An
Edged-Weapon Self-Defense System Developed by Michael D. Janich
Martial Blade Concepts(MBC) is an edged-weapon training program specifically designed to meet the needs of today's concerned citizen and armed professional. Based on Michael Janich’s extensive analysis of the Filipino martial arts and many other systems, MBC emphasizes the development of “all-purpose” defensive skills. Rather than learning a large number of specific techniques to defend against specific attacks, MBC focuses on perfecting a few proven techniques and learning how to apply them to literally hundreds of different defensive situations. Through this easy-to-learn method, students develop defensive proficiency very quickly and have both the ability and the confidence to employ their skills after only a brief period of training.
MBC’s basic physical goal is to “learn how to fight effectively with a knife” – applying the attributes of the knife to the broadest possible set of defensive circumstances. At a more advanced level, the physical skills of the MBC method are also designed to form the basis for unarmed defensive skills – including unarmed defenses against knives – and the use of improvised and other purpose-designed weapons for personal defense.
The MBC curriculum is actually only a small part of the parent system that Michael Janich practices and teaches; however, since it is the best known element, it has become recognized as the name of the system. Janich’s full curriculum also includes full range of empty-hand, contact-weapon, and firearms skills, as well as a heavy emphasis on skills of tactical awareness, avoidance, and de-escalation.

Michael Janich is proud to announce that he has partnered with his long-time friend and certified MBC instructor Michael Rigg to found Stay Safe Media, LLLP. Stay Safe is a full-service video production company and Internet retailer of the very best books and videos on personal defense and self-protection topics. All of Janich’s latest, state-of-the-art instructional videos are being produced by Stay Safe, so look to them as the exclusive source for Janich’s new material. Stay Safe also offers a variety of other carefully selected titles that were hand picked based on Janich’s exceptional insight into the subject matter and, in many cases, his personal involvement in their production.
The titles offered on Stay Safe’s web site (www.staysafemedia.com) not only represent Janich’s “personal picks” on a wide variety of personal-protection topics, they also include his “inside story” of the history behind the titles and his relationships with the many industry-leading trainers with whom he’s worked.
Stay Safe is THE official source of MBC training materials and is rapidly setting a new standard in personal protection instructional videos.
The demand for Michael Janich’s instruction continues to make him a regular fixture on cable television. As co-host of the Outdoor Channel’s hit personal-defense series The Best Defense and its spin-off series The Best Defense: Survival!, Janich offers insights into all aspects of personal and family security—including avoidance, unarmed tactics, and the full scope of armed tactics. Featuring fellow co-host Mike Seeklander and host Michael Bane, The Best Defense represents the state of the art is personal-defense programming.
Season four of this groundbreaking show began airing in December 2011. For more information, go to www.outdoorchannel.com and check out The Best Defense forum on www.downrange.tv.
In addition to his many other activities, Michael Janich also continues to write prolifically. He is the designated columnist for the “Street Smarts” column of Harris Publications’ Tactical Knives magazine and a regular reviewer for that publication. He has also recently been published in Harris’ Pocket Pistols annual and Guns and Weapons for Law Enforcement, Firearms Marketing Group’s Personal Defense and Tactical annuals, and Intermedia’s Personal Defense annual. Additionally, he has become a regular self-defense columnist for Germany’s top firearms magazine Caliber.
Michael Janich is proud to announce the highly anticipated release of his latest DVDs Martial Blade Concepts Volumes 2 and 3 and Junkyard Aikido. The former videos provide continuing education in the Martial Blade Concepts system of defensive knife use and represent the state of the art in the evolution of Janich’s methods. Junkyard Aikido supplements Janich’s best-selling Practical Unarmed Combatives series by providing his no-holds-barred look at joint-lock tactics. These videos are available exclusively from Stay Safe Media.
As founder of MBC, I am extremely proud of my new cadre of certified MBC Instructors and am honored to have them representing the system (see “MBC Instructors” page for more details). Their certification represents a new era in the evolution and teaching of the system. With my full confidence, they are now authorized to share the MBC and CBC systems through their own teaching, making the system available to a much broader audience than I could alone.
I am also honored to have selected members of Gabe Suarez’ Suarez International Instructor Staff sharing the MBC system through their efforts as Authorized Trainers.
Because of the demands of my full-time position with Spyderco, Inc. and my involvement in The Best Defense TV series, the time I have available to teach is limited. I am therefore focusing my teaching efforts on larger, less frequent events, my annual Martial Blade Camp, and specialized training for law enforcement and military units. The details of my public teaching schedule are included on the “MBC Schedule” page of this web site. For those interested in learning more about MBC or sponsoring a seminar in your area, I encourage you to contact me or any of my instructors to organize training events with them. Contact information for MBC instructors is included on the Contact page of this web site.