George is a lifetime martial artist with more than 46 years of continuous experience, a Grandmaster in 3 martial arts, a former professional athlete, Olympic level athlete and coach. A UFC and MMA coach and defensive tactics instructor for LEO's. He was introduced to Balintawak by Grandmaster Bobby Taboada in late 1993 and studied with GM Bobby privately. Guro George met Manong Sam Buot in 2004 and trained briefly with Manong Sam. In 2014 while living in Flagstaff, AZ George started training exclusively with Manong Sam and in 2016 Guro George moved back to Scottsdale and began training regularly with Manong Sam. George is a certified instructor under Manong Sam Buot. Guro George also started the journey of learning NECOPA Balintawak from Master Rino Balinado. He trains and teaches martial arts 6 days a week and teaches Balintawak Eskrima 5 days a week. With black belt or instructor levels in Taekwondo, Hapkido, Judo, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Modern MooSaDo, and Balintawak his main goal has been to learn, share, and grow! Guro George is also the founder of the Balintawak Library and hopes it can assist instructors and students world-wide and can contribute in the spread and growth of Balintawak Eskrima while featuring the many perspectives of instructors world-wide while maintaining the legacy of those before so they will never be forgotten!
Guro George's debut instructional video focuses on methods on how to utilize high percentage locks, take downs, and throws when finishing your opponent with your Balintawak. A common term in the Philippines is "Combat Judo" or "Dumog" which focuses on the grappling aspect of FMA and has always been part of Balintawak yet rarely practiced anymore. Guro George teaches a few of his proven methods on utilizing grappling as a method to finish your opponent. His experience in grappling comes from being a former world competition medalist and formal training in Judo which he holds a black belt since 2009, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu which he also holds a black belt since 2019, Hapkido which he holds a 8th degree black belt since 2012, and Wrestling which Guro George has trained with world and Olympic class wrestlers since 2008.
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