How much do you know about Kali/Escrima and FMA's in general? How effective are they for self defense not so much for MMA. I was watching some history about it on TV and it looked interesting so i just wanted to see if anyone can give me some insight on this.
It is generally considered one of the most effective forms of stick fighting and very well regarded for knife fighting.
[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filipino_Martial_Arts"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filipino_Martial_Arts[/ame] kali/arnis/eskrima is a weapon-based martial art. weapon training is emphasized because of the principle that a fighter can naturally learn to fight without weapons after gaining enough knowledge using them. the stick, knife or any weapon is only treated as an extension of the hand, therefore the lost of the weapon doesn't affect the fitness of the person to fight because the technique is still there. the techniques can still be employed with empty hands.
I did some kali stuff with JKD for a few years and to be honest, I never got it. It just didn't make a lot of sense to me. Some people were really into it (though I couldn't tell if that meant that they were "good" at it or not) but I really wasn't. As others have said though, in terms of stick/knife fighting, I think it's the most formalized MA.
