DEFENDO- CANADA

DEFENDO, CANADA

Developed mainly for “Law enforcement agencies” is a North American martial art form known as Defendo. This “hybrid” form of combat is said to have originated from Canada, and was developed by Bill Underwood, a Canadian originally born in the United Kingdom. Furthermore, Defendo is said to have been inspired from other popular martial art form such as Jujitsu, Western grappling, and Boxing. In addition, this Canadian martial art form is also commonly referred to as either “Combato” or “Underwood Systems”.

History/origin of Defendo:

Defendo is a form of martial art/self-defense was first developed in Canada by a British born Canadian named Bill Underwood. Apparently, Underwood had created a “non-boxing or wrestling” martial art form in the year 1910 which was called “Combat”. It was then using Combat as a template that “Defendo” was basically created. It is said that Underwood during his childhood spent mainly in Liverpool watched a lot of ju-jitsu bouts fought by visiting Japanese wrestlers such as Yukio Tani and Taro Miyake, which is what inspired him to created Combat and then Defendo. Furthermore, the title “Defendo” was first coined by Pat, the daughter of Underwood on August 15 1945 in the city of New York.

The weapon used in the Defendo:

Since Defendo essentially is a “hand-to-hand” form of combat the weapon mainly used is the hand of the fighter. In addition, it makes use of “grappling” techniques.

The technique involved in the Defendo and training availability:

In terms of technique, a fighter essentially would use the hand to overpower and throw the opponent on the ground. In addition, a fighter also needs to possess knowledge of the body nerves. As such a scientific understanding will only help in identifying and thereby attacking the weak point of an opponent. As for training centers/schools, this “hybrid” form of combat is essentially taught to “law enforcement agencies”, and not the general public. And hence there are no schools/centers available around the world.

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