Scott Sonnon
01-07-2007, 09:03 PM
Wakil Mushtaq Ali Al Ansari, Ph.D. and myself will be conducting a two hour co-seminar on our respective knife fighting expertise on February 10th in Portland, Oregon.
Admission will be $50/person with a maximum of 40 participants. Registration link will be posted next week.
Combat Sambo Spetsnaz
As my teacher described to me many years ago, "the knife is also useful in the kitchen." The training I underwent in Russia with the Special Forces ("Spetsnaz") and eventually began teaching to different military and law enforcement agencies is one of the world's most unique.
In Combat Sambo Spetsnaz, how you box, how you grapple and how you fight with a knife are all based upon the same movement patterns.
After nearly two decades of knife fighting, in both the combative and sportive realms, I've developed a refined system utilizing recent advances in stress physiology and combat psychology.
Some of you have already experienced my approach to knife fighting. I have neurological tricks to hot-wire your physiology for optimal performance which will surprise even those who have been studying with me for years.
TACTICAL KNIVES Magazine, the cutting edge in knife publications, wrote about my system that it's "great for both novice and expert..."
BLACK BELT Magazine, the world's oldest and largest self-defense publication, wrote that "Sonnon's advice is designed to help you make what you already know more accessible and effective should you ever find yourself in a true survival situation."
Master At Arms, James Keating says that my approach to knife fighting is, "...a system of living concepts, yes, even beyond JKD..."
Pentjak Silat Zulfikari
The Indo-Malay martial arts of Pencak Silat (pronounced pentjak silat) are at their foundation weapons based systems, and the weapon of choice for most systems of Silat is the blade. It has been rightly said that there is no Silat without the blade.
Silat Zulfikari (http://www.zulfakr.com/), founded by Shaykh Taner Ansari, represents one of the most sophisticated and user friendly expressions of Silat in the West. Silat Zulfikari places strong emphasis on the use of the "civilian" knife, a smallish blade likely to be found anywhere, rather than large military knives or the exotic weapons of the East. Silat Zulfikari uses unique methods of incremental "live" training rather than just static drills to produce practical "real world" knife skills in a relatively short time.
Mushtaq Ali al Ansari is the senior-most instructor of Silat Zulfikari under Shaykh Taner. He is well regarded for his skills with bladed weapons and has spent much of the last forty years learning his craft. He has traveled widely throughout the world, including South East Asia and Africa studying the methods of people who actually use blades for protection on a daily basis. For the last several years, with the blessings of Shaykh Taner, he has worked to integrate the principles of CST into Silat Zulfikari.
"Mushtaq Ali in my opinion is one of the best kept secrets in the martial arts as a knife instructor with far reaching breadth of knowledge and experience. In a time when there are a great many drill masters, he stands out as one who can innovate and adapt. Effective knife use is not about just you and the knife but about the reactivity and interaction that
happens between the two opponents. "He does that, I do this"; realistically that thinking is fatal.
Starting out in the MA's 20 yrs ago, defense against a knife was one of my primary motivators and has indirectly driven me to train in multiple styles to gain more insight into knives and all weapons in general.
After 10ys dealing specifically with Filipino weaponry of primarily bladed design, Mushtaq Ali showed me that there is another whole level of sophistication beyond just drilling, templates and striking patterns.
His insight reaches into reactivity, breathing, mental, spatial, ect. I could go on.
Silat knife with Mushtaq is so much more than using a weapon. It's using everything available to you. Their body, their movement, your own body, time, gravity.
The complexity is mind boggling and when we spar, it is totally confounding and yet joyously exciting.
I would place Mushtaq Ali very near the apex of instructors, however the list of those fortunate enough to experience his brilliance is for the few of us so very lucky.
I continually use the phrase, "drinking from the firehose."
Steve Van Harn, WEKAF World Knife and Stick Fighting Champion
"I have been fortunate in my life to have been able to train with some of the best, and top names in the knife fighting realm. I say this, because some of the biggest names are not the best. I would rank Guru Mushtaq Ali as one of the best. He may not be the most well known, but he brings a depth, level of experience, and genuine teaching ability to each seminar or class he teaches. He also cares that each student gets the lesson and retains it. His classes are also not the general fare of the knife world, he brings new, useful insight into a subject that so often is different emphasis on the same thing.
I highly recommend anyone to go train with him. You will learn to think for yourself, pick up useful skills that will save your life, if you need to use them, and possibly become a lifelong student, like I did."
