Escrima as a martial art

[Beyond Borders]

I've had my eye on escrima for a long time and would check it out if in the Philippines. The knifefighting stuff may not be something you can use in many practical situations, but knowing how to use and defend yourself against a blade, how to recognize if someone else knows how to actually use one, and how to disarm an opponent, could be some damn good knowledge to have. A blade is something you can pretty easily carry in the states too, and while you obviously don't want to yank it out in a drunken bar fight, there are plenty of worst case scenarios where you might be damn glad you had it.

If some tweaker(s) or third world gangster(s) ever came at me with a weapon, I sure as shit would rather know escrima than not.

 

[Paul B]

I've seen a few BJJ vs Eskrima fights and the BJJ guy always comes out on top.

 

[Enigma]

Never said eskrima didn't have hand to hand techniques, or even that FMA hand to hand wasn't good, I said there are better alternatives. When you are training weapons you're not training hand to hand (even if some moves are similar). And in an unarmed situation, my bet will be on the guy who trains, and most importantly spars, unarmed all the time (assuming both systems are good). Just as I'll bet on the FMA guy when weapons are involved.

I don't get what's offending you, you train weapons more so you get better with them, while those who train hand to hand more also get better at it. Don't worry, I'm not saying FMA aren't a good choice :wink:

But you're not naming the alternatives.

You're not supporting your own point or giving anyone the chance to disagree with you.

Just based on my assumptions of what you may be talking about, how often does a boxer train in locks, throws, or ground work? Does he use his elbows, knees, or legs?

You're saying that he trains more in hand to hand, which is definitely true to an extent, but does he practice countering a punch with an elbow to the face and a knee to the stomach?

On the other hand, an element of FMA is boxing, so an Eskrimador has trained to box and defend against boxing. Obviously not as thoroughly, but it's something he's familiar with.

 

[Enigma]

I've seen a few BJJ vs Eskrima fights and the BJJ guy always comes out on top.

Was this a street fight or a competition?

 

[TravelerKai]

Escrima is a great martial art but :
- Stick and knife fighting can only be used when your life is in danger.
- When you remove sticks and knives because your life isn't at risk, there are better hand to hand alternatives.
But then again, fighting when you life isn't in danger may not be the smartest choice.

What makes you say that Eskrima does not have hand to hand techniques? Filipino martial arts has 3 components taught at the vast majority of schools. Knives, Sticks, Empty Hands. Eskrima/Arnis/Silat. (FMA = Filipino Martial Arts) Almost no FMA school in the US teaches only one of these components.

As for better hand to hand alternatives, that list would be a very, very short one. Only the more complete systems would apply and even then that is still highly debatable. Russian Systema might be the only one with weapons training that might be slightly better than FMA, and it actually contains FMA in some of it's core. Krav Maga is not complete enough to be better than FMA.

The same military, Special Forces, Secret Service guys usually cross train FMA, CQC, Systema, and Krav Maga these days. They box and spar for cardio and fitness enhancement. Alot of CQC stuff was pulled from FMA and Japanese Ju Jitsu to begin with.

OP be very careful of some of the advice given to you on this thread, especially of those that never trained in it. Get more information and do your own research as well. Go visit the schools in your area and see for yourself. No style is for everyone. Everyone has their own personal animal-like style. I for example, know (at an high to expert level) about 8 different martial arts. I probably would use 4 of them in a self defense or street situation. Not because the others are not effective, but only because those styles are just my heavy preference based on my personality and body type and gives me the best proficiency.

Never said eskrima didn't have hand to hand techniques, or even that FMA hand to hand wasn't good, I said there are better alternatives. When you are training weapons you're not training hand to hand (even if some moves are similar). And in an unarmed situation, my bet will be on the guy who trains, and most importantly spars, unarmed all the time (assuming both systems are good). Just as I'll bet on the FMA guy when weapons are involved.

I don't get what's offending you, you train weapons more so you get better with them, while those who train hand to hand more also get better at it. Don't worry, I'm not saying FMA aren't a good choice :wink:

Like others have said, name a better alternative if you think FMA is not that good, otherwise it just sounds like you are talking about of your ass. Be more detailed than this.

 

[TravelerKai]

I've had my eye on escrima for a long time and would check it out if in the Philippines. The knifefighting stuff may not be something you can use in many practical situations, but knowing how to use and defend yourself against a blade, how to recognize if someone else knows how to actually use one, and how to disarm an opponent, could be some damn good knowledge to have. A blade is something you can pretty easily carry in the states too, and while you obviously don't want to yank it out in a drunken bar fight, there are plenty of worst case scenarios where you might be damn glad you had it.

If some tweaker(s) or third world gangster(s) ever came at me with a weapon, I sure as shit would rather know escrima than not.

You could learn a similar style of weapon fighting from Thailand called Krabi Krabong. You can also take Penkat Silat all over Indonesia and SEA. FMA and Penkat Silat is almost the exact same thing but the differences are not enough to really pick one over the other.

I personally would not live in 3rd world Asia without any kind of martial art skills, because you need ways to avoid getting hurt by the variety of assholes you could bump into, and full on fighting is either not allowed or could get you deported. Deflecting a broken beer bottle swipe and pushing the attacker away, is worth that 3-15 years of training in something because if he cut your neck with that, you could die. Training allows you to hold a stronger masculine frame in situations, and your presence allow and lack of fear can make a troublemaker think twice. Most scumbags prey on the weak and if some man has a strong stance and slightly moves/positions his feet or toes, the will see that and find a way to save face out of the mess usually.

 

[TravelerKai]

I've seen a few BJJ vs Eskrima fights and the BJJ guy always comes out on top.

That sounds silly as hell to begin with. Why would a BJJ guy fight a FMA guy? Not only would the rules favor a BJJ guy, but his style is for sport fighting. If the FMA guy had a knife and this was on the street, shit would be different.

I will say as a blackbelt in BJJ, BJJ can work against a stick wielding attacker. The size of the stick, the length, and the skill of the attacker would be the defining factors. That stick fighter better knock out the BJJ guy with that stick before he can grab and apply a lock or submission of some kind. BJJ guys don't know how to disarm by using pressure points on hands and wrists. Very few might know from crosstraining or studying Bas Rutten or something similar to that.

No knife fighter should ever lose to a fucking grappler with no knife defense training, nuff said.

FMA hand to hand skills could definitely be vulnerable to a very good grappler just because grappling > striking. Again, that will depend upon the fighters. FMA does not have rules, so that fighter would have to use his techniques that grant him an advantage in that way.

 

[The PerSev]

As far as learning 'knife work' that will save your ass in the real world, Tom Sotis from AMOK is in my opinion the best. A master of the knife. Just ignore the cult like aspects of his business and you're good to go. I believe the number of incidents that his students have successfully dealt with - and by "successful" I mean came out alive and/or killed the bad guy in a knife altercation - is in the hundreds.