Showcasing History
The days of arnisadors, or stick fighters, challenging each other to brutal matches are long gone. Called Juego Todo -- Spanish for “I play all” -- those duels were usually undertaken to settle disputes or to prove one’s dominance over another. Matches often resulted in severe injuries and death in some cases.
Juego Todo’s modern adaptation, a hybrid sport of the same name, debuted a few years back under a local promotion called Underground Battle Philippines. A little over a week ago, the tournament was afforded its biggest stage yet at HistoryCon, which took place at the World Trade Center in Manila. There, the modern Filipino gladiator was brought into the modern-day arena -- the cage.
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• Round 1: With World Eskrima Kali Arnis Federation headgear, no body armor, double sticks with kicks, knee strikes and sweeps;
• Round 2: With WEKAF headgear, no body armor, single stick with elbows, punches, kicks, knee strikes and sweeps;
• Round 3: No headgear or body armor, fighters use different forms of Filipino martial arts, including Panuntukan, Sikaran, Dumog, Buno and Yaw-Yan.
If a fighter loses or drops a weapon at any point, he is allowed to pick it up and continue fighting, though not without a point deduction. A fighter can win by submission, knockout, technical knockout or decision.
On the other hand, Laban ng Mandirigma -- Filipino for “Fight of the Combatant” -- gives a modern spin to traditional knife fighting tournaments that utilized wooden knives with edges draped in lipstick to signify a hit. Instead, fighters use rubber knives and scoring is done digitally.
The tournament attracted 29 local Filipino Martial Arts organizations, as well as teams from India and Brazil, each having their own methods of using and defending against the blade. All teams brought their ace knife fighters to this tournament, which was organized by the Kalahi FMA Team.
