Matt Mullins | |
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Born | Matthew Mullins November 10, 1980 Naperville, Illinois, United States |
Residence | Toluca Lake, California, United States |
Nationality | American |
Style | Okinawan Shōrei-ryū Karate |
Teacher(s) | John Sharkey, Jr. |
Rank | 4th degree black belt in Shōrei-ryū |
Occupation | Martial arts instructor, actor, Stuntman |
Website | http://www.matthewmullins.com/ |
Matthew "Matt" Mullins (born November 10, 1980) is an American five-time martial arts world champion and actor. At the age of sixteen, in 1997, he won his first World Kickboxing Association title in Dublin, Ireland. This would be his first of five championships in the next three years.
Mullins was featured in the Discovery Channel mini-series Extreme Martial Arts alongside Mike Chat. As of 2006, he holds a 4th degree Black belt in the style Shōrei-ryū and studies under martial arts instructor John Sharkey at Sharkey's Karate Studio in Naperville, Illinois. While an underbelt, he met Mike Chaturantabut and together they created a martial arts style which later became known as Extreme Martial Arts (XMA). Their style's growing popularity prompted the Discovery Channel to produce a documentary called XMA: Extreme Martial Arts. In this documentary, the producers covered the XMA style with modern technology such as motion-capture technology and 3-D imaging to show how a martial artist can use his body. As a side story, they focused on Matt Mullins' attempt to come back to the competition world of sport karate.
Mullins also holds seminars and martial arts camps. The most predominant ones are the Winter and Summer Camps at Sharkey's Karate in Illinois. He also teaches an extreme martial arts class in California.
Matt Mullins is also the leader of Sideswipe, a martial arts based performance team which travels the United States performing with their combination of martial arts moves, aerodynamics, and gymnastics. Sideswipe has appeared on such shows as The Jerry Lewis Telethon, The Wayne Brady Show, America's Got Talent (Season 2) and The Ellen DeGeneres Show, as well as sporting events, live action shows and karate tournaments.