What Happens When AI Ranks Modern Arnis? As a bit of an experiment, I asked both ChatGPT and Gemini the same question: List the top ten living, active, teaching Modern Arnis instructors, ranked by relevance, influence, lineage, and active involvement. Here’s what came...

Grandmaster Titles in Modern Arnis: Authority, History, and Earning the Title Let’s set the record straight. I absolutely recognize the concept of Grandmaster titles. What I do not recognize is the rewriting of Modern Arnis history to justify protocols that never...

Are belts in martial arts just a money grab? This is a question I hear all the time. Most often, it comes from one of two places: the backyard martial artist, or someone who trained for a short time, walked away, and decided to do their own thing. And while everyone...

Choosing Integrity Over Success Throughout my career - really, throughout my life - I’ve been given the same choice over and over again: do what’s right, or do what’s easy. And every single time, the right choice has been the harder one. I’ve had plenty of...

To Belt or Not to Belt? The Real Issue Isn’t Rank - It’s Honesty Every few years, this debate resurfaces: Should martial arts have ranking systems at all? And once again, Filipino Martial Arts finds itself in the crosshairs. The common refrain is predictable: “Skill...

Leading the Way While the Critics Stay in the Basement You know, people often ask me about the folks who love to take shots at what I do. And let’s be honest, a lot of them are teaching in their basements or backyards, or they don’t have a group of their own and...