#5: Darren Tibon – The Highest Level is When Your Offense becomes Your Defense

The Black Belt Podcast

“Fighting is a chess game. If you don’t get your opponent within 3 moves, you are dead already.” —Darren Tibon

My guest this episode is Grand Master Darren Tibon who was a personal student and graduate of Great Grand Master Angel Cabales’ Serrada Escrima. Angel Cabales was known as the teacher of teachers and in 1967 was one of the first to commercially teach Filipino Martial Arts and he heavily influenced their spread across the United States. I am honored to sit down with GM Darren Tibon who is one of my personal teachers, the head of Angel’s Disciples Stockton, and the founder of the Legacy Events, which were designed to unite Filipino Martial Artists of all Styles and Systems and preserve the Teachings of their Grand Masters.

In this episode we discuss the history of Serrada Escrima and how it was developed by Angel Cabales. We also discuss Darren Tibon’s private training with Angel Cabales and how he carries on the legacy today. My key takeaway is that High Performance in any art is directly related to the training method. The ability to teach the knowledge you have is the most important thing. We dive deep into drilling, flowing, and fighting strategy. We discuss how to read and setup your opponent, how to close the distance, how to generate power and control, how to build reflexes and counter your opponent’s counters. Afterall Fighting is a Chess Match, and everything is an illusion. I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation and I hope you do too.