Matt Thornton Record, Net Worth, Age, Weight, & More!

Who Is Matt Thornton?

Matt Thornton is a mixed martial arts trainer who trains athletes in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, wrestling, boxing, Muay Thai, and more. He is the founder of Straight Blast Gym which is based in Portland, Oregon, but has over 35 affiliate gyms worldwide. Matt is a 4th degree Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt under Chris Haueter, and was among the first American-born practitioners to receive a black belt.

Who Is Matt Thornton?

Matt Thornton is a mixed martial arts trainer who trains athletes in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, wrestling, boxing, Muay Thai, and more. He is the founder of Straight Blast Gym which is based in Portland, Oregon, but has over 35 affiliate gyms worldwide. Matt is a 4th degree Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt under Chris Haueter, and was among the first American-born practitioners to receive a black belt.

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Matt is particularly known for his promotion of the concept of “aliveness” in training. Aliveness is essentially a spontaneous and dynamic type of training that focuses specifically on the intent to win. He is also one of the first gyms to begin cross training multiple types of martial arts as MMA began to grow in the 1990’s.

Matt Thornton grew up in the California Bay Area, and began his journey with martial arts in boxing after joining the US Army. He left the Army in 1988 and began training with Jeet Kune Do in Portland, Oregon. After some years into his training, he began to question some of the aspects of traditional martial arts and started to develop his own concepts.

He trained with Rickson Gracie for the first time in 1991 and had a profoundly powerful experience after watching Rickson tap out a room full of Judo black belts without using his hands in a matter of seconds. This immediately sold Matt on the importance of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and thus started his journey in the art.

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How Old Is Matt Thornton?

Born March 25, 1969, Matt Thornton is 52 years old.

Matt Thornton’s Family

Currently, there is no information available on the family of Matt Thornton.

How Much Is Matt Thornton Worth?

It is estimated that Matt Thornton’s net worth is somewhere between $1-$5 Million.

How Tall Is Matt Thornton?

Matt Thornton is approximately 6 feet and 7 inches tall.

How Much Does Matt Thornton Weigh?

Matt Thornton weighs approximately 220 pounds.

More About Matt Thornton

After training for several years and figuring out his passion lies in martial arts, Matt opened up the first Straight Blast Gym in Salem, Oregon in 1992. His primary purpose for opening this gym was to provide a space where athletes were able to train with “aliveness”, a concept he has preached throughout his career. With this concept he eliminated all static forms of martial arts such as kata. Matt moved his gym to a larger location in Portland, Oregon in 1994, and this location is currently the Straight Blast Gym international headquarters.

During this time in the 1990’s, most martial arts schools were focused on different Asian fighting systems, which heavily used repetitive drills and an emphasis on form as the primary methods to gain skills. Matt used a completely different training type which was revolutionary during this period of time, where he put an emphasis on resisting opponents as well as the cross training of boxing and wrestling, as well as other martial art forms alike.

Just as Straight Blast Gym started to gain some traction is when the UFC first started becoming popular. Royce Gracie’s incredible performances early on in the UFC’s history drew a ton of attention to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and made a wave of athletes seek out this kind of training and competition. 

Matt’s training styles were more similar to the MMA style rather than Tae Kwon Do or other similar disciplines. As a result, Matt was able to attract well known MMA competitors such as Randy Couture to his gym, which ultimately led to amazing improvements in the training methods he used at his gym. Couture went on to have an incredible career in the UFC becoming a 6 time UFC Champion, and though he is retired now he still trains under Thornton at Straight Blast Gym.

Straight Blast Gym has helped produce countless well-accomplished MMA fighters such as John Kavanagh, Rory Singer, UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Forrest Griffin, and countless others. Straight Blast Gym is also well known for their questioning of other forms of martial arts training, such as the use of Japanese, Chinese, and Korean terminology being used in English speaking countries.

In more recent times, Thornton has been using many of his ideas in the realm of philosophy, where he promotes skepticism, rationality, and the scientific method and opposes the faith based and mysticism belief systems. He has given philosophy lectures on such topics at Portland State University and other places. 

As Thornton grew as a practitioner and a coach with his unique strategies and concepts, he became a well known figure in the world of martial arts and was frequently featured in different martial arts magazines. He has given over 400 seminars worldwide. The popularity of his belief systems has transformed into over 35 affiliate gyms all over the world. He continues to be one of the biggest and most innovative names in the martial arts arena. 

Matt Thornton’s Record

Matt Thorton has spent most of his career on the coaching side, therefore an official record is not available at this time.

Matt Thornton Injuries

Currently, there are no documented injuries for Matt Thornton.

Is Matt Thornton retired?

No, Thornton currently serves as a coach at his job and the head of his other affiliates, and he also continues to produce instructional videos.

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