The largest martial arts magazine in the world, Martial Arts Illustrated hosted an extravagant evening of presentations to some of the worlds top martial artists for an array of different achievements within their Hall Of Fame. Sunday 18th May at the Brewery centre in Staffordshire was the venue for these special awards and there were some big names within the industry in attendance to receive and also present them.
John Tomlinson of the Grimsby Freestyle Kickboxing Club in Grimsby was in attendance as he was nominated for an award via the magazine and it’s editors. Unaware of which award it was Tomlinson, 37 years old was shocked to be presented with the Martial Arts Illustrated Hall Of Fame Top Fighter award. Tomlinson was very happy to receive this award for all of his efforts within the competition circuit and for all the varied disciplines he has fought within.
The Senior instructor and head coach of the academy has fought all over the world in many different weight categories and disciplines such as Full contact kickboxing, Point fighting, Continuous kickboxing, K1 kickboxing, MMA cage fighting, boxing and Karate Kumite. He has picked up an array of championship titles, trophies and belts along the way including world, European, British, national and local titles, and is now fully dedicated to putting all of this experience into his fighters within the Grimsby Strike Team to make them believe that they too can achieve greatness if they work hard and stay positive in everything they do!
Tomlinson said “I am so happy and grateful to receive this award and it’s something that has completely come as a shock to me. The reason I trained so hard and fought where I did was for me to accomplish my hopes and dreams, not for recognition but it’s always nice to be recognised obviously. I always try to put my experiences into my teaching and coaching as I want my fighters to reach new heights in their training and accomplish their dreams too, it gives me immense pleasure and makes me very proud to see my fighters succeed.”
