i have known greg allend since i was a teenager, when he was a student and representative of leo gaje. the last time i saw him he invited me to a demonstration he was doing at a knife show, and referred people who wanted to study, to study with me, even though he is teaching in the same area my school use to be in.
you might hear some things about greg, like he is weird and dresses funny (thats true), but he is a very nice guy, and once, when i disagreed with his ideas about fighting technique, accepted my offer to spar to prove his point. you have to respect a guy like that.
i know that around 1996, he broke from mister gaje, and became a student of his uncle (or fathers cousin?) jerson tortal, who is now a rival of guro gaje. i have only saw tapes of the both of them, and they are both good. the arguement is, who is the real pekiti tirsia. i was told in i think, 97, that nene now calls his art "DEkiti tirsia" to show the difference from his style to gaje.
gregs been around a long time, with different teachers, who recognize him as a teacher, and then take it back, but that is the game of politics and power in the martial arts. and some people dont like him because he seems a little weird, but i think its one of those things that either you like him or you dont. but i do know he can fight, and he did fight in some tournaments in the philippines (i saw video of him before i met him), which many of these so called masters would not do. and one thing i know is, he is not selfish with his martial arts knowledge.