Terry Trahan
WeaselCraft Combatives
Silat Zulfikari
Admission will be $50/person with a maximum of 40 participants. Registration link will be posted next week.
Combat Sambo Spetsnaz
As my teacher described to me many years ago, "the knife is also useful in the kitchen." The training I underwent in Russia with the Special Forces ("Spetsnaz") and eventually began teaching to different military and law enforcement agencies is one of the world's most unique.
In Combat Sambo Spetsnaz, how you box, how you grapple and how you fight with a knife are all based upon the same movement patterns.
After nearly two decades of knife fighting, in both the combative and sportive realms, I've developed a refined system utilizing recent advances in stress physiology and combat psychology.
Some of you have already experienced my approach to knife fighting. I have neurological tricks to hot-wire your physiology for optimal performance which will surprise even those who have been studying with me for years.
TACTICAL KNIVES Magazine, the cutting edge in knife publications, wrote about my system that it's "great for both novice and expert..."
BLACK BELT Magazine, the world's oldest and largest self-defense publication, wrote that "Sonnon's advice is designed to help you make what you already know more accessible and effective should you ever find yourself in a true survival situation."
Master At Arms, James Keating says that my approach to knife fighting is, "...a system of living concepts, yes, even beyond JKD..."
Pentjak Silat Zulfikari
The Indo-Malay martial arts of Pencak Silat (pronounced pentjak silat) are at their foundation weapons based systems, and the weapon of choice for most systems of Silat is the blade. It has been rightly said that there is no Silat without the blade.
Silat Zulfikari (http://www.zulfakr.com/), founded by Shaykh Taner Ansari, represents one of the most sophisticated and user friendly expressions of Silat in the West. Silat Zulfikari places strong emphasis on the use of the "civilian" knife, a smallish blade likely to be found anywhere, rather than large military knives or the exotic weapons of the East. Silat Zulfikari uses unique methods of incremental "live" training rather than just static drills to produce practical "real world" knife skills in a relatively short time.
Mushtaq Ali al Ansari is the senior-most instructor of Silat Zulfikari under Shaykh Taner. He is well regarded for his skills with bladed weapons and has spent much of the last forty years learning his craft. He has traveled widely throughout the world, including South East Asia and Africa studying the methods of people who actually use blades for protection on a daily basis. For the last several years, with the blessings of Shaykh Taner, he has worked to integrate the principles of CST into Silat Zulfikari.
"Mushtaq Ali in my opinion is one of the best kept secrets in the martial arts as a knife instructor with far reaching breadth of knowledge and experience. In a time when there are a great many drill masters, he stands out as one who can innovate and adapt. Effective knife use is not about just you and the knife but about the reactivity and interaction that
happens between the two opponents. "He does that, I do this"; realistically that thinking is fatal.
Starting out in the MA's 20 yrs ago, defense against a knife was one of my primary motivators and has indirectly driven me to train in multiple styles to gain more insight into knives and all weapons in general.
After 10ys dealing specifically with Filipino weaponry of primarily bladed design, Mushtaq Ali showed me that there is another whole level of sophistication beyond just drilling, templates and striking patterns.
His insight reaches into reactivity, breathing, mental, spatial, ect. I could go on.
Silat knife with Mushtaq is so much more than using a weapon. It's using everything available to you. Their body, their movement, your own body, time, gravity.
The complexity is mind boggling and when we spar, it is totally confounding and yet joyously exciting.
I would place Mushtaq Ali very near the apex of instructors, however the list of those fortunate enough to experience his brilliance is for the few of us so very lucky.
I continually use the phrase, "drinking from the firehose."
Steve Van Harn, WEKAF World Knife and Stick Fighting Champion
"I have been fortunate in my life to have been able to train with some of the best, and top names in the knife fighting realm. I say this, because some of the biggest names are not the best. I would rank Guru Mushtaq Ali as one of the best. He may not be the most well known, but he brings a depth, level of experience, and genuine teaching ability to each seminar or class he teaches. He also cares that each student gets the lesson and retains it. His classes are also not the general fare of the knife world, he brings new, useful insight into a subject that so often is different emphasis on the same thing.
I highly recommend anyone to go train with him. You will learn to think for yourself, pick up useful skills that will save your life, if you need to use them, and possibly become a lifelong student, like I did."
Terry Trahan
WeaselCraft Combatives
Silat Zulfikari