Iron Lotus Academy of Martial Arts

Sifu Matthew shares his experience of being one of the 1st students of the Wing Lung Kung Fu and Tai Chi Association Ja.🇯🇲 to grade for Black Sash.

In 1998, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) was in its infancy stage. Most martial arts schools around at that time were still focusing on one main art and not cross training in different styles. My Instructor started incorporating throws, takedowns and full on grappling in our sparring sessions.
Exposure to this type of training early on help to shape my understanding of what it means to be a well rounded martial artist.

Its hard to believe that this was 21 years ago.
Footage from a Spring Festival Celebration at the Chinese Benevolent Association in 2005.
Here Sifu Matthew (Si-Hing at the time) performs
a 2 man fighting set- Spear vs Empty-Hand.
They were originally designed to safely teach combat reactions, timing, and distance to students, it provided a way to practice dangerous techniques at full speed. This allowed martial artists to fight at high intensity without causing harm to a training partner.

Clips from the 1st ISKA full contact kickboxing title fight in Jamaica 🇯🇲.
Summer of 2002 Sifu Matthew fought for the welterweight title. This was the first on the island with hopes of it growing into something bigger. Unfortunately this was the 1st and only one.
Sifu Matthew was already a full contact fighter having competed in Florida in Sanda ( SANSHOU) in 1999 and 2001.

In this clip, Sifu Matthew demonstrates Iron Throat. This type of training is from traditional Chinese Martial Arts. It is known as hard body Qi Gong.
This type of skill helps the practiconer strengthen specific areas of the body to withstand blows.

Florida 1999, Full contact Kickboxing. Sifu Matthew's first experience of SANSHOU, more commonly known now as SANDA.
He won the light weight division - 140lbs and under.