World champion fighter in Filipino martial arts and Jeet Kune Do.
- Three World titles
- Hall of Famer
- Instructor to armed forces
Phillip started training in childhood and as a young man gained a Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do. He later turned to Jeet Kune Do, and now has over fifteen years’ experience and is a qualified instructor.
As a senior instructor he has taught all over the world including Turkey, Greece, Poland, India, Italy, Serbia and The Philippines. He works with the Marines and US Navy, and has been inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Phillip’s competitive successes include three World titles. In 2015 he competed in Arnis, a Filipino stick-fighting discipline, and won the world title.
In 2024 he competed in the World Championships in Romania, and won the world Pankration title. Pankration is an ancient sport using boxing and wrestling techniques, also including kicks, chokes, joint locks and holds, which encourages comparison with MMA.
He followed this with an overall win in Grappling.
“My final 2024 Championship win was my top martial arts moment” Phillip says. “All the work, suffering and mental focus, culminated in that moment.”
As an instructor he’s also trained students to world titles both as junior and adult competitors.
Vegan fighter
“Once I realised that my actions contributed to the suffering of others, I had to change.”
In 2003, Phillip gave up meat and became vegetarian, and in 2016 he went vegan.
“I’m completely vegan for the animals 100%” he says. “I will never eat animal products, not while traveling, never. I would rather not eat than eat anything that contributes to animal suffering.”
The process was started in 2003 from his religious beliefs of Buddhism. Harming others is in direct conflict with Buddhist teaching, and Phillip wanted to apply that to his choice of food.
“It was motivated entirely by my religious beliefs supporting my compassion towards all sentient beings. Once I realised that my actions contributed to the suffering of others, I had to change.”
Keeping in shape is key to Phillip’s success, and he eats well to support this. He eats a lot of Acia (a grape-like fruit), and fruit bowls.
“That is my main go-to daily. Acia, bananas and strawberries with granola, chia seeds and coconut. I also drink a lot of coffee, I’m really into quality coffee roasters.”
It’s fuel for the fighter and he has an active regime.
“Unlike many fighters, I stay in shape all year long, always within 10 or so pounds of my fighting weight.
“My routine consists of a short two-mile jog up steep hills with my dog to start each day, that’s six days a week. I ride my stationary bike about 3 days a week for 5-10 miles, this is offset by my mountain biking days which are 1 or 2 times per week.
“In camp I keep the trails less intense to reduce injury risk. I train resistance training 3 days a week, a mixture of weights, body weights and cables. I focus on complete movements and rarely do any isolation style body building lifting.
“Then, 5 nights a week I train for 3 hours. Always an hour of Jiu Jitsu, an hour of stand up (kickboxing, sparring, drills, mits, etc) and an hour of weapons training as I compete regularly in weapons arts.”
He also enlists the services of a chiropractor every week and adds a professional massage into the mix.
With three world titles and an enviable record in the sport, few are likely to question Phillip’s choice of food, as it clearly works.
“Everyone in my life at this point knows who I am and my commitment to veganism so it is not an issue at all. I regulate my own diet and nutrition so that is taken care of.
“I am a certified nutritionist under the NASM organization. Even with Team USA recently, every meal for me was made separate from the rest of the teams meals.”
The wealth of knowledge Phillip has built is incredible, and this makes more of his future vision than competing.
“My time as a fighter is nearing the end of its phase. So I am looking to be a sought after international seminar host. I plan on being a long-time coach for Team USA, propagating Arnis, BJJ and Apache Knife internationally.
“I plan on becoming a Grandmaster and retiring in the jungles of the Philippines where young students can seek me out and learn from an old master who spent his life walking, running and sometimes crawling down the life long path of the martial artist.”