Ironfist Muay Thai - Boxing - BJJ

Amazing gym, probably the best in Brisbane if you looking to train and compete. Most friendly and welcoming community of members and great facilities. Instructors are the nicest people and always looking out for their students, Highly recommend to anyone looking to fight or just train casually for fitness and forming a strong community. Only leaving cause of a move across the country otherwise I would be training there forever. Thank you to Dan and Liane for the wonderful work you guys have done to create such an amazing gym.

Amazing to be trained by Australian and state champion level fighters week in, week out. Super friendly and welcoming staff combined with spacious facilities. Would highly recommend Ironfist to anyone looking to start or return to combat sports.

This is an honest review from someone that’s trained in martial arts and fighting systems since the mid Nineties (Vale Tudo (precursor to MMA), karate, and mostly Krav Maga to a high level). After all, honest reviews help maintain quality, right?

I trained here a lot of last year, mostly just Muay Thai pad work and a limited amount of BJJ classes. It’s a very popular gym, and I could see why – it’s well equipped, the timetable is well considered, and the staff at the desk were always nice and friendly.

However, I’m not a young guy, being early fifties now (although look a lot younger and generally pretty fit) and while the pad work sessions were pretty well run and quite technical (great for shaking out the cobwebs for me after a few years of minimal training), the sparring sessions had very minimal supervision. Generally there was a good spirit amongst other students, however almost every time I attended a session there was at least one young guy that was out to prove himself and just had to bump up the notches of intensity. While I would have been OK for that 10 or so years ago, one guy in particular seemed to take offence to me having skills outside the framework of Muay Thai and decided to roundhouse my ribs at full force. Result was a cracked rib that put me out for 6 weeks. So from about 50% he suddenly lost it. Not the first time had guys with big egos.

What do you do – give it back and then be the one to be seen to be escalating? Because yeah, Krav Maga 100% ain’t something you want to see in a sparring session… point being, there was no instructor present enough to see the escalation and I just had to cool the situation myself. Was dying to teach the young guy a lesson, but ain’t the way.

All in all, found another gym with a better corporate spirit and a lot less ego. Can’t say it’s any particular fault of Ironfist management or instructors that I had the experience I had, but certainly just having one instructor overseeing a packed sparring session of usually 20 or so sparring partners and being pretty nonchalant about proceedings is something that could be improved. Lest someone’s ego gets further out of control.

In hindsight, I should have just opened a can…

EDIT: thanks for the respectful response Ironfist. All good points, and I mean not disrespect for what I highlighted, however didn’t feel the place to bring up the incident as at the time. I thought it was just a hard roundhouse kick that in honesty I should have blocked but from all my Krav training which focusses on head protection and watching hands and generally kicks are not high, but a couple of days later it was clear it was a cracked rib.

In any case, appreciate the good response and it may just be needing more instructors on the floor as the gym is super busy on a Saturday. Otherwise, training there was good. I bumped up the review a star based on the good response.

First day training. With boxing and BJJ. Very good trainer and facilities. Worth half hour driving. Will keep coming.

Fantastic gym, comfortable and safe space to get into combat sports. Have been training here for over a year now and have learnt and improved on my technique, the coaching staff are very attentive and approachable making for a great training environment.

I’ve been meaning to do this for a while but honestly, this has been one of the best experiences I’ve had as a new comer in any sport. I knew absolutely nothing about Muay Thai, off the bat the team was super informative and welcoming, a lot of places are SUPER eager to get you locked in and signed up but these guys are so supportive and not pushy which I really liked. The second thing I wanted to commend was the value for money. Coming from performance backgrounds in other sports to this where you have a WEALTH of knowledge and actual champions one on one coaching you is super unique. And the final thing is community! This place always has a positive vibe and is something I always look forward to. Get on down to iron fist!

If your considering coming down to Ironfist trust the reviews and do it, it will only take one time for you to see and feel what they offer here.

You won’t find a friendlier or more welcoming atmosphere. The staff at the front desk are extremely helpful, polite & happy to answer questions, and the trainers are excellent. Working with each member through the classes and there isn’t a moment of ego from anyone in the gym.

I genuinely couldn’t have even half a bad word to say about any of the team here, as a new member every person I’ve talked too and trained with has the utmost respect and wanted nothing but the best for me and everyone around them.

Looking forward to many more sessions.

Dan and Lianne provide a welcoming, safe gym for all ages and genders. They have produced multiple internationally successful fighters in Muay Thai, and have top tier Muay Thai, BJJ, and Boxing coaches.

Place doesn't get cleaned enough. If you train bjj mats are always dirty. I remember seeing skin calluses from Muay Thai classes before on the ground when I rolled. Gi always got dirty from the ground after class Most places clean mats before and after a class. You'll be lucky if this place cleans the mat once a month. Some students wear jewellery when they train which is not on.

Otherwise good family oriented gym. Dan is a good coach. If you want to use the facilities to hit the pads, bags etc by yourself or with a friend for a workout while there's a class forget it, you will be told to stop when the Dan is teaching and explaining stuff to the students and it's frustrating if you want to get a good workout that way as you're constantly stopping and waiting on the class.

Gym is focused on the whole family oriented thing so great for them to make money but probably not the best if you want to fight. Lots of touch sparring, not much hard sparring. I get MT loves soft sparring but the Thai's fight every week. Since that doesn't happen here would make more sense to have at least a couple of hard spars a week.

Recommend looking elsewhere at something like corporate boxing gym, bloodaxe or nuggets gym

Great morning training session. Definitely something for anyone who's keen on fitness, technique and/or improvement of martial skills.

Great gym with friendly members and a motivational atmosphere. The staff/coaches are very helpful and patient with teaching the right technique.

Always look forward to my training sessions and hearing a joke or two from Dan

Absolutely love this place! Super friendly staff, personalised touch on all the coaching even though it’s group sessions.

As a personal trainer myself, I find the coaching here great!

Excellent gym for beginners to experienced fighters. Great atmosphere for kids/adults to train without feeling intimidated.

Great training, friendly people, no egos, fantastic staff and trainers. Highly recommended

I’ve been going to iron fist for a little over a month now and all I can say is what am experience. They are all welcoming and train you to become a better you love this gym.

The Ironfist team are the best there is! They truly care about their members and take the time with each member to ensure they’re reaching their full potential. Such a great environment and would recommend for anyone from beginner to advanced!

Iron Fist Muay Thai is extremely inclusive, welcoming and supportive of all skill, fitness and confidence levels!
The staff always welcome with a smile.it’s my favourite part of my day heading into the gym and being apart of what feels like a family away from home!

Awesome coaches and training area is well maintained too. Good team mates too. I’m always having fun when I do training!

Prior to stepping into the Ironfist, I had never put a pair of gloves on, let alone been anywhere close to a Muai Thai/ Boxing gym.and it was safe to say I was way out of my comfort zone.
Cant say a bad thing about the whole Ironfist community, it is such a welcoming and friendly environment.
The highly skilled trainers are awesome and have the patience to help me develop my boxing skills, and given me the drive for improvement.

Thanks Ironfist!

Everyone I spoke to was very welcoming. Great community. Great selection of class times to suit everyone.

However, their Muay Thai classes are no different to ones that regular gyms run. The only difference is that they have classes for different skill levels.

Support/ teaching of proper technique is limited. Would recommend for general fitness/ health. But if you’re looking to compete or to take Muay Thai more seriously, I would not recommend.