The attacker (left) delivers a strike to Nicolas’s right temple. Nicolas responds with a vertical block with the tip of his stick pointing down.
Being whacked on the hand in a stick fight means serious trouble. A story on one of the duels fought by the late Grandmaster Angel Cabales published in Dan Inosanto’s book The Filipino Martial Arts reads, “Stick fights never last very long and this one ended when Cabales broke open the man’s knuckle. The blow lacerated an artery and the blood pumping out of the man’s hand kept him from continuing.”