon Leo T. Gaje, and in Arnis Tulisan under Ama Guro Raffy Pambuan. He has over 100 wins in local and international martial arts and weapons competitions. In addition to teaching FMA seminars worldwide, specializing in bladed weapons, he is an actual blade maker. He is the official knifemaker for the Sayoc Kali organization, and has recently designed a new “kerambit.”

Jerson “Nene” Tortal

Nene Tortal: Grandmaster Jerson “Nene” Tortal, the nephew of the founder of the Pekiti-Tirsia Kali system, now calls his style Dekiti-Tirsia-Siradas. Just like the original style, it is a highly developed close-quarters in-fighting system, made up of complex sectoring tactics and combat elements with intimidating names like contradas, recontras, recontradas, etc. While Grandmaster Nene Tortal lives in the Philippines, he conducts year round training in the US, and also brings students over to the Philippines for training.

Graciella Casillas

Graciella Casillas: Graciella Casillas was a pioneer of women’s boxing in the early 1980’s and held the World Women’s Boxing Association bantamweight title, retiring undefeated with a record of 31-0, with 18 KO’s. She has black belts in Tae Kwon Do, BKF Kenpo, and Kodenkan jiu-jitsu. In FMA, she trained under Grandmasters Angel Cabales, Dan Inosanto and Bobby Taboada. She has become a widely recognized defensive edged-weapon expert, magazine columnist, and knife designer. She designed the widely-popular Ladyhawk with women in mind, but this Master of Defense knife has become a favorite of men as well.

Raffy Pambuan

Raffy Pambuan: Ama Guro Raffy Pambuan is the fifth generation inheritor of a family system from Santa Cruz, Laguna, Philippines now called Pambuan Arnis Tulisan Caballero, a traditional and highly effective blade-oriented system. In 1983, Raffy Pambuan moved to Orlando, Florida and continued training with Grandmaster Bo Sayoc. In 1996, he was inducted, and is a member of, the World Head of Family Sokeship Council. In addition to a FMA school he maintains in Gotha, Florida, he conducts many seminars all over the US.

Bram Frank (left) poses with Modern Arnis mentor Grandmaster Roland Dantes during a recent visit to the Philippines.

Bram Frank: Bram Frank is a happy example of a martial artist who has blended wing chun, karate and arnis, stayed with arnis as a first generation student of Prof. Remy Presas (Modern Arnis), and evolved into one of the most respected and decorated blademasters around. He is known for improving edged weapon tactics, designing innovative tactical folding knives (such as the “Gunting”) and less-lethal control tools (such as the CRMIPT, or the Close Range Medium Impact Tool), and producing first rate instructional videos on edged weapons. He has trained the U.S., Russian and Israeli security forces, law enforcement and civilians in the use of edged weapons and control tactics and tools, and is in great demand in the seminar circuit.

Master John Jacobo

John Jacobo: A seasoned competitor in tae kwon do, kickboxing and FMA stickfighting tournaments, John Jacobo is a senior instructor and West Coast representative of Bakbakan, Int’l. In addition to countless seminars, his FMA training includes formal training in Grandmaster Mat Marinas’s Pananandata and Grandmaster Rey Galang’s Kalis Ilustrisimo. He currently teaches for his organization called “The School of Weapon Arts and Combatives” (SWACOM), which emphasizes practical self-defense. He has just completed two instructional videos titled “The Combat Principles of De Cuerdas” and “Dos Manos Methods” and is active in FMA seminars including the Bakbakan and Tipunan seminars.

Others teaching FMA blade arts considered for this article include Bill McGrath (Pekiri-Tirsia), James Keating (Comtech), Rey Galang (Bakbakan), Jeff Imada (for his balisong skills), Michael Janich, Steve Tarani, Hoch Hochheim (Modern Arnis and Kombatan), Abon Baet (Garimot Arnis), Ron Balicki (JKD, Lameco), Roger Agbulos (Lameco), Blaise Loong, and Cass Magda.

A note on bladed weapons skill. If you ever see any of these ladies or gentlemen perform bladed weapon demos, either solo or with a partner, it is a thing of beauty. It looks graceful, sinuous, deadly, even balletic. But a real-life knife fight is ugly, bloody, chaotic, scary, disgusting, and sometimes lethal. There is nothing beautiful or noble about it, except for the fact that it may have helped save your life, or that of another human being. Remember that it will probably be more your awareness, your wits, your will to survive, your resolve not to be a victim, your heart, than actual blade skills that will make you survive a dangerous situation.

For information on Jay de Leon, please email him at jaydeleon@worldblackbelt.com. You may reach him at 951-894-1452 (office) or 951-834-3386 (cell).

Jay de Leon is the Commissioner for North America of International Modern Arnis Federation of the Philippines (IMAFP), the host of the Tipunan seminars and events, a corporate financial officer, an amateur historian, and freelance martial arts writer. He is a Contributing Editor as well as a Certified Instructor in “America-in-Defense” for WorldBlackBelt. He currently lives, writes and operates Filipino Fighting Arts USA in southern California.

Copyright, WorldBlackBelt, 2005.