You may call him a bladesmith or blacksmith but there are very few people who love combat and will go as far as creating weapons for it just to show how much they love it. That is why Doug Marcaida is exceptional.
The famous Filipino martial artist has set records as not just a fighter but also as an edged-impact weapons combat expert. He is best known as the designer of some of the world’s deadliest blades. The fighter has been in the combating business for over 25 five years and appears on TV as a judge in History’s “Forged in Fire”. The US-based fighter’s ability to use and forge instruments of combat has also got him a spot in the US military where he served as a contractor.
Bio & Ethnicity
Doug Marcaida is a private person, thus, nothing is known about his birth, his childhood, or education. The only information known about his personality is that the bladesmith is middle-aged and he is 5 feet 8 inches tall. His nationality is America but he is of Filipino descent.
What To Know About His Career
There are no details about when Doug started out his career or what may have motivated him to choose martial arts but he is known to have served in the US military on a contract basis as an instructor of armed combat.
While with the US Military, Doug trained in Kali, a kind of martial art practised in Filipino which allows the use of weapons such as knives sticks and open hand methods. The art dates back to the ninth century and lacked belt system primarily for two reasons. First off, nobody can actually master an art, and secondly, it will lead to challenges which would be risky as Kali allows the use of weapons. But the all-inclusive art has a rank system with each level featuring its own specific requirement, application, skills, techniques, etc.
Doug became widely known for excelling in these stages of arts and for being an expert in handling weapons. In addition to this, the fighter designs his own weapons.
He has designed many great knives and some of his latest notable designs include FOX knives in Italy and the DART XT which he co-designed with Lad Mandiola. He is also one of the smiths who created DART (Direct Action Response Theory), a tiny curved knife that is quite portable to handle. His weapons have been used in some movies like Blade 300 and the Bourne series. His creativity in weapons which remains a wonder to many also won him a spot on the History show Forged in Fire. The reality show which is basically about knives and swords brings some of the talented hands to compete by re-creating some of history’s most remarkable edged weapons.
In the show which is open to all genders and anchored by ex-Army Ranger and actor Wil Willis, four master bladesmiths are challenged with the task of forging weapons. The weapons are tested before a winner is picked and usually, historic weapons like swords, shields, battles axes are compared in the final stage of the competition. The contestant whose weapon makes it to the final episode after several eliminations will be rewarded with a grand prize of $10,000.
Doug Marcaida is among the judges who stand-in for the end-users of the weapons or the public. The History Channel show made its debut on the 22nd of June 2015 and is currently running its fourth season. For Doug to reach an unbiased conclusion, he ensures that the weapons are portable, so the fighter won’t have to exhaust his energy handling them. They also have to be durable and able to pass the test of strength. The weapons will also have to be neatly crafted or designed to impress.
Far from judging Forged in Fire, Doug runs three martial arts schools of which two are in New York, United States while the remaining one is in Romania where he focuses on teaching the students Marcaida Kali. He also hopes to open up more schools.
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Doug Marcaida’s Wife, Kids & Family Relationship
As said earlier, Dough lives a quiet life, hence, not much is known about the American combat expert except his nationality and ethnicity. His passion for fights and weapons may be the reason he is so not about sharing things regarding his personal life. In fact, he uses every chance he gets to unveil his love for blades and combat not things about his life. He is active on social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook but as you might imagine, he showcases nothing but his TV works, designs, etc. Doug also has a website named Dougmarcaida.com for showcasing his works. This shows how serious he takes his job.
What To Know About His Arm Injury
One time Doug had to take a break from his testing work to undergo an arm surgery. But nobody could establish what led to the injury, where it happened and the kind of surgery he had. But the martial artist took to his Facebook page to explain that it happened while he was doing some testing. He further named the injury “boo boo” and didn’t reveal further information about it.
