MANILA, Philippines — It’s been said that the knife is the backbone of Filipino martial arts (FMA). Knowing how to fight with a blade is important, but so is defending against it empty-handed.
To me, teaching empty-hand defense against a knife is a tremendous responsibility because people will literally be betting their lives on the material that you teach. If what you're teaching is based on fantasy and not reality, people could die.
I witnessed what kind of damage a knife can do very early in life. When I was around five, a neighbor sought refuge in our house after his hand was slashed by a knife during a fight. That was the first time I saw so much blood. There were pools of blood in our living room as the adults in the house treated his wound. I believe it happened during a fiesta, the feast of our parish. Alcohol-fueled knife fights are common in the Philippines during such occasions. It is one of the early childhood experiences I will never forget.
My introduction to the how-tos of "knifing" happened during my teen years, long before my formal study of FMA. That informal education was provided by a good friend, the son of an ex-convict, who was working as a butcher at that time. He used to live a wayward life and had experience using a knife on another human being until he decided to walk the straight path. What he said to me then still raises the hair at the back of my neck; he said that he had reached a point wherein what he could do to a pig carcass, he could also do to a human being.
This early exposure to the realities of knife violence made me a questioner when I finally became a student, and eventually a teacher, of martial arts. As a case in point, FMA is known for its pragmatic efficacy, but it is also good to realize that not all FMA systems are the same.
Regardless of stylistic differences or geographical origins, there are three paradigms for practicing FMA: combat, sport, and art. War and peace affect the evolution of these three paradigms.
A combat system reaches its peak minimalist efficiency during wartime. It is during war when fighting men discard techniques that are non-functional and retain only those that have proven effective on the battlefield. During peacetime, with no battles to test the efficiency of techniques, combat systems metamorphose into a sport, a spiritual practice, or a performance art. To borrow from the Japanese martial tradition as an example, "jutsu" flourishes during wartime and "do" during peacetime.
Let's examine the characteristics of each paradigm.
Combat uses simple and direct techniques. The goal is to kill the opponent in a quick and unceremonious manner. Sport, while displaying dynamic combat movements, employs techniques meant to score a point or to win the game, not to kill. Art places emphasis on artistic expression and beauty rather than practicality. The goal is to impress spectators, not achieve combat efficiency.
All three paradigms are useful for their specific purposes. But the problem is that not many FMA teachers know these distinctions; hence, you will see "sport" or "art" techniques being passed off as practical self-defense.
My initial plan to find truth in functional empty-hand defense against the knife was to read as much material written by people who survived actual knife attacks, or, even better, to interview such people in person.
While these things prove quite helpful, gaps are still evident. The most evident issue is that most of these people are seasoned martial artists, ex-soldiers, cops, or criminals with skills and attributes that a common person would find hard to replicate. Their perspectives, too, are very limited to who they are and the environment where they operate (battlefield, prison, etc.). Samplings are very limited, too, since these kinds of individuals are rare.
Then came the internet. The proliferation of actual-crime and graphic violence videos online began in 1996, initially confined to dedicated websites. As video compression improved and file-sharing became easier, specific crime videos began to leak and circulate. The most recent and significant shift occurred when crime moved from "leak sites" to real-time broadcasts on mainstream platforms. The massive increase in CCTV cameras has a significant bearing on the proliferation of crime videos. As of 2026, there are over a billion surveillance cameras globally.
My training as a journalist was a major influence on my pursuit of evidence-based knife training. Realizing the abundance of actual knife attack videos, I decided to look into the available evidence and what can be modeled from it to produce a functional curriculum on empty-hand defense against a knife.
The beauty of the resulting product is that it is not dependent on what this master or that master said, but on what the available evidence says.
Using the evidence-based approach, traumatology, psychology, and the human body's natural reaction to threat, I have developed an empty-hand defense against a knife, which I named Blade Breaker Protocol©. The curriculum is not composed of fixed techniques against knife attacks but is rather a collection of concepts that an individual, regardless of their martial arts background, can use to increase their chance of survival against a bladed weapon assault.
These concepts are as follows:
1) Situational awareness training is of paramount importance; it teaches you to spot the early signs of violence and how to remove yourself from the danger zone.
2) Run away or rush in all the way.
3) Protect your vital spots while attacking those of your opponent. Attack the eyes. In MMA, accidental eye pokes almost always result in fight stoppage. No one is immune to vision damage, not even elite MMA fighters or criminals.
4) Ditch the defensive mindset. The goal is not to defend but to destroy. Fight the criminal with the same level of violence he brought to the table. Weaponize the flinch; inflict damage on the initial contact if possible.
5) The body's neurological response to being off-balance is to regain balance. No human being, including the most determined knifer, can launch an effective attack while trying to regain his balance and being constantly hit. Therefore, your only chance of surviving a knife attack is to constantly destroy your opponent's balance. Apply explosive forward pressure. No standing still. Go literally ballistic.
6) Use limb and body trapping so you can attack with impunity. You have got to make violence one-sided if you intend to survive it.
7) The crucial time frame to inflict debilitating trauma on your opponent is 15 seconds.
8) Use headbutts and foot stomps during the struggle to control the knife. If your attacker is focused on regaining control of his blade, his high and low gates are open.
9) Use "return to sender" techniques (using the attacker's blade against him).
10) If available, use improvised weapons (a chair or a stool is a great weapon against the knife because its legs can act both as a shield and a thrusting implement).
As a parting shot, I would like to warn that while evidence-based knife training is a potent training model, it could take a toll on the psyche. Viewing distressing content repeatedly has a psychological "bite." In short, the darkness could rub off on you. If you decide to take this path, know the risks and how to mitigate them.
Perry Gil S. Mallari is a Filipino martial arts expert and scholar who uniquely integrates physical practice with historical research, journalism, and the visual arts. His writings—cited frequently in academic studies on Filipino martial arts history—have been translated into Spanish and Portuguese, garnering him a global audience.
