Inayan School of Eskrima

09/07/2026

Mangisursuro Michael G. Inay

1944 - 2000

Founder of Inayan Eskrima

There are masters who teach a style. And there are founders who build a world so others can find their way home.

Suro Mike Inay was the second.

If you never had the honor of standing across from him, you have to understand what it was like. He didn't just move — he flowed. One moment calm, smiling, his voice filling the room with a story, the next — a blur of Kadena de Mano, Serrada, Largo — so fast your eyes couldn't track it, but so controlled you never felt threatened. Only awakened.

He was the bridge we all needed.

A private student of two giants — Max Sarmiento and Angel Cabales — it was Mike Inay who went to Grandmaster Cabales and said, we need to preserve this. We need an organization. It was his idea that led to the first Cabales Serrada Association, his hands that helped write its first ranking structure. Then in 1979, in his own home he and Max Sarmiento co-founded the West Coast Eskrima Society to unite the Filipino masters in America. Look at that list of names who answered his call — Giron, Inosanto, Bustillo, Tacosa, Revillar, Tenio, Sarmiento, Elliott. They came because when Mike Inay spoke about Eskrima, you believed it had a future.

And he gave it one.

He built Inayan Eskrima as a System of several styles each with its own basics, intermediates, advanced concepts, each viable on its own, each speaking to a different kind of fighter. He put a learning structure over them. A ranking system that respected the old ways but made sense for the new world. He called them all "Inayan" not out of ego, but to avoid controversy and confusion.

He took Eskrima into police academies across America, onto the Law Enforcement Television Network, and into seminars in England, Germany, France, Norway, Sweden, Canada, Scotland, Australia. He developed the Spontaneous Knife Defense program when law enforcement asked for help. He taught the knife not as a weapon of violence, but as an alternative when a firearm wasn't warranted or safe.

And then -

Mike Inay died in 2000.

He died doing exactly what he was put on this earth to do. Stick in hand. Students in front of him. Breath giving out while giving knowledge out. There is no better death for a warrior-teacher.

So if you train today — if you flow Largo, if you trap with Kadena, if you find that perfect angle in Serrada — know this: you are not just practicing a technique. You are keeping a promise he made in Stockton decades ago: that this art would not die. That it would be preserved. Propagated. Promoted.

And because of you, because of every school that carries his direct teaching forward, it lives.

Pugay, Mangisursuro Mike Inay. We feel you every time the sticks crack.

We will not let go.

09/05/2026

Empty mind, full heart, fast hands.
It's Saturday — let your Sinawali flow.

09/04/2026

Forget the schedule. 15 spontaneous minutes beats 60 planned ones you never do.

INAYAN.com

09/01/2026

The Roots of Inayan Eskrima

Every art has a beginning. Inayan Eskrima begins with two great men and one devoted student.
The Late Mangisursuro Mike Inay, founder of Inayan Eskrima, was forged by the wisdom and generosity of two masters: Grandmaster Max Sarmiento, Master of the lightning-fast, knife and empty-hand art of Kadena De Mano, and Grandmaster Angel Cabales, founder and Master of Serrada Eskrima.
It was Grandmaster Sarmiento, whose vision and encouragement convinced Grandmaster Cabales to do what had never been done before: to open the first public Eskrima school in the United States. For that courageous act, Grandmaster Cabales would forever be honored as the Father of Eskrima in America.
Into that historic doorway stepped a young Mike Inay.
For more than 11 years, Suro Mike Inay studied at the feet of both men, not just learning techniques, but absorbing their spirit, their honor, and their responsibility. He became their trusted student, their brother, and their champion — working tirelessly to bring their beautiful, battlefield-tested arts out from behind closed doors and into the light for all to learn.
After Grandmaster Sarmiento passed, and later Grandmaster Cabales, Suro carried their torch forward. He vowed to preserve their systems in their truest, most authentic form, while allowing his own understanding to forge them into one living whole.
From two distinct rivers, he forged one strong current. He called it Inayan Eskrima.
It is more than a System. It is the living legacy of Max Sarmiento and Angel Cabales, beating in the heart of every Inayan Student who picks up a stick today.

08/30/2026

What got YOU into martial arts in the first place?
For me it was simple - I wanted something that actually worked, not something that looked good in a demo. I wanted (or needed!) to be able to defend myself.
What was your reason? Self-defense? Fitness? Bruce Lee movies? Be honest.
Drop it in the comments.

-G**o S. Klement

08/25/2026

This isn't a belt factory. It's a family.
Some of us have been training together for years, some for weeks. Everyone helps everyone get better.
If you're looking for a place with zero attitude and 100% support, you just found it. INAYAN.com

08/23/2026

Great read if you’ve been training in any Martial discipline!

Never competed? You are not doing the lesser version of martial arts. This piece makes the case that hobbyist training is the original path: the whole art, a fifty-year runway, and a body that never cashes a fight camp's checks.

08/20/2026

Monthly Membership is going up September 1st for new Students. If you’ve been thinking of joining, apply today! 😎👍

08/19/2026

No matter how long you have trained, without confidence in your art, your likelihood of surviving any serious engagement with an aggressor is very doubtful. Where do you get confidence... from proper practice, trustworthy training partners and the guidance of an honest Teacher.
--
Tagaturo Klement