Tony is right.
I'm not sure if this is what you are asking, OPM, but to my understanding, traditional moari poi were never used in battle. They were used as training tools, particularly for strengthening the wrists and for dances as well.
Traditional poi are soft (ish) balls made from flax with short strings (also flax), very few of the motions are similar to what is termed poi on this site, and most of the dances involve hitting the ball directly with hand or or another body part to change direction, not wraps, a body hit.
As for martial arts, that's most likely to be taiaha (Tie uhh Hah), the Maori form of staff combat, which there is very little literature that I've been able to find (anyone who knows otherwise please email me with details, please please please...), well actually none so far, but there are groups who teach it at the odd school and community group.
Not that martial arts is probably the correct term, it is quite different to the varied styles you may be thinking of...
------------------
Charles (AKA INFERNO)
newdolbel@hotmail.com
http://juggle.co.nz/fire/fire.html