kali

The boys at Fight Quest on The Discovery Channel traveled to the Philippines to learn the Filipino martial art - Kali. I'm not too familiar with Kali other than it involves sticks and knives, so I was disappointed that the episode didn't really explore the historical or symbolic foundations of the fighting style.

They showed the initiation ritual of blood-letting a rooster all over the fighter, but there was little explanation of why certain movements are made or the basic origins behind various techniques. Supposedly the best way to learn is to immerse yourself in the culture to develop a better understanding of the training. The hosts only seemed concerned with not looking foolish for their upcoming fight. But I guess that the nature of the show - which basically reduces training into a cliff-noted crash course.
Here's a clip of kali done right: